The National Baseball Hall of Fame class of 2025 has been announced, as CC Sabathia, Ichiro Suzuki and Billy Wagner head to Cooperstown to be forever enshrined alongside the game’s greats.
As the baseball world celebrates these three incredible players, there are some who have real cases for the Hall of Fame who saw another year go by without a chance to enter the Hall.
One of them is Kenny Lofton, a six-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glove winner who spent 17 seasons in the MLB accumulating 2,428 hits and a 68.4 WAR in 2,103 games.
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Former Cleveland Indians great Kenny Lofton throws out the ceremonial first pitch before a World Series game against the Chicago Cubs at Progressive Field in 2016. (Elsa/Pool Photo via USA Today Sports)
Now, when a day like Tuesday arrives, when the Hall of Fame ballots are counted and the results come in, Lofton doesn’t feel bad. He knows that after failing to get at least 5% of the vote in 2013, he can no longer be voted for regularly.
But there’s no doubt Lofton still feels hurt about not getting what he believes is a fair chance to be in Cooperstown.
“I didn’t get credit for what I did. It’s kind of sad. I still don’t get credit,” Lofton told Pak Gazette Digital while discussing his role as an advisor on Sluggball, a reimagined approach to the game of baseball.
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“I can only say all the time that, from my time and my time, I did what I was supposed to do. I thought at that time that it was very important for me to do my job as a teammate, and that was a big part of the game. Now you see it as me doing my job and being a team player, it hurt me a little bit, instead of being selfish like other guys, the three and four hitters, it was about them eating. I was serving and they were eating. , but I “didn’t get the credit for serving them the food.”
Lofton’s first year on the Hall of Fame ballot was perhaps one of the most stacked ballots of all time, although there were no living members for the first time since 1965. There were 10 players, including Craig Biggio, Jeff Bagwell, Mike Piazza and Edgar. Martinez, who ultimately got the 75% of the vote needed to get in, but guys like Lofton and Bernie Williams were left off the ballot the following year because at least 5% of the vote is required to move forward.
And as Lofton mentioned, the era of baseball he played in, infamously known as the Steroid Era, had players like Barry Bonds (36.2%), Mark McGwire (16.9%), Sammy Sosa (12.5 %) and Rafael Palmeiro (8.8%). also on the ballot with him.
Ichiro also played during that era, entering the MLB at the age of 27 in 2001 and still managing 3,089 hits in 19 seasons. Only one Hall of Fame voter left him off their ballot even though, like Derek Jeter, there are very strong arguments for a unanimous vote.
Lofton loves that Ichiro got his due, and the same goes for Tim Raines, whose 23-year career saw a speedy outfielder hitting for average instead of home runs. But he feels like he’s in the same conversation.
“That’s what hurts me to see this and to see Ichiro with the opportunity to show, OK, here are some smaller guys that are not just homers that can come into the game and then you compare my numbers to Ichiro’s, we are not very far”. off,” Lofton explained.
Cleveland Indians center fielder Kenny Lofton bunts during a game at Jacobs Field. (David Richard-USA Today Sports)
That said, Wins Above Replacement (WAR) is a mark that many voters use to see if a player should be in the Hall of Fame. Ichiro had a 60.0 WAR, while Lofton had a 68.4 WAR over his career.
And when his career season averages are viewed side by side, Lofton was better with stolen bases (48 to 31), home runs (10 to 7), runs batted in (60 to 48) and runs scored (118 to 87). Ichiro leads Lofton in batting average (.311 to .299), but only by two in hits (189 to 187).
Then, there’s sabermetrician Jay Jaffe’s “The Cooperstown Casebook,” which outlines the JAWS metric for determining who should and shouldn’t be in the Hall of Fame. JAWS is a player’s WAR averaged over his 7-year peak WAR.
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Lofton is 10th all-time for center fielders with a 55.9 JAWS mark. All the players above him are in the Hall of Fame except Mike Trout (fifth), who is still playing, and Carlos Beltrán (ninth), who remains on the ballot and almost entered this year with the 70.3 % of the votes.
Richie Ashburn, Andrew Dawson, Billy Hamilton, Larry Doby, Earl Averill, Max Carey and Kirby Puckett are all players with a lower JAWS rating who are in the Hall.
Finally, Lofton’s ability to steal bases (he’s 15th all-time with 622 stolen bases) made him a threat when he got on base. In fact, he’s one of only nine players with 600 career steals and 600 extra-base hits, but he’s the only one not in Cooperstown.
“All I ask people is to look at my numbers a little more,” Lofton said. “…That was all I wanted because when you look at the stats and what people say, I have one of the highest WARs ever, especially for center fielders.”
If the numbers aren’t enough, Lofton talked about his teammates remembering his time in the league.
Cleveland Indians center fielder Kenny Lofton in action against the Texas Rangers at Jacobs Field during the 1996 season. (Photos from RVR-USA Today Sports)
“I spoke with [Hall of Famer] Barry Larkin and he says, ‘When you were playing, Kenny, you were the best there was,'” Lofton said. “He said, ‘Nobody wanted to deal with you when you stepped on the plate or when you were in the outfield. It made me feel good that another player said that about me.
“When David Justice during the World Series said, ‘Kenny, the main thing was to keep you off the bases.’ He said, ‘We didn’t have a great meeting. We had a meeting that said let’s keep that damn Kenny Lofton off the bases and we’ll win this series. “So it made me feel good to hear that kind of stuff from the players you played with.”
There is still a way for Lofton to enter the Hall, as the Contemporary Committee votes in December 2025. But the ballot is only eight candidates, where 75% of the votes must also be counted to enter the Hall.
However, Lofton already went through that in 2022, when the committee chose Fred McGriff. McGriff finished his 19-year career with 493 home runs and a 52.6 WAR.
Once again, Lofton is not criticizing any of these players for having their plaque in the Hall. All you want is the consideration you think you deserve.
Because you’ve gotten to the point where you’re wondering if your efforts were worth it.
Former Cleveland Indians Mike Hargrove and Kenny Lofton during a pregame celebration for the 1995 team before the Tampa Bay Rays game at Progressive Field. (Ken Blaze-USA Today Sports)
“Sometimes I look back on it like, ‘Dude, did I play the game the right way?'” Lofton questioned. “People are getting all this praise for what they’re doing now. I think, wait a minute, I guess what I did was nothing right now, considering how they perceive the game and how they see it. Like look, this leadoff hitter doesn’t It means nothing. I thought the leadoff hitter, that’s what you wanted your guy to do because he was helping the team, means RBI, so all these greats get all these accolades because of their RBIs and they get RBI accolades. . But how would that happen if a guy didn’t get on base to get that RBI and didn’t get credit? It’s sad.
“All I want people to do is look at my numbers and compare. And when they say during your era at your position or whatever, were you the best? At this point, they’re looking at that. I just want the committee to look at it and say, ‘He’s the best at that.’ But I don’t know. That’s not up to me, but look at my numbers and compare me to people who are already in the Hall of Fame.”
