Jeff Kent retires from baseball

[Ramy]

He is one of the top 10 second basemen in my opinion in baseball history.

[ame="http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3852617"]Los Angeles Dodgers Jeff Kent announces retirement from baseball - ESPN[/ame]

 

[KCK_Halo]

The man with 1/2 of a personality.

 

[SabresRule]

The man with 1/2 of a personality.

Being a nice guy doesn't mean much.

Look at Bob Gibson- the guy was very intense and intimidating, and he's also an all-time great.

If I lived back then, I'd consider Gibson to be an all-time baseball jerk/bully.

 

[HD MM]

The man with 1/2 of a personality.

If Kent has 1/2 personality, Barry Bonds must have 1/8th of Jeff Kent's personality. (Ie. none detectable).

 

[KCK_Halo]

If Kent has 1/2 personality, Barry Bonds must have 1/8th of Jeff Kent's personality. (Ie. none detectable).

Barry at least spoke with his teammates. Kent was so isolated in the clubhouse at one point he was tagged "The UniBomber"!

 

[salsadancer7]

He is one of the top 10 second basemen in my opinion in baseball history.

Los Angeles Dodgers Jeff Kent announces retirement from baseball - ESPN

I think he was a tad OVER HYPED, IMHO.

 

[AntAltMike]

Thurmon Munson didn't have much of a personality, either, but that deficiency quickly became overlooked after his untimely death.

Sourpusses are easier to spot when they play in the Northeast, because in Boston, New York and Philadelphia, a lot of fans show up just to boo, and that gets under the skin of a lot of players. Boston's left field was partolled by sourpusses for about 40 years, between Williams, Yastrzemski and Rice, and then the mantle of their team leadership passed to sourpuss-by-committee, composed of Roger Clemens, Dewey Evans and Wade Boggs. They didn't have a happy camper leading the team until Mo Vaughn assumed that role.

 

[stmcld]

Is Jeff Kent a Hall of Famer? When compared to other second basemen in the HOF his numbers say yes. However, I just can't see him in that light. This has nothing to do with him as a person but he just does not seem to jump out as someone who belongs there.

 

[salsadancer7]

Is Jeff Kent a Hall of Famer? When compared to other second basemen in the HOF his numbers say yes. However, I just can't see him in that light. This has nothing to do with him as a person but he just does not seem to jump out as someone who belongs there.

I feel EXACTLY the same!

 

[Ramy]

For the most part though, it is all about numbers.

 

[AntAltMike]

For the most part though, it is all about numbers.

Which is why Rice finally got in. I'd rather have Bill Buckner as a teammate than Jim Rice. I watched or listened to nearly all of the Red Sox games in 1985, and believe me, even though Rice was picked as the team MVP that year, Buckner won a lot more games for them. No player in the history of baseball ever ran through more stop signs than Buckner did, and you wouldn't believe how many times a fielder saw he had Buckner dead to rights but then threw the ball away. I'm not exaggerating to say it happened half a dozen times that season

I wonder how many Colorado players will get more than their due from their inflated numbers, like Todd Helton?

 

[stmcld]

Which is why Rice finally got in. I'd rather have Bill Buckner as a teammate than Jim Rice. I watched or listened to nearly all of the Red Sox games in 1985, and believe me, even though Rice was picked as the team MVP that year, Buckner won a lot more games for them. No player in the history of baseball ever ran through more stop signs than Buckner did, any you wouldn't believe how many times a fielder saw he had Buckner dead to rights and threw the ball away. I'm not exaggerating to say it happened half a dozen times that season

I wonder how many Colorado players will get more than their due from their inflated numbers, like Todd Helton?

I always thought Fred Lynn was a better player than Jim Rice.

 

[AntAltMike]

Freddie was a WUSS. He wouldn't play if he had a hangnail. For a guy who went through nearly an entire career without any kind of serious injury or chronic, debilitating condition, his absenteism rate is deplorable.

Year Age Team GAMES
1974 22 BOS AL 15
1975 23 BOS AL 145
1976 24 BOS AL 132
1977 25 BOS AL 129
1978 26 BOS AL 150
1979 27 BOS AL 147
1980 28 BOS AL 110
1981 29 CAL AL 76
1982 30 CAL AL 138
1983 31 CAL AL 117
1984 32 CAL AL 142
1985 33 BAL AL 124
1986 34 BAL AL 112
1987 35 BAL AL 111
1988 36 TOT AL 114
1989 37 DET AL 117
1990 38 SDP NL 90

He also had the highlight reel talent of turning every catch into a diving catch, even if the ball was hit to a spot just two or three strides away.

He had below average speed on the basepaths and a below average outfield arm. On the plus side, he seemed to hit well against anyone, had a great rookie year for the Red Sox, and a really great playoff series for the Angels. In fact, he might have pulled a, "Jerry West" in that series, getting the series MVP while playing for the losing team.

 

[SabresRule]

I'd rather have Bill Buckner as a teammate than Jim Rice. I watched or listened to nearly all of the Red Sox games in 1985, and believe me, even though Rice was picked as the team MVP that year, Buckner won a lot more games for them. No player in the history of baseball ever ran through more stop signs than Buckner did, and you wouldn't believe how many times a fielder saw he had Buckner dead to rights but then threw the ball away. I'm not exaggerating to say it happened half a dozen times that season

No player made a bigger mistake in a baseball game than Buckner ever did.

 

[AntAltMike]

No player made a bigger mistake in a baseball game than Buckner ever did.

I'm not inclined to regard it as much a mistake on his part as on the manager's part, and its consequences are uncertain.

Buckner had two bad wheels. When a ground ball comes to an infileder, he is supposed to put his glove to the ground as it bounces to him and then come up to meet it, but with gimpy ankles, he just put his glove where the ball was apparently going to bounce to but it didn't come up. I think Dave Stapleton was available to be the First Base caddy. Stapleton is a legend, himself, as the only major leauguer to have his batting average go down in each and every successive year of his career for eight years. Sidney Wicks has the comparable scoring average distinction in NBA basketball history.

The score was 3 to 3 when Buckner's error let the winning run in, so there was at least a 50-50 chance the Red Sox would have lost the game anyway. BTW, I was in a New England sportsbar at the time and got three free drinks from people setting up the house in anticipation of winning the series that evening.

 

[stmcld]

Freddie was a WUSS. He wouldn't play if he had a hangnail. For a guy who went through nearly an entire career without any kind of serious injury or chronic, debilitating condition, his absenteism rate is deplorable.

Year Age Team GAMES
1974 22 BOS AL 15
1975 23 BOS AL 145
1976 24 BOS AL 132
1977 25 BOS AL 129
1978 26 BOS AL 150
1979 27 BOS AL 147
1980 28 BOS AL 110
1981 29 CAL AL 76
1982 30 CAL AL 138
1983 31 CAL AL 117
1984 32 CAL AL 142
1985 33 BAL AL 124
1986 34 BAL AL 112
1987 35 BAL AL 111
1988 36 TOT AL 114
1989 37 DET AL 117
1990 38 SDP NL 90

He also had the highlight reel talent of turning every catch into a diving catch, even if the ball was hit to a spot just two or three strides away.

He had below average speed on the basepaths and a below average outfield arm. On the plus side, he seemed to hit well against anyone, had a great rookie year for the Red Sox, and a really great playoff series for the Angels. In fact, he might have pulled a, "Jerry West" in that series, getting the series MVP while playing for the losing team.

That's fine but I still think he was better than Rice. Isn't that the beauty of baseball, our opinions.