ORLANDO, Fla. — Former Dodgers second baseman Jeff Kent was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday by the contemporary era committee, while steroids-tainted stars Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens and Dodgers icon Fernando Valenzuela were among seven players who fell short once again.
Kent, a product of Edison High in Huntington Beach, appeared on 14 of 16 ballots, two more than the 12 ballots needed for the 75% minimum.
Carlos Delgado received nine votes, followed by Don Mattingly and Dale Murphy with six each.
Bonds, Clemens, Gary Sheffield and Valenzuela each received fewer than five votes.
Kent, 57, will be inducted at the hall in Cooperstown, New York, on July 26, along with anyone chosen by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, whose balloting will be announced on Jan. 20.
“It’s a moment of satisfaction of the things I did right in my career, the things I consistently stuck to,” he told MLB Network. “The hard work, the gratification of playing the game the right way. I love the game.”
A five-time All-Star second baseman, he batted .290 with 377 homers and 1,518 RBIs over 17 seasons with Toronto (1992), the New York Mets (1992-96), Cleveland (1996), San Francisco (1997-2002), Houston (2003-04) and the Dodgers (2005-08).
His 351 home runs as a second baseman are the most by a player at that position.
Kent received 15.2% in his first BBWAA appearance in 2014 and a high of 46.5% in the last of his 10 times on the ballot in 2023.
Even he was surprised to get in.
“The emotions are overwhelming – unbelievable,” Kent said. “I didn’t even expect it. For me, there were so many quality guys that the committee had to argue through and vote for. I’m grateful that they considered me and gave it a shot at putting me in.”
Kent was the National League MVP in 2000 with the Giants. He batted a career-best .334 with 33 home runs and 125 RBIs that season and drove in more than 100 runs in each of his six seasons batting behind Bonds.
“The time had gone by, and you just leave it alone, and I left it alone,” Kent said of not being elected during his 10-year window on the BBWAA ballot. “I loved the game, and everything I gave to the game I left there on the field. This moment today, over the last few days, I was absolutely unprepared. Emotionally unstable.”
“I have not walked through the halls of the Hall of Fame. And that’s going to be overwhelming once I get in there.”
Kent hit 75 homers and batted .290 in more than 2,000 plate appearances over four seasons with the Dodgers. Not surprisingly, he said he plans to enter the Hall of Fame wearing a Giants cap.
“The turning point in my career was with Dusty Baker, the manager I got with in San Francisco,” said Kent, who played collegiately at Cal. “He motivated me to get the peak performance out of me.”
The Hall in 2022 restructured its veterans committees for the third time in 12 years, setting up panels to consider the contemporary era from 1980 on, as well as the classic era. The contemporary baseball era holds separate ballots for players and another for managers, executives and umpires.
Each committee meets every three years. Contemporary managers, executives and umpires will be considered in December 2026, classic era candidates in December 2027 and contemporary era players again in December 2028.
Under a change announced by the Hall last March, candidates who received fewer than five votes are not eligible for that committee’s ballot during the next three-year cycle. A candidate who is dropped, later reappears on a ballot and again receives fewer than five votes would be barred from future ballot appearances.
If Bonds, Clemens, Sheffield and Valenzuela are nominated when their era comes around in 2031 and fall short of five votes again, it will be their last shot at enshrinement under the current guidelines.
Bonds and Clemens fell short in 2022 in their 10th and final appearances on the BBWAA ballot, when Bonds received 260 of 394 votes (66%) and Clemens 257 (65.2%). Sheffield received 63.9% in his final BBWAA vote in 2024, getting 246 votes and falling 43 shy.
Bonds denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs and Clemens maintains he never used PEDs. Sheffield said he was unaware that substances he used during training ahead of the 2002 season contained steroids.
A seven-time NL MVP and 14-time All-Star outfielder, Bonds set the career home run record with 762 and the season record with 73 in 2001.
Kent continued his longstanding neutral stance on Bonds’ candidacy, declining to offer an opinion on whether he believes his former teammate should be elected.
“Barry was a good teammate of mine,” Kent said. “He was a guy that I motivated and pushed. We knocked heads a little bit. He was a guy that motivated me at times, in frustration, in love, at times both.
“Barry was one of the best players I ever saw play the game, amazing. For me, I’ve always said that. I’ve always avoided the specific answer you’re looking for, because I don’t have one. I don’t. I’m not a voter.”
A seven-time Cy Young Award winner, Clemens went 354-184 with a 3.12 ERA and 4,672 strikeouts, third behind Nolan Ryan (5,714) and Randy Johnson (4,875).
The December 2027 ballot is the first chance for Pete Rose to appear on a Hall ballot after baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred decided in May that Rose’s permanent suspension ended with his death in September 2024. The Hall prohibits anyone on the permanent ineligible list from appearing on a ballot.