This is the third in a series of articles about candidates for the Illowa League Hall of Fame.
It’s always difficult to predict how leadoff hitters will do in IAL Hall of Fame voting. Kenny Lofton was one of the best for about six or seven years, but like Craig Biggio and Shawn Green before him in this series, his period of dominance was brief. Lofton played 16 seasons in the IAL, but only played in more than 140 games five times, all in the first seven seasons of his career. He ranks first all-time in triples, with 113, second all-time in stolen bases with 652 (over 200 behind Tim Raines) fell just short of 2,000 hits (ranking 24th all-time with 1,983), and scored 1,233 runs (also ranking him 24th). [more after the jump]
Lofton was drafted by the Thunder Chickens, who traded him away twice only to get him back after a season or two. He scored 100 or more runs four times, and stole 67 or more bases in each of his first five seasons. His best season was probably 1995, when he scored 126 runs, stole 67 bases, and hit .286. He never managed to play in 140 games after 1999, but was still very effective in limited playing time right up to the very end of his career, and of course played gold glove calibre center field.
He follows the pattern of players who dropped off quickly after a fast start. Whether this will stop him from getting into the Hall is an open question – it will be tough to leave out a player who ranks in the top two all time in two seperate categories!
Kenny Lofton
Games: 1,916
At-Bats: 7,201
Hits: 1,983
Runs: 1,233
Doubles: 333
Triples: 113
Homers: 1112
RBI: 630
Walks: 750
Strikeouts: 1,042
Stolen Bases: 652
AVG/OBP/SLG: .275/.344/.400