
Kenny Lofton, a six-time MLB All-Star, is publicly fuming over not being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame despite his significant contributions to the sport of baseball.
Lofton has solid numbers. He is considered one of the best leadoff hitters in Cleveland Indians history, if not the game itself for the decade of the ’90s. But Lofton appears to be the victim of a two-pronged whammy against his Hall of Fame credentials.
One, he played in the steroid era and was clean. A man of average stature, he put up big numbers, but other larger-than-life figures were attaining statistical records that seemed like something out of a video game.
And two, his first year of voting eligibility for the Hall saw a stacked class. But it was also stacked with those steroid-era guys. Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, and Sammy Sosa were there, along with future HOFers Mike Piazza, Edgar Martinez, and Jeff Bagwell.
As a result, Lofton slipped through the cracks. He slipped to the point where he failed to earn 5% of the votes required to move on and was subsequently removed from the ballot.
Kenny Lofton Pleads His Case
Kenny Lofton’s exclusion from the Baseball Hall of Fame after just one year on the ballot, despite his impressive stats, numerous accolades, and a clean record in the steroid era, is widely regarded by baseball enthusiasts as one of the most glaring oversights in Hall of Fame history.
And it speaks poorly of the process. How can a man be vote-worthy one year and then not so afterward? Lofton wondered how he got left behind in an interview with Fox News.
“I didn’t get credit for what I did. It’s kinda sad. I still don’t get credit,” he said. “I can only say all the time that, from my era and my time, I did what I was supposed to do. I thought at that time, it was very important for me to do my job as a teammate, and that was an important part of the game.”
Lofton also pointed out that his role as a great leadoff hitter was to serve up opportunities to the big hitters in the lineup. A pesky batter and a pesky runner, Lofton had over 2,400 hits in his career and 622 stolen bases.
His Wins Above Replacement (WAR) are not insignificantly higher than Ichiro Suzuki (68.4 to 60.0). Suzuki was just announced as a near-unanimous selection for the Hall of Fame class of 2025.
“That’s what hurts me to see this and seeing Ichiro with the opportunity to show, OK, here’s some smaller guys who are not all about home runs can get in the game and then you compare my numbers to Ichiro, we’re not too far off,” Lofton told Fox.
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He Belongs
Kenny Lofton is currently serving as an advisor to Sluggball, a reimagined version of baseball that reunites former ballplayers.
“Sluggball gives players a unique opportunity to return to the field and embrace the best parts of the game,” said Lofton in a press release. “With its focus on hitting in a fun, competitive atmosphere, Sluggball is unlike anything else in baseball.”
You can find out more about the effort here.
Over his 17-year career, Lofton led the league in stolen bases five times, was named an All-Star six times, and finished with a .299 batting average, 2,428 hits, and 622 stolen bases.
In 1995, he led the Indians to a 100-win season, and they made it to the World Series, losing to the Atlanta Braves in six games.
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