Last night, me and my brother Chris Baier were trading emails back & forth, and he brought up Kenny Lofton. He mentioned that Lofton is criminally underrated (which I agree) and that he belongs in the Hall of Fame, which I feel he has a worthy case.
Chris mentioned the fact that he had close to 2,500 career hits (2,428 to be exact), could flat out hit (.299 career batting average), and that his only competitor stealing bases during his era was Marquis Grissom; On top of that he had several gold gloves & helped make his ball-clubs winners. If he had championship rings, he could really build a case...
but that's just it, he has no rings.
My younger bro, listed all of Lofton's chances, and how he kept coming up with no cigar. After you read the list below, you may start to believe that Lofton is indeed, the unluckiest player ever...
- 1994: His first-place Cleveland Indians miss out on the playoffs due to the strike.
- 1995: Indians lose the World Series in Game 6 to Tom Glavine.
- 1996: Cleveland loses the A.L. Division Series to the Baltimore Orioles.
- 1997: Kenny Lofton is a member of the Atlanta Braves, where they lose out to Livan Hernandez, the Florida Marlins & a very generous strike zone!
- 1998-1999: Back with Cleveland, Lofton's Indians lose to superior Yankees (1998) and Red Sox (1999) teams in the ALCS & ALDS; People tend to forget that the Indians were up 2-1 on the Yankees.
- 2002: Kenny Lofton is the starting CF for the San Francisco Giants, who blow a 6-run lead to the Anaheim Angels in Game 6 of the 2002 World Series; Rookie John Lackey finishes off the Giants in Game 7.... oh, it gets better...
- 2003: Guess who's a member of the 2003 Chicago Cubs? You named it!
- 2004: Acquired at the trade deadline, Kenny Lofton watches his New York Yankees teammates blow the first-ever, 3-0 series lead, in the ALCS against the Boston Red Sox.
- 2007: Oh, man, Kenny! Your team (Cleveland) led the ALCS, 3-1, and were ready to pounce on a cooled off Colorado Rockies team, until your team choked.
Seriously, that's a lot of bad luck!
Actually the Whitesox were a game ahead of Cleveland by one game when the strike took place in '94
ReplyDeleteNoah, You are right, at the same time, both teams kept trading slots. Thanks for pointing this out, I believe my brother brought this all up by the top of his head. Another interesting point is that Lofton's Arizona Wildcats in Basketball came up short & it turns out his high school team lost the State Finals. Close... but no cigar for Mr. Lofton.
DeleteYou could even say he might have been one of the unluckiest multi-sport athletes ever. Remember, he played basketball in the Final Four for Arizona which lost to Oklahoma which lost to Kansas for the NCAA national title.
ReplyDeleteExcellent point!
Delete