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Hot Corner Harbor: The Veterans Committee Elects Jeff Kent to the Hall of Fame, But Some Other Confusing Stuff Happened Too

Published 3 days ago • 1 min read

On Sunday, we got our first official Hall of Fame announcement for the Class of 2026, with the Veterans Committee’s Contemporary Era panel revealing the results of their election. And somehow, the results were both very predictable and rather baffling. But first, we’ll start with the big headline: Jeff Kent will be joining the Hall of Fame in 2026.​
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​I wrote several​pieces previewing​this election (thank you to everyone who read them!), and if you read those, this is in some ways unsurprising. I more or less began that mini-series by saying “I believe that Jeff Kent is the most likely Veterans Committee inductee this voting cycle, and probably the only one I would place above 50/50 odds”, and finished it by saying “If you want that broken down to ‘which outcomes are the most likely’, it probably comes out to ‘only Kent gets in’”. Those are both direct quotes, by the way; good job, past me!
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If you’d like a fuller accounting of his career, I’ve done a longer write-up of the merits of his case before. The short version of it is that Kent was a big power hitter at a position that normally isn’t home to power hitters, and he racked up some impressive totals as a result. His 377 home runs are the most ever for a second baseman, blowing by Rogers Hornsby’s seven-decade old record of 301, and he looks set to stay at the top for some time still. His 1518 RBI make him one of just three second basemen to pass 1500, along with Nap Lajoie and Hornsby again. And despite a bit of a delayed start to his career, he still managed nearly 2500 hits, too.
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(Stats from Baseball-Reference and Fangraphs unless otherwise stated, by the way.)
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Earlier this week, I reviewed the Veterans Committee ballot ahead of their upcoming December 7th announcement. Part 1 (which can be read here) covered the cases of Gary Sheffield, Carlos Delgado, Fernando Valenzuela, and most-likely inductee Jeff Kent; Part 2 (which can be read here) covered the new rules shenanigans that are likely to impact the candidacies of Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Don Mattingly, and Dale Murphy. Check both of those out if you haven’t already, I think I did a pretty...

5 days ago • 1 min read

Earlier this week, I began breaking down the 2026 Veterans Committee’s Hall of Fame ballot. I started with the four cases that I think needed the least context or rules-gaming, specifically Jeff Kent, Gary Sheffield, Carlos Delgado, and Fernando Valenzuela (plus, there’s a general refresher on voting rules, too). If you missed it, take a minute to check it out now! Especially since the election itself is coming up soon (specifically, on December 7th).That leaves us with the other four names...

6 days ago • 1 min read

It is once again the time of the baseball calendar where Hall of Fame talk takes over! The Baseball Writers Association of America has released their 2026 Ballot (and some writers have already even released their official votes for it), while the Veterans Committee’s Contemporary Baseball Era panel will be announcing the results of their election on December 7th.In case the embedded link has stopped working, this year’s slate of candidates consists of eight names: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens,...

9 days ago • 1 min read