Former MLB star Kenny Lofton says he might have a better case for the Baseball Hall of Fame if not for Alex Rodriguez and other former PED users.
Lofton, who played 18 MLB seasons before retiring in 2007, hasn't been on the Hall of Fame ballot since 2013, when he fell below the cut-off line in his first year of eligibility. He told the New York Post he's mad the ballot is full of guys who cheated during baseball's infamous "steroid era."
“I just don’t like it. It pisses me off when they still talk about the guys who did PEDs still have the opportunity to get in. You cheated the game,” Lofton told The Post. “Look at somebody like Pete Rose not in the Hall of Fame. I’m not saying what Pete Rose did was right, but his numbers that he put up were real numbers. If it’s all about numbers, guys who cheated the game shouldn’t be in. PED guys piss me off. I just get irked every time I hear people talk about it.”
Lofton is particularly incensed that Alex Rodriguez, who was suspended for the entire 2014 season after testing positive for testosterone and human growth hormones, is working as an MLB analyst for ESPN and Fox.
“You’ve got Fox having a guy who got caught with PEDs doing the World Series. I can’t even watch the World Series now,” Lofton said. "That’s sad, you have a game that I love, I played 17 years in it, and you have Major League Baseball allowing a guy that knowingly cheated the game twice, and he’s the face of baseball, doing the World Series. That is not cool.
“To see somebody who cheated the game blatantly is doing the World Series? Come on, people. You’re basically telling kids nowadays that it’s OK to cheat the game of baseball."
Lofton, 51, has a good statistical case for eventually being voted into the Hall of Fame. The six-time All-Star logged 2,428 career hits and scored 1,528 runs. He won four Gold Gloves and led MLB in steals five times. His career WAR of 68.2 is similar to or better than the WAR posted by outfielders such as Tim Raines (69.4), Tony Gwynn (69.2), Andre Dawson (64.8) and Dave Winfield (64.2). All those players from Lofton's era are in the Hall of Fame.
Lofton told the Post he feels Eras Committees voters, who consider HOF prospects who have fallen off the BBWAA ballot, will one day recognize his all-around talent.
“They know the era I played in and all the things I was dealing with," Lofton said. "I played against steroids guys and I still was competing during that time. At my position, I felt like I stood out. I just feel like the Veterans Committee should look at my defense and my offense and what I did on the base paths."