The Hall Of Fame Welcomes Jeff Kent And Not That Other Guy

The Baseball Hall Of Fame in its principal role as the parent company of BondsBeGone International has concluded at long last that the pretense of considering Barry Bonds is no longer worth the bother. In electing Jeff Kent (and good for him, I guess) while banishing Bonds, the person most responsible for elevating Kent from really good to plaque status, to the Phantom Zone yet again, the Hall has repeated what it thought we all understoood—that Bonds has now been relegated to "He Whose Greatness Wins Awards For Others But Never Himself." The only way this can be made more obvious is if Rich Aurilia is inducted in 2029.

Kent received 14 of the available 16 votes for induction, cruising into Cooperstown, while Bonds again got less than five votes and has only one more ludicrous chance to get in, in 2031, before he is banned for good. And while Kent's career is to be noted with a whistle of admiration, one wonders if he didn't stand on the shoulders of Bonds to make his bones. The Athletic's Grant Brisbee attempts to square the circle: "It’s not fair to Kent that his induction is tied to Bonds’s continued omission, but if there wasn’t a way to untangle them before, there certainly isn’t now. It was a cruel coincidence that they were on the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee’s ballot, and then Kent had to go and get elected."