3 Braves Hall of Fame snubs that look more egregious after 2024 election
By Eric Cole
Kenny Lofton
In terms of all-time Hall of Fame snubs, Kenny Lofton ranks pretty highly up there for the sheer lack of support he received at all. Over the course of his 17 year career in the big leagues, Lofton accumulated 68.4 rWAR while slashing .299/.372/.423 with a staggering 622 stolen bases.
The end result? Just one year on the ballot as he somehow only received 3.2% of votes when he first joined the ballot back in 2013. Despite having a career WAR higher than both Helton and Mauer and his numbers comparing favorably to other Hall of Famers, Lofton was a one-and-done.
The biggest issue Lofton had back then was the ballot itself. This was around the period of time when a lot of the best players ever who also had steroid allegations/insinuations against them were on the ballot. With each voter only getting a max of 10 votes, Lofton simply got lost in the shuffle especially since he didn't have any MVP awards or big power numbers to bolster his candidacy.
It is no wonder that Lofton has been put off by the whole process. Here is a guy that was clearly one of the better players of his era albeit with a somewhat atypical skillset and he could barely muster any votes while guys like Omar Vizquel and Bobby Abreu have been able to hang on the ballot for years? If Lofton were eligible for the ballot these days, he would probably be one of the favorites to get in which is a shame even if he shouldn't ever have been considered a lock.