MLB MVP and 'Survivor' contestant, Jeff Kent gets Hall of Fame idol in Cooperstown
COOPERSTOWN, NY The trio comes from Curaao, Puerto Rico and California.They played center field and second base.They played for 18 different teams, with two of them teammates for the Los Angeles Dodgers.Now, here they are together, Andruw Jones, Carlos Beltran and Jeff Kent, who will be immortalized Sunday into the Baseball Hall of Fame, with a record 60 Hall of Famers expected to be in attendance, including Football Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman.Most arrived in Cooperstown already, with Wade Boggs stealing the show Thursday afternoon by kneeling down and officially proposing to Debbie Boggs at the Otesaga Hotel, 50 years after already being married.It turns out that Wade Boggs never officially proposed to Debbie 50 years ago, simply asking her fathers permission to marry her. This time, he officially asked Debbie, with Eddie Murray stopping by and witnessing it.I said, Yes," she said.While there are no planned marriage proposals Sunday, the stage is set. Jones, the first player from Curaao to be elected into the Hall of Fame, will be the last player from Atlantas golden era to be immortalized into Cooperstown, joining Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Chipper Jones and Fred McGriff, along with manager Bobby Cox and GM John Schuerholz. Beltran will be only the third Hall of Famer representing the Mets, joining Tom Seaver and Mike Piazza. And Kent will be the warm-up act to next summer when the San Francisco Giants are expected to take over the village.Former Giants managers Dusty Baker and Bruce Bochy are expected to be shoo-ins on the contemporary era Hall of Fame ballot, and catcher Buster Posey should be easily elected on the Baseball Writers' Association of America ballot.Baker and his wife, Melissa, arrived Thursday evening to celebrate Kents induction, Kent says he cant wait to be on hand for Bakers induction next year, who he plans to personally thank in his speech.While this Hall of Fame trio had a unique skillset, with Jones winning 10 Gold Gloves in center field, Kent hitting the most homers (377) by a second baseman in history, and Beltran the only switch-hitter to hit 400 homers and steal 300 bases in his career, one man accomplished a feat never done by a Hall of Famer in baseball history.Kent actually appeared for 22 days on the popular TV show, Survivor," in 2012. The show, which has run 50 seasons, puts a group of people in an isolated location where they provide food, fire, and shelter for themselves. In Kents series, he was in the Philippines.I was a fan from the get-go," Kent said, because it's kind of like the top of the food chain wins the game. You're stuck pretty much naked and afraid on an island.Yes, and Kent remembers the jokes that he was always on his own island, but as a kid growing up loving motorcross, he embraced adventure and was proud to be called a dare devil.I wanted to be on the show, Kent said. When I heard that there was somebody looking for potential athletes, I had made a video and gave it to them, and they liked my video. I went through the whole process like everybody else to be on the show. Literally you could say that I don't mind just being by myself and trying to figure out how to survive. I guess it's an internal nature that I had through sports, through life, of the fight, the grind of being able to survive, and still be good at what you do. Which for the island itself, it was beating everybody in challenges and then outlying each other, so you can not get voted off.Kent finished 10thand wasnt the last survivor, didnt win the $1 million prize, but still had the time of his life.Let me tell you," Kent said, there is nothing fake about that show. They don't have Snickers in the corner. You're not cheating. There are no toilets. No toilet paper. I mean, you're pooping in the water or pooping in the woods and wiping your ass with leaves, and or not wiping your ass. Everything about it was kind of gross when you're laying next to somebody who stinks from getting wet all day long.But it was the social game that was a struggle for me.Kent was never the warm and fuzzy type throughout his baseball career, once even fighting with teammate Barry Bonds on the bench during a game against the San Diego Padres in 2002, so his personality wasnt going to suddenly change just because he was on TV.I just wanted to know if I could survive on an island and suffer physically, Kent siad, but when I got there, I didn't know how much of a social challenge it was. It was a major social challenge, and that one was a struggle for me because you're lying all day long.I lied to people and told them I was 10 years younger, that I only had two kids not four. I told them I was a motorcycle salesman at a motorcycle dealership my dad owned. Trying to keep track of all those lies was freaking mind blowing."Of course, in real life, Kent also was caught in a lie when he broke his wrist in spring training in 2002, saying he fell off the top of his truck while washing it. It turns out he fell off his motorcycle while popping wheelies on the streets of Scottsdale, Ariz.Now, nearly a quarter-century later, and perhaps for the first time, Kent is showing a sentimental and emotional side that was hidden throughout his baseball career. He cried when he got the news he was elected. He cried during his press conference with reporters. He even choked up Thursday night when Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson walked over to him in the lobby of the Otesaga, put his arm around him, and welcomed him to the Hall of Fame family, in disbelief that it took so long for him to be elected after failing to get more than 46.5% of the vote by the baseball writers during his 10 years on the ballot.He was the only player elected by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee, receiving 14 of the 16 ballots, while Bonds, who has hit the most homers in history, received fewer than five votes and is ineligible to appear again for six years.I had painted a picture that I accepted, which was that it's probably just not going to happen, Kent said. I'm OK with it. You know, it's not going to make my life much better anyway, so I'll just deal with it."Well, turns out he was lying to himself, because once he got the call, he burst into tears, and hasnt stopped crying."It's a bigger emotional deal than I ever thought it was going to be," he said. I still tear up talking about it, and I've tried to figure out why. Is it because of the game? Is it because I finally got in? Is it because I wasnt there and now Im in?"Why are my emotions so attached to this? And I don't know why.Well, he may find out Sunday when he delivers his speech. He plans to talk about how his first true love was motocross racing, why he still has that pickup truck from 1986 that he rebuilt six times, the people who influenced his career, and just what it means to be in the company of the greatest baseball players to walk the face of the earth.In my personal life, extended family, my friends, church friends, they know Im a baseball player, Kent said. hey watched me on TV. They may go to a game or two, but none of them have ever been intimately involved in baseball functions. And this is the biggest baseball function. Ill probably shed a tear or two.This is going to be hard."But worry?Nah.After all, hes a survivor.This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: MLB MVP and 'Survivor' contestant, Jeff Kent gets Hall of Fame idol in Cooperstown
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