As Hall of Fame welcomes Kent, it prepares to slam door on Bonds and Clemens forever

Key Highlights

• While Kent is the all-time home run hitter among second basemen, he was on the same ballot as Bonds -- who hit more homers than anyone, at any position. During a post-announcement news conference, Kent recalled the way he and Bonds used to push, prod and sometimes annoy each other during their six seasons as teammates on the San Francisco Giants.
• Those were Kent's best seasons, a fairly late-career peak that ran from 1997 to 2002, during which Kent posted 31.6 of his 55.4 career bWAR. The crescendo was 2000, when Kent enjoyed his career season at age 32, hitting .334 with a 1.021 OPS, hammering 33 homers with 125 RBIs and compiling a career-best 7.2 bWAR.
• Hitting fourth behind Bonds and his .440 OBP, Kent hit .382 with runners on base and .449 with a runner on first base. During Kent's six years in San Francisco, he was one of five players in baseball to go to the plate with at least one runner on base at least 2,000 times, and the other four all played at least 48 more games than he did.
• Turns out, hitting behind Bonds is a pretty good career move. To be clear, Kent was an outstanding player and the numbers he compiled were his, and his alone.
• When you see how the news of election impacts players, it's a special thing.