A member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was elected on Sunday to the National Baseball Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2026.
On Sunday evening, the Hall announced that Jeff Kent — who played for the Toronto Blue Jays, New York Mets, Cleveland Indians (now Guardians), San Francisco Giants, Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers — is headed to Cooperstown.
As ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported, Kent was elected by the by the Contemporary Baseball Era committee and will be inducted next July.
According to the Hall, the eras committees “consider retired major league players no longer eligible for election by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, along with managers, umpires and executives whose greatest contributions to the game were realized either prior to 1980 or after 1980.”
Kent, who played in Major League Baseball from 1992-2008, is tops in MLB history in home runs by a second baseman with 354 and won National League MVP in 2000 with the San Francisco Giants.
Since his playing days, several of his children have been part of various BYU athletic teams.
The Associated Press reported Sunday night that Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Don Mattingly and another Latter-day Saint — Dale Murphy — along with Gary Sheffield, Carlos Delgado and Fernando Valenzeula did not receive sufficient votes for election.