Whither Jeff Kent?

So then there's the issue of Jeff Kent. As a fan, I've had troubles with the guy over the years. He's never been lovable. He's prickly and seems to be self-satisfied, arrogant and way too convinced that his redneck wisdom is infallible (remember, he was kicked off his high-school baseball team for thinking he knew more than the manager and he publicly feuded with coaches at Cal--his "veteran attitude" has apprently been in place at least since puberty). Where's the joy in the game? Who told him baseball needed a new Ty Cobb? A new Ty Cobb is the last thing baseball ever needs. Plus he's not my kind of middle infielder (range? sweet hands? quickness? anything?!).

That said, I believe he plays the game the right way. He's in to win, he's passionate about team first and there are some values, between the lines and in the clubhouse, that I think he's a good exemplar of, not least hard work and hard-nosed play every single day. I never actually believed he was a racist (though I think flaunting your motocross magazines in Milton Bradley's face is asking for disharmony). And his power numbers, particularly for a second baseman, will hold up for a long time (provided Alfonso Soriano and Robinson Cano suffer career-ending injuries in the next couple years).

I'll always be ambivalent about the fact that far and away the greatest major leaguer ever produced by my beloved Cal Bears baseball program is a self-styled law-and-order cowboy poseur (he's from Bellflower, after all--it's the suburbs, not the old west) who drives trucks and motorcycles and doesn't seem to embody any of the values I admire (excepting, again, his rather famed work ethic). But there you are.

Wait, why was I writing this . . . ? Oh yeah, this link. There was a really interesting interview on the L.A. Times baseball blog with Kent. A bunch of honest, insightful stuff in here, but especially the moment when he gets flummoxed by the question of who's the best baseball player he's ever seen. Check out how tangled up he gets: obviously his answer is Bonds, but he clearly knows (not thinks, knows) Bonds is guilty on the steroids thing so he can't commit in any direction. Anyway, it's a good read.