SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Some grudges fade with time. Others just wait for a microphone.
Newly minted Hall of Famer Jeff Kent joined the KNBR broadcast booth during Sunday’s Giants spring training game against the Cubs at Scottsdale Stadium. He was there to talk about old times with legendary play-by-play voice Jon Miller. The conversation was warm. The memories were sharp. And then one particular name came up.
Alex Rodriguez.
What followed was a raw, profanity-laced takedown of the former Yankees superstar that has since gone viral across social media and baseball circles. The clip, shared by Jomboy Media and others, instantly became one of the most talked-about moments of spring training.
The 1998 slide that Kent still cannot forgive
The story goes back to June 9, 1998. Kent was playing second base for the Giants. Alex Rodriguez, then with the Seattle Mariners, came barreling into second on a double play attempt and rolled hard into Kent’s right knee. The slide was aggressive. It was late. And it knocked Kent out for a full month.
The timing made it worse. Kent was scorching at the plate in those eight games before the injury, hitting .448 with two home runs, 13 RBI and a 1.259 OPS. The Giants were in the middle of an 11-game winning streak when he went down. Without Kent, San Francisco went 11-13 during his absence and eventually missed the playoffs, losing the NL West to the San Diego Padres.
Kent returned and still managed a strong season, finishing with a .297 average, 31 home runs and 128 RBI in 137 games. But the sting of that lost month never left him.
Kent unleashes on Rodriguez during live KNBR broadcast
When Miller brought up the Rodriguez slide during the second inning of Sunday’s broadcast, Kent did not pause to choose his words.
“He tore my knee up. He slid and rolled his fat a– past the base, the son of a b—-, and put me out for a little while,” Kent said about Rodriguez. “I was not happy about that, because he was a middle infielder and we were beating them up pretty good. He didn’t need to be doing that.”
Miller, who seemed amused by the outburst, replied, “Not that you’ve thought about it much since then…”
Kent was not done. He went on to describe how he handled baserunners at second base throughout his career.
“I would literally throw the ball between their eyes,” Kent said. “If they came in and they weren’t ducking down, I was throwing the ball right between their eyes. They better get down.”
There was no dump button. No seven-second delay. Just a Hall of Famer settling a score on live radio nearly three decades after it happened.
Kent is headed to Cooperstown while A-Rod remains locked out
The backdrop to Kent’s outburst makes it even more pointed. In December, the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee elected Kent to the Baseball Hall of Fame. He received 14 of 16 votes on his first appearance on that ballot. He will be inducted into Cooperstown on July 26 alongside Carlos Beltran and Andruw Jones, who were selected by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
Rodriguez, despite a career that includes 696 home runs, three AL MVP Awards and 14 All-Star selections as a member of the Mariners, Rangers and Yankees, has not earned that same honor. A-Rod received just 40 percent of the BBWAA vote, well short of the 75 percent threshold needed for induction.
Rodriguez’s candidacy has been weighed down by his involvement in the Biogenesis performance-enhancing drug scandal, which led to a full-season suspension in 2014.
Kent finished his 17-year career with a .290/.356/.500 slash line and 377 home runs, the most by any primary second baseman in MLB history. His 1,518 RBI rank third all-time at the position behind Hall of Famers Nap Lajoie and Rogers Hornsby. Kent’s .500 career slugging percentage trails only Hornsby among second basemen.
He produced his best work during six seasons with the Giants from 1997 to 2002. In 900 games wearing orange and black, Kent hit .297 with a .903 OPS, 175 home runs and 689 RBI. He earned three All-Star selections in San Francisco and won the 2000 NL MVP Award after batting .334 with 33 home runs and 125 RBI.
An emotional ride from retirement to recognition
When Kent learned he had been elected to the Hall of Fame, the tough-guy persona cracked.
“I hugged my wife after the phone call had come in, and I told her that a lot of the game had come rushing back to me at that moment,” Kent said. “It reminds me of the ‘no crying in baseball.’ Well, I was bawling when I left the game because all that emotion just overcomes you.”
The emotions were different on Sunday. Less tears, more fire. Nearly 28 years after Rodriguez’s slide took him off the field at the worst possible time, Kent made it clear the memory has not dulled.
For Yankees fans, it is a reminder that A-Rod’s reputation extends far beyond the Bronx. Rodriguez’s aggressive play, combined with his PED history, has left him polarizing even in retirement. And as Kent proved Sunday, some of those feelings are still very much alive.
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