Cleveland great Kenny Lofton was snubbed by the Baseball Hall of Fame again.
The Hall released the eight-man ballot selected by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee, and the franchise legend failed to make the cut again.
That’s why Zack Meisel of The Athletic took to social media to call out the omission.
“The absence of Kenny Lofton is a shame. He deserved/deserves more serious consideration,” Meisel wrote on X.
The absence of Kenny Lofton is a shame. He deserved/deserves more serious consideration. https://t.co/SOtdelwT8z
— Zack Meisel (@ZackMeisel) November 3, 2025
The ballot includes Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Fernando Valenzuela, Jeff Kent, Carlos Delgado, Gary Sheffield, Don Mattingly and Dale Murphy.
They were selected by a panel of 11 baseball historians who chose players who made the biggest impact on their teams from 1980 and later but failed to get the 75 percent of BBWAA Hall of Fame votes needed to be inducted.
Bonds and Clemens, two of the greatest players of all time, previously fell short despite being on the writer’s ballot for the maximum 10 years.
Of course, they have faced serious accusations about PED use, but no one can argue that they’re two of the best players of all time.
As for Lofton, this is disappointing but not surprising.
It’s arguably more difficult for players from small-market teams, and the Hall of Fame has a history of inconsistent standards.
The fact that a player of Bonds’ caliber hasn’t made it speaks volumes about the level of gatekeeping the institution holds.
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