The voting results for the Contemporary Baseball Era Players Committee vote were announced Sunday evening, as Jeff Kent was the only player selected, receiving 14 of the 16 votes (87.5%) cast by the committee. This year’s ballot consisted of players whose most significant contributions to the game came since 1980, and candidates had to receive 75% of the votes cast by the 16-member committee to be part of the 2026 Baseball Hall of Fame Class.
That 16-member committee included several ties to the Brewers. The committee had seven Hall of Famers, including former brewer Robin Yount, Fergie Jenkins, Jim Kaat, Juan Marichal, Tony Pérez, Ozzie Smith and Alan Trammell; MLB executives, including Brewer owner Mark Attanasio, former Brewer general manager Doug Melvin, Arte Moreno (Angels owner), Kim Ng (former Marlins GM, now commissioner of the Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL)), Tony Reagins (former Angels GM, now Chief Baseball Development Officer) and Terry Ryan (born in Janesville, graduated from UW-Madison, former Twins GM, now retired); and media members/historians Steve Hirdt, Tyler Kepner and Jayson Stark.
For a full look at the eight players on the ballot – Kent, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Carlos Delgado, Don Mattingly, Dale Murphy, former Brewer Gary Sheffield and Fernando Valenzuela – check out this article from Paul, where he did a deep dive last week.
Delgado finished with nine votes, three fewer than needed for induction, while Murphy and Mattingly each received six votes. Bonds, Clemens, Sheffield and Valenzuela each received fewer than five votes, making them ineligible to appear on a ballot until at least 2031.
Kent, 57, was a 20th-round pick by the Blue Jays out of California in 1989. He made his debut in 1992 with the Jays before stints with the Mets (1992-1996), Indians (1996), Giants (1997-2002), Astros (2003-2004) and Dodgers (2005-2008).
Over his 17-year career, Kent amassed 55.4 bWAR and hit .290/.356/.500 with 2,461 hits, 377 homers, 560 doubles, 47 triples, 1,518 RBIs, 1,320 runs and 94 steals. His best seasons came with the Giants in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when he was an All-Star for three straight seasons around the turn of the century. He was also named NL MVP in 2000, hitting .334/.424/.596 with 33 home runs, 125 RBIs and 114 runs scored for a total of 7.2 bWAR, even as teammate Barry Bonds – winner of the NL MVP the next four years – totaled 7.7 bWAR with a .306/.440/.688 line with 49 homers, 106 RBIs and 129 runs scored.
The remainder of the Hall of Fame class of 2026 will be announced on January 20, with induction on July 26, 2026. in Cooperstown, New York.
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