The National Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2025 has been announced, as CC Sabathia, Ichiro Suzuki and Billy Wagner will be heading to Cooperstown to be enshrined forever alongside the game’s greats.
While the baseball world celebrates these three amazing ballplayers, there are some who have real cases for the Hall of Fame that saw another year go by without getting a shot at entering the Hall.
One of them is Kenny Lofton, the six-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glover who spent 17 seasons in MLB racking up 2,428 hits and a 68.4 WAR over 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 the day comes like Tuesday, when the Hall of Fame ballots are counted and results come in, Lofton isn’t rubbed the wrong way. He knows that after not securing at least 5% of the ballot in 2013, he’s no longer eligible to be voted on regularly.
But there’s no doubting that Lofton still feels hurt that he didn’t get what he believes is a fair shot at being in Cooperstown.
“I didn’t get credit for what I did. It’s kinda sad. I still don’t get credit,” Lofton told Fox News Digital while discussing his role as an advisor with Sluggball, a reimagined approach to the game of baseball.
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“I can only say all the time that, from my era and my time, I did what I was supposed to do. I thought at that time, it was very important for me to do my job as a teammate, and that was an important part of the game. Now you look at it as me doing my job and me being a team player, it kinda hurt me. Instead of me being selfish like other guys, the three and four hitters, it was all about them eating. I was serving, and they were eating, but I didn’t get the credit for serving the food to them.”
Lofton’s first year on the Hall of Fame ballot was perhaps one of the most stacked ballots of all time, though no living inductees were had for the first time since 1965. There were 10 players, including Craig Biggio, Jeff Bagwell, Mike Piazza and Edgar Martinez, who eventually got the 75% of votes needed to get in, but guys like Lofton and Bernie Williams were left off the ballot the next year because at least 5% of votes is required to move on.
And like 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 in that era, entering MLB at the late age of 27 in 2001 and still putting up 3,089 hits over 19 seasons. Only one Hall of Fame voter left him off their ballot despite, much like Derek Jeter, there being a very strong case 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 rather than home runs. But he feels he’s in the same conversation.
“That’s what hurts me to see this and seeing Ichiro with the opportunity to show, OK, here’s some smaller guys who are not all about home runs can get in the game and then you compare my numbers to Ichiro, we’re not too far off,” Lofton explained.
Cleveland Indians center fielder Kenny Lofton bunts during a game at Jacobs Field. (David Richard-USA Today Sports)
Making that case, Wins Above Replacement (WAR) is a mark many voters use to see if a player should be in the Hall of Fame. Ichiro had a 60.0 WAR, while Lofton was at 68.4 over his career.
And when you view their career season averages side by side, Lofton was better with stolen bases (48 to 31), home runs (10 to 7), RBI (60 to 48), and runs (118 to 87). Ichiro beats Lofton in batting average (.311 to .299), but only by two in hits (189 to 187).
Then, there is sabermetrician Jay Jaffe’s “The Cooperstown Casebook,” which outlines the JAWS metric to determine who should and shouldn’t be in the Hall of Fame. JAWS is a player’s WAR averaged with their 7-year peak WAR.
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Lofton is 10th all-time for center fielders with a 55.9 JAWS mark. Every player above him is in the Hall of Fame except for Mike Trout (fifth), who still plays, and Carlos Beltran (ninth), who remains on the ballot and just missed getting in this year with 70.3% of votes.
Richie Ashburn, Andrew Dawson, Billy Hamilton, Larry Doby, Earl Averill, Max Carey and Kirby Puckett are all players with a lesser JAWS rating that are in the Hall.
Finally, Lofton’s ability to steal bases – he’s 15th all-time with 622 stolen bags – made him a menace when he got on base. In fact, he’s one of only nine players with 600 career steals and 600 extra-base hits, yet he’s the only one not in Cooperstown.
“All I’m asking from people is look at my numbers a little bit 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 in history, especially for center fielders.”
If the numbers are not enough, Lofton spoke of his peers reminiscing about his time in the league.
Cleveland Indians center fielder Kenny Lofton in action against the Texas Rangers at Jacobs Field during the 1996 season. (RVR Photos-USA Today Sports)
“I talked to [Hall of Famer] Barry Larkin and he says, ‘During the era of when you played, Kenny, you were the best thing out there,’” Lofton said. “He said, ‘No one wanted to deal with you when you stepped at the plate or when you were in the outfield.’ That made me feel good for another player to say that about me.
“When David Justice during the World Series, he said, ‘Kenny, our main thing was keeping you off the bases.’ He said, ‘We didn’t have a big meeting. We had a meeting that said keep that damn Kenny Lofton off the bases and we will win this series.’ So, that made me feel good to hear that kind of stuff from the players you played with.”
There is still a way for Lofton to get into the Hall, as the Contemporary Committee votes in December 2025. But the ballot is only eight candidates, where 75% of votes must also be tallied to enter the Hall.
Lofton already went through that, though, in 2022 when Fred McGriff was elected by the committee. McGriff finished his 19-year career with 493 homers and a 52.6 WAR.
Again, Lofton isn’t knocking any of these players for getting their plaque in the Hall. All he wants is the consideration he feels he deserves.
Because it’s gotten to the point where he questions if his efforts were worth it.
Former Cleveland Indians Mike Hargrove and Kenny Lofton during a pre-game celebration for the 1995 team before the Tampa Bay Rays game at Progressive Field. (Ken Blaze-USA Today Sports)
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“Sometimes, I look back at it like, ‘Dude, did I play the game the right way?’” Lofton questioned. “People are getting all these accolades for what they’re doing now. I’m like, wait a minute, what I did I guess was nothing at this point looking at how they perceive the game and how they look at it. How they look at it is leadoff hitter means nothing. I thought leadoff guy, that’s what you wanted your guy to do because he was helping the team. RBI means run batted in, so all these big guys getting all these accolades because of their runs batted in and they get praise from runs batted in. But how would that happen if a guy didn’t get on base for him to get that RBI? And he 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 in your position or whatever, were you the best? At this point, they’re looking around that. I just want the committee to look at it and say, ‘He’s the best at it.’ But I don’t know. That’s not on me, but look at my numbers and compare me to people who are already in the Hall of Fame.”
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