With the induction of Andruw Jones to the Corridor of Fame, I’m as soon as once more left confused as to why one other outfielder from an analogous era continues to be exempt from Cooperstown. Kenny Lofton is likely one of the most egregious exemptions from the Corridor of Fame, and as extra gamers from his period make it to Cooperstown, his omission turns into more and more egregious.
In 2013, Kenny Lofton was added to the Corridor of Fame poll, the place he obtained solely 3.2% of the vote, and was promptly eliminated. A participant of Lofton’s stature solely being on the poll one time is an absolute joke. Excluding energetic gamers and people not within the Corridor of Fame on account of dishonest allegations, Lofton leads all non-inducted outfielders in WAR and is fifth in all of baseball.
The one gamers above Lofton are Invoice Dahlen, who performed within the 1800s, Lou Whittaker, who had a decrease peak than Lofton, Rick Reuschel, who lacks profession wins however must be inducted, and Curt Schilling, who’s neglected as a result of the media hated him.
Lofton tends to be overshadowed since he performed within the steroid period. Throughout his one yr on the poll, Lofton needed to battle 9 different future Corridor of Famers for votes. Given this unlucky timing, the Veterans Committee ought to evaluation his profession.
He’s a six-time All-Star, four-time Gold Glove winner, a profession .299 hitter, is fifteenth all-time in steals, has 68.4 bWAR, and was capable of play school basketball at Arizona as properly. That final reality doesn’t do something for his baseball profession, however I similar to that enjoyable reality.
Andruw Jones is rightfully within the Corridor of Fame, however his profession was much like Lofton’s. Jones clearly was a much better energy hitter, however they each had related WAR peaks and performed for a similar variety of seasons. After Jones’ age-30 season, he solely generated 1.4 extra profession WAR.
In distinction, Lofton, who began his profession a lot later, nonetheless generated 32.7 WAR after his age-30 season and managed a 2.6 WAR season in his age-40 season.
Most would take the easiest of Jones over the easiest of Lofton, they usually’re not incorrect; nonetheless, having the ability to be persistently good on your complete profession is a talent in itself. I don’t need this to return throughout as me denigrating Jones; I simply consider that each gamers must be commemorated in Cooperstown.
The inconsistencies amongst voters about which standards are, or aren’t, significant change annually. Together with Jones’ induction, Carlos Beltran was added to the Corridor as properly. He’s a confirmed cheater who was a part of the 2017 Astros, and he was let in.
For some cause, he’s allowed to be acknowledged as a Corridor of Famer, when some guys from the steroids period are nonetheless neglected. It’s an total degree of inconsistency that should change, and including a man like Lofton would go a good distance towards making up for previous errors.
