2023 Hall of Fame ballot

[Rovin Romine]

I’m good with Rolen getting in. Similar to, slightly better case than, say, Dwight Evans, who should be in.

As others have said, I think Rolen's case may be slightly worse.

In any event, we've done some greatest HOF teams, greatest Sox teams, etc.

It would be interesting to see two lineups - a team of the worst HOF players at their position, against a team of Hall of the Very Good players, like Evans and Whittaker who just missed due to statistical reasons.

I'd exclude Bonds, Clemens, Schilling, Rose, etc. from that second group. A bit subjective, but the point would be to shade out more of a performance/statistical line in terms of who gets in, and who does not.

 

[Ale Xander]

Kent's similar batters is weird. He's got 2B, SS, 3B, COF, CF all in the top 10.

 

[Red(s)HawksFan]

Jeff Kent whining about not getting in.

https://www.nj.com/sports/2023/01/former-all-star-ex-mets-infielder-whines-about-hall-of-fame-snub.html?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=nyyankeesonnjcom_sf&utm_content=nj_facebook_nyyankeesonnjcom&fbclid=IwAR1pb7aUs-O-JHF3GI3Up6cG5XSH2LTsJneT94y_Sn5lyFSb_mRoyKmD95Y

So he's blaming nerds (lol boo hoo) and steriods. He might have a case on the second one but I'd wager some of it was that he was a gigantic prick most of his career. Not that that should be a factor, but 70+ years of voting by the BBWAA suggests that it can be.

 

[Ale Xander]

All those RBI totals he put up 2000 and later were steroids-aided . . .

 

[Sad Sam Jones]

It's not clear ot me (no pun intended) what point Kent was trying to make about steroids and voting, but very few second basemen go from being solid hitters in their twenties to being great after the age of 30... especially in the context of his era and location. I was also curious to see what "washing his truck" may have cost him and instead he actually only missed 4 games because of that incident and had the second-best season of his career (2002). I guess he should have washed his truck more.

 

[InstaFace]

Jeff Kent whining about not getting in.

https://www.nj.com/sports/2023/01/former-all-star-ex-mets-infielder-whines-about-hall-of-fame-snub.html?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=nyyankeesonnjcom_sf&utm_content=nj_facebook_nyyankeesonnjcom&fbclid=IwAR1pb7aUs-O-JHF3GI3Up6cG5XSH2LTsJneT94y_Sn5lyFSb_mRoyKmD95Y

"
“The voting over the years has been too much of a head-scratching embarrassment,” Kent said via text. “Baseball is losing a couple generations of great players that were the best in their era because a couple non-voting stat folks keep comparing those players to players already voted in from generations past and are influencing the votes. It’s unfair to the best players in their own era and those already voted in, in my opinion. Steroids clouded the whole system, too, and with the reduction of eligibility years, to clear the ballot deck, I got caught up in it all, I guess.”

Kent appeared on 46.5% of the ballots cast, getting 181 votes."

What non-voting stat folks is he even talking about? Most stat guys are big-hall guys too, and I think he had the vote of a clear majority of those who get a ballot. The stat guys went after Jack Morris, Bert Blyleven, Harold Baines, and lately, Omar Vizquel, but I've never really seen a stats-based anti-Kent screed. I guess Kent missed out on Sean Forman's vote (in Forman's eyes, Kent was #11), and on Jay Jaffe's (who had room), but he got the votes of Jayson Stark, Christina Kahrl, Eno Sarris, etc.

Here's Jaffe's lengthy recap of Kent's career, and analysis of his HOF credentials:

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/jaws-and-the-2023-hall-of-fame-ballot-jeff-kent/

 

[snowmanny]

Somebody should tell him that it’s a hall of fame for grown men who mostly spend their days just standing around doing nothing, and who barely qualify as athletes.

 

[Minneapolis Millers]

Somebody should tell him that it’s a hall of fame for grown men who mostly spend their days just standing around doing nothing, and who barely qualify as athletes.

This is even funnier considering that Kent hurt himself in the first 10 minutes of his first episode on Survivor by falling off a boat.