by Cary Osborne
Jeff Kent, the all-time home run leader among Major League second basemen who ended his career with his hometown Dodgers, was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee.
Kent received 14 votes from the 16-member committee. He needed 12 for election.
Former Dodgers Fernando Valenzuela and Gary Sheffield were also on the eight-person ballot and received fewer than five votes.
Kent played 17 Major League seasons and hit 377 home runs.
Born in Bellflower, the 2000 National League MVP with the San Francisco Giants signed with the Dodgers as a free agent in December 2004. He played the final four seasons of his career with the Dodgers (2005–2008) and was an All-Star in 2005 — his fifth All-Star selection.
Kent hit 75 home runs and drove in 311 runs in four seasons with the Dodgers.
He drove in 1,518 runs, had 2,461 hits and batted .290/.356/.500/.855 in his career.
He hit 351 home runs as a second baseman.
Kent will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York on July 26.
Powerful second baseman and former Dodger Jeff Kent elected to Hall of Fame was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.