The Hall of Fame continues to snub some of the best players in sports history. Baseball writers are the ultimate gatekeepers, and they deserve plenty of the blame for the reputation the Hall of Fame has drawn in recent years.
That’s why it’s not much of a surprise to see that Kenny Lofton was snubbed again this year. If anything, the contrary would’ve been surprising. As pointed out by Guardians of the Land on X, Lofton did more than enough to earn his spot.
In fact, he has a higher career fWAR than every position player on the Contemporary Era Committee ballot except for Barry Bonds.
“Kenny Lofton has a higher career fWAR than every position player on this Contemporary Era Committee ballot except for Bonds. His continued exclusion from consideration is ridiculous,” Guardians of The Land posted on X.
His 62.4 career fWAR is better than what other legends like Carlos Delgado, Jeff Kent, Don Mattingly, Dale Murphy, and Gary Sheffield posted. Even so, he didn’t get enough consideration.
Not a sport is as ungrateful and tough to its legends as baseball. Pete Rose died without getting the nod despite being the greatest hitter of all time, just to watch all major sports get in bed with sports gambling companies.
Of course, it’s easy to understand why voters would have reservations about inducting Barry Bonds, given the ties to PEDs. Even so, there’s no one who can deny that he’s the single greatest player to ever lace them up, and not even those who used PEDs at the time came even close to what he was able to do. As for players like Lofton, there’s just no way to justify this.
Unfortunately, that’s not going to change for as long as those gatekeepers continue to have voting rights.
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