{"id":402804,"date":"2026-07-17T22:55:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T22:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/402804\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T22:55:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T22:55:09","slug":"jeff-kent-andruw-jones-joined-for-a-forgettable-dodgers-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/402804\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeff Kent, Andruw Jones joined for a forgettable Dodgers season"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Inductees into the National Baseball Hall of Fame<\/a> by definition have plenty of marvelous memories when reflecting on the career accomplishments that led them to Cooperstown. <\/p>\n

Bumps in the road were inevitable as well. <\/p>\n

One big bump for Jeff Kent<\/a> and Andruw Jones<\/a> came with the Dodgers<\/a> in 2008, Kent\u2019s last of 17 MLB seasons and Jones\u2019 first following 12 years with the Atlanta Braves. <\/p>\n

Suffice to say neither will enter the Hall of Fame wearing a Dodgers cap.<\/p>\n

Kent signed with the Dodgers ahead of the 2005 season fresh off a National League Championship Series Game 7 loss with the Houston Astros. Already recognized as perhaps the top power-hitting second baseman of all time, he yearned for a championship ring to make his career complete.<\/p>\n

Jones, a center fielder from the Caribbean island of Cura\u00e7ao, signed a two-year, $36-million contract with the Dodgers at age 31 only three years removed from leading the league with 51 home runs and 128 runs batted in. A winner of 10 Gold Gloves, he also was chasing a title after losing twice in the World Series. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one of those things where we didn\u2019t sign to make the Hall of Fame, we played this game because we love it and because we wanted to win championships,\u201d Jones said Friday. <\/p>\n

The Dodgers had high expectations in 2008. Joe Torre, with four championships as manager of the New York Yankees on his r\u00e9sum\u00e9, was in his first year in L.A<\/a>. The roster was a blend of accomplished veterans (Nomar Garciaparra, Greg Maddux, Derek Lowe and midseason pickup Manny Ramirez) and budding stars (Matt Kemp, Russell Martin, Andre Ethier, James Loney and midseason call-up Clayton Kershaw).<\/p>\n

Kent was the resident no-nonsense, old-school veteran whose bat remained potent at age 40. Near the end of the previous season he had gone public <\/a>with his frustrations about the approach of some young players.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of kids in here, they don\u2019t understand that … you hate to waste an opportunity, even if it\u2019s one and even if it\u2019s your first time,\u201d he said at the time. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to get them to understand that because they haven\u2019t been there.\u201d<\/p>\n

By spring training in what he acknowledged was his final season, Kent had gotten over it and was ready for a last try.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo much is made of the idea that we should be hugging, that we should all go out to dinner, but more important is the translation of talent and knowledge, with the older guys showing what they know and the younger ones asking for it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Jones was expected to lock down center field and provide leadership. But a poor start and a midseason knee injury torpedoed his performance. He batted .158 with three home runs and 14 RBIs in 75 games and suffered torn cartilage in his right knee that required surgery and landed him on the disabled list for the first time in his career.<\/p>\n

Kent, as always, was consistent at the plate, batting .280, but he also sustained a knee injury that required arthroscopic surgery and sidelined him for almost all of September. <\/p>\n

In what could have been a legit postseason opportunity, Jones did not play and Kent came off the bench to go 0 for 9 during a division series sweep of the Chicago Cubs and five-game loss to the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL Championship Series.<\/p>\n

Kent will wear a San Francisco Giants cap into Cooperstown. His six seasons playing alongside Barry Bonds vaulted him into the conversation on as best-hitting second baseman of all time. Kent drove in more than 100 runs eight times, was NL most valuable player in 2000 and finished his career with 55.4 wins above replacement (WAR).<\/p>\n

In a video call with reporters Wednesday, Kent made it clear that his heart belongs not to San Francisco or L.A., but to Austin, Texas, where he lives on a ranch.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a boring guy,\u201d he said. \u201cI chase grandkids and chase cows and ride motorcycles. When I retired I kind of went into my hole in Austin and I like living in my hole.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones will don a Braves cap. He made his debut at 19 in 1996 and hit 25 or more home runs in 10 consecutive seasons beginning in 1998, finishing his career with 434 homers and a 62.7 WAR.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I came [to Atlanta] at the young age of 19, they welcomed me in,\u201d he said. \u201cI never moved from here. I made Atlanta my home.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Hall of Fame induction ceremony takes place Sunday, July 26 at 10:30 a.m. PDT. Outfielder Carlos Beltr\u00e1n<\/a> also will be inducted. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a bigger emotional deal than I ever thought it would be, absolutely,\u201d Kent said. \u201cI still tear up talking about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Jones: \u201cThinking that this kid from Cura\u00e7ao who came here chasing a dream, gets a chance to play a sport he loves and ends up in Cooperstown, is wild.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Inductees into the National Baseball Hall of Fame by definition have plenty of marvelous memories when reflecting on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":402805,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[9557,161626,132176,161625,92648,426,2847,9831,24771,9251,139510,11859,161624,48,52,51,47,50,49,278,72],"class_list":["post-402804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-age","tag-all-time","tag-andruw-jones","tag-career-accomplishment","tag-cooperstown","tag-dodgers","tag-fame","tag-first-time","tag-hall","tag-home-run","tag-jeff-kent","tag-jones","tag-kent","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-season","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/402805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}