Cheers to a Giant Second Baseman

Jeff Kent called it quits today.

I’m already on record – the boos at Telephone Park are ridiculous. He gave the Giants 6 seasons of incredible hitting from a second baseman. Beyond incredible.

After Rogers Hornsby, those six years were possibly the best hitting by any 2nd baseman ever.

Here are those Giant years, and they were truly giant, from 1997-2002:

BA - .297
OBP - .403
SLG - .535
Hits – 1021 (170/year)
Homers – 175 (29/year)
Doubles – 247 (41/year)
Triples – 22 (3.67/year)
RBIs – 689 (115/year)

He was durable, he protected Bonds (for a while) he hit with power, he hit in the clutch, he stole a few bags, he backed up at first and third when needed, he could turn the double play, and he got us to within 2 innings of a world championship. Stop your whining. After Bonds and the Hall of Famers, he’s the best the SF Giants have ever had.

Sure he was an asshole. So was Barry. And periodically in his extended career, so was Willie. What more did you want from the guy?

So here’s the question: is he HOF material?

The gut says yes. Let’s look at the career stats:

BA - .290
OBP - .356
SLG - .500
Hits – 2461
Homers – 377
Doubles – 560
Triples – 47
RBIs – 1518

He got an MVP award in 2000 for the Giants, hitting 33 homers, driving in 125, with a career high BA of .334 and career slugging % of .596. I’m not sure how he beat out Barry that year (49/106/.306/.688). but it was a hell of a year. Not quite Hornsby in 1922 (42/152/.401/.722) or 1925 (39/143/.403/.756) or 1929 (39/149/.380/.679). No, not quite Hornsby, but pretty damn good, among the best ever by any second baseman. (Take a good look at those Hornsby years – holey moley!)

He hit 351 homers as a 2nd baseman, the most by any second baseman ever. EVER. Next was HOFer Ryne Sandberg, 74 homers behind. Sandberg, who was inducted into the Hall in 2005, was behind Kent in almost everything: hits, doubles, homers, rbis (457 behind), BA, OBP, SLG, and total bases. Sandberg had more triples and a lot more steals, and he was a much better fielder.

Let’s compare with HOFer Joe Morgan, who went into the Hall on his first opportunity. Kent had more doubles, way more homers, way more RBI’s, a higher batting average and much higher slugging. Joe had 56 more hits, more triples, way more steals and a higher OBP. And he too was a better fielder. Hell, I’m a better fielder than Kent.

Roberto Alomar is up for the first time next season. Kent topped him in all of the power categories, Alomar was tops in the basic hitting and speed categories. Alomar batted 3rd for a lot of his career, and yet he had 384 less RBI’s than Kent. And, of course, Alomar was a way, way, way better fielder, possibly the greatest 2nd baseman in the field ever. Except for the spitting incident, I’d say Alomar is in next year.

How can Kent not be in? He was the greatest power hitting 2nd baseman ever. And as a hitter, he’s comparable overall to the best 2nd basemen of the past half century.

IN.

Hellova player. Hellova fantasy player. And a hellovan asshole, though a minor leaguer compared to Cobb.

What a great combination. Stop booing, buttheads.