New Knight Kent Quickly Calls It a Career After '09

(New York Daily Mirror - January 23, 2009)

NEW YORK - Add Jeff Kent to the growing list of aging veterans to quickly retire after becoming Knights.

Its no surprise, really. When you're nearly 41 years old and have just been traded to an awful team that lost 118 games last season, it doesn't take an Einsteinian level of intelligence to realize that you've probably come to the last stop and its time to pack it in.

That's just what Kent did yesterday at a hastily-called press conference at the Bellflower (Ca.) Marriott.

Kent, perhaps the greatest offensive second baseman in NASBL history, struggled to contain his emotions while announcing his retirement from the game after this upcoming season. The former All-Star, renowned for his dour demeanor as a player, drew the curtain on a 11-year career in the NASBL, having spent the last four seasons with the Miami Surf.

"I'm gonna try to push through this the best I can, forgive me," Kent said during his farewell news conference as flashbulbs popped. "I leave this game proud that I have treated this game with the utmost respect. But now my time's just about over.

"I didn't expect to be so emotional right now, because I played the game with a business-like attitude," added the Southern California native, who frequently paused while he spoke. "I think it's just a testament that, deep down, I'm emotionally attached to the game."

Kent's 244 career homers as a second baseman are 149 more than Craig Biggio (another Knights' retiree). He brings a career average of .274 into this season, along with 810 runs scored, 333 doubles, 1,580 hits and a .481 slugging percentage. He was the Less Filling MVP in 2003 with the Canyon Country Cannon, for whom he batted .311 with 34 homers and 101 RBI after a mid-season trade from the Kansas City Cannibals. Kent was instrumental in the Surf's surge to the top of the Less Filling West in 2008. Although his numbers were down as compared to recent years, he still batted .274 with 16 homers, 54 RBI and a .795 OPS in 120 games. He was deemed expendable after the season ended, however, and was dealt to the Knights for a mid-level draft pick. That he was traded for essentially nothing and to a dreadful organization like the Knights, rankled Kent and he obviously decided that he had reached the end of the road.

Surly though he might usually be, Kent was not above throwing the hapless Knights a crumb. "Having the Surf allowing me to play in southern Florida for the last four years was special to me," Kent said. "To finish it up in New York and then walk away is a great end to cap what I've done."

A spokesman for the Surf said: "We close a great chapter today on a great baseball player who finds himself to be the best offensive second baseman in the history of the NASBL. Jeff's numbers as a second baseman are obviously Hall of Fame caliber but his career is defined by much more than that. Simply stated, he will forever be known for his ability to be a difference maker on every team he played for, especially the Surf. His track record playing on winning teams is no coincidence."

Ironically, Kent was drafted by the North Celtic Druids, the Knights predecessor franchise in 1998. After a so-so season in which he hit 18 homers and knocked in 55 runs, but batted just .217, he was then dealt to the Kansas City A's. He blossomed in KC in 1999, batting .264 with 27 homers, 93 RBI and an .844 OPS. A star was born. Kent went on to play for the Kansas City Cannibals and also played for the Cannons and Surf.

A NEW YORK DISS?

The Knights are quickly gaining a reputation of being a sort of superstar retirement home, a place where aging former sluggers come to kick back, relax and play out their final days before heading off into the sunset. Over the past few years, such luminaries as Mike Piazza, Bernie Williams, Craig Biggio, Javy Lopez, Troy Percival and David Cone all briefly called Empire Field home just before heading home for good. But Kent is the first to announce his retirement before ever stepping onto the field for the Knights, a move that can't be seen as anything but a slap in the face for the beleaguered organization. Speculation is that only Kent's contract, which runs through 2009, is keeping him from calling it quits now instead of when the season ends (for the Knights, anyway) next September.

Does Knights GM Mitch Pak feel insulted? "I am a little disappointed in the timing of the announcement," said Pak diplomatically in a telephone interview with WFAN's Steve (the Schmoozer) Somers last night. "I really didn't want for Jeff's tenure with us to become some kind of farewell tour around the league. But, what's done is done, and we are happy to have a player of Jeff's professional caliber with us in 2009."