Baseball Hall of Famer’s Cool Advice for Giants Legend Jeff Kent

There are perks to being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Jeff Kent is learning those in the lead-up to his induction.

The former San Francisco Giants second baseman is in Cooperstown, N.Y., for Sunday’s ceremony. He’ll be enshrined alongside Andruw Jones and Carlos Beltran, who were elected by the members of the Baseball Writers Association of America after Kent was selected through the modern era ballot.

Since he learned of his induction, he’s done a steady rush of interviews and Saturday was no different. The national media was in the small New York home of baseball’s most prestigious destination, and he answered questions during a press conference.

During that interview, he shared advice he received from a Baseball Hall of Famer that helped shape how he’s handling this weekend.

One Hall of Famer’s Advice to Jeff Kent

That fires me up to be better tomorrow than I was today."

Jeff Kent reflects on the Giants losing Game 7 of the 2002 World Series and how it helped fuel the remainder of his Hall of Fame career.

📺 Coverage for the @baseballhall Induction Ceremony begins at 11am ET tomorrow pic.twitter.com/mdeT86eFXc
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) July 25, 2026

That Hall of Fame player was Johnny Bench. The legendary Cincinnati Reds catcher was a first-ballot selection when he was inducted in 1989. He is considered one of the greatest catchers of all-time.

Kent shared that he and Bench spoke last week on the phone and that Bench gave him some advice about how to treat the weekend.

“Act like you belong,” Kent said Bench told him, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale.

Kent wouldn’t be in Cooperstown if he didn’t, though admittedly it took him longer that it should have, given his credentials. He finished his 17-year MLB career with 377 home runs, the most for any everyday second baseman and he had a career slash of .290/.356/.500. But it was his time with the Giants that put him on the map.

With San Francisco he was a three-time National League All-Star, a three-time NL Silver Slugger and was named the 2000 NL Most Valuable Player. That season, he slashed .334/.424/.596 with 33 home runs and 125 RBI.

Alongside Barry Bonds, the Giants had one of the most powerful lineups in baseball as San Francisco went to the 2022 World Series, where they lost to the Los Angeles Angels.

With the Giants, Kent slashed .297/.368/.535 with 175 home runs and 689 RBI. He was a 20th round pick of the Toronto Blue Jays in 1989 out of Cal. He debuted with Toronto in 1992, was traded to the New York Mets later that season (1992-96) and was later traded to Cleveland. The Giants traded for Kent before the 1997 season. He also played for the Houston Astros (2003-04) and the Los Angeles Dodgers (2005-08).

San Francisco announced earlier this year that it would retire his No. 21 jersey during a ceremony on Aug. 29 at Oracle Park.

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