Kenny Lofton’s Hall of Fame Snub Is Becoming Impossible to Defend

With the induction of Andruw Jones to the Hall of Fame, I am once again left confused as to why another outfielder from a similar generation is still exempt from Cooperstown. Kenny Lofton is one of the most egregious exemptions from the Hall of Fame, and as more players from his era make it to Cooperstown, his omission becomes increasingly egregious.

In 2013, Kenny Lofton was added to the Hall of Fame ballot, where he received only 3.2% of the vote, and was promptly removed. A player of Lofton’s stature only being on the ballot one time is an absolute joke. Excluding active players and those not in the Hall of Fame due to cheating allegations, Lofton leads all non-inducted outfielders in WAR and is fifth in all of baseball.

The only players above Lofton are Bill Dahlen, who played in the 1800s, Lou Whittaker, who had a lower peak than Lofton, Rick Reuschel, who lacks career wins but should be inducted, and Curt Schilling, who’s left out because the media hated him.

Lofton tends to be overshadowed since he played in the steroid era. During his one year on the ballot, Lofton had to battle nine other future Hall of Famers for votes. Given this unfortunate timing, the Veterans Committee should review his career.

He’s a six-time All-Star, four-time Gold Glove winner, a career .299 hitter, is 15th all-time in steals, has 68.4 bWAR, and was able to play college basketball at Arizona as well. That last fact doesn’t do anything for his baseball career, but I just like that fun fact.

Andruw Jones is rightfully in the Hall of Fame, but his career was similar to Lofton’s. Jones obviously was a far better power hitter, but they both had similar WAR peaks and played for the same number of seasons. After Jones’ age-30 season, he only generated 1.4 more career WAR.

In contrast, Lofton, who started his career much later, still 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 very best of Jones over the very best of Lofton, and they’re not wrong; however, being able to be consistently good for your entire career is a skill in itself. I don’t want this to come across as me denigrating Jones; I just believe that both players should be commemorated in Cooperstown.

The inconsistencies among voters about which criteria are, or aren’t, meaningful change each year. Along with Jones’ induction, Carlos Beltran was added to the Hall as well. He is a proven cheater who was part of the 2017 Astros, and he was let in.

For some reason, he is allowed to be recognized as a Hall of Famer, when some guys from the steroids era are still left out. It’s an overall level of inconsistency that needs to change, and adding a guy like Lofton would go a long way toward making up for past mistakes.