Veteran second baseman/clubhouse cancer Jeff Kent hung it up today, in what Fox Sports referred to as "leaving on his own terms", which must be Carny for " no one wanted to sign a 40 yr old second basemen with a history of attitude issues"
Carny-an old "language" that carnival workers and "con men" used to relay information to each other without tipping off their customers that they were exchanging information. It was used heavily in all of professional wrestling for better than 100 years, or at least until these dumbshit backyard wrestlers started "training" themselves and it was lost. But I digress.....
Anyway, almost immediately upon reading the news, my buddy TONY ( who may be the greatest sports mind since Ryan Leaf; happy you got mentioned now? The lawsuit is off now, correct? IDIOT) text me and immediately asked if I felt Kent is HoF worthy.
Looking at his numbers, which, as I said yesterday, is a sometimes a faulty way of determining a players value, he would be in undoubtably. He is the all time leader amongst second basemen in Home Runs (351, total of 377), a lifetime .290 hitter, with 1,518 RBI's ( second all time behind Nap Lajoie) and a .500 career slugging percentage.
He also spoke loudly against the use of performance enhancers, which either a) gives his numbers, in my opinion, much more credibility or b) puts him alongside Rafeal Palmiero in the hypocrite department. Since no credibile evidence exists that its "B", (although Kent has told a few whoppers himself) then I have to go with "A".
Kent also sports amongst the games worst reputations in regard to being a team player, in addition to be the type of guy who would rather climb a tree to tell a lie than stand on the ground and tell the truth ( remember his famous contract issue with the SF Giants, and his famous "washing my truck" injury?) However, anyone who is willing to, in his first spring training with SanFran, basically told Barry Bonds to F$*K himself, cant be all bad, either.
I say he will make it in, but not until his second or third ballot. Honestly, if Ryne Sandberg is in, Kent should be as well.
Gotta Go- and as I depart, allow me to quote one of my heroes, Mr Don Cornelius, as I wish you all "Peace, Love, And....SOUL!"
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Jeff Kent is not a HOFer,he may be a MFer but thats another story.
ReplyDeleteWith so many other deserving players waiting to get in,no way he gets in anytime soon.