I’m going to go through the players on the Contemporary Baseball Era Player ballot over the next couple of days, because they are voting on the weekend.Jeff Kent had his 10 tries on the regular ballot, his last one in 2023. He was on 46.5% of the Writers’ ballots, that time, the high point of his 10 times. He was gaining momentum, but it was too little, too late.Kent had an excellent 17-year career that started with the Blue Jays. We traded him to the Mets for David Cone in the middle of his rookie season. We can’t complain too much. We won the World Series that year, but he was good for the Mets. They traded Jeff to Cleveland in the middle of the 1996 season. After that season, he was part of a big trade between Cleveland and the Giants. It was with the Giants that he became a star. After San Francisco, he went to the Astros and Dodgers.He played 2298 games, hit 377 home runs, and had 1518 RBI with a .290/.356/.500 slash line. Not bad for a middle infielder. He won the NL MVP in 2000, played on 5 All-Star teams, and won 4 Silver Slugger awards. He had more than 100 RBI 8 times (helped by opponents intentionally walking Barry Bonds).His bWAR is 55.4.His stats took a significant leap forward in his age-30 season, his second year with the Giants. It could be watching Bonds and seeing how to turn on a pitch. Before his age-30 season, he had 107 home runs from age 30 on, for a total of 270. I don’t remember hearing rumours about PEDs, but he did play with Bonds, so he did see what they could do close up.He didn’t get along with Bonds. Of course, many didn’t, but he didn’t have to be such a jerk about it. His dislike of Bonds stemmed largely from jealousy.Second basemen are underrepresented in the Hall of Fame because if they are good defensively, they tend to play on the other side of second. Kent has great offensive numbers for a middle infielder. My memory says he wasn’t a good glove, but that might be from watching him play for the Blue Jays early in his career. He was more of a third baseman who ended up second because that was the position of need.He’s a very tough call for me. He was also a contestant on Survivor.You can see Kent’s stats here.