Kenny Lofton Breaks Down Hall of Fame SNUB, 90's Indians UNTOLD STORIES, Arizona Hoops
4/1/20261 hr 34 min
The legendary Kenny Lofton joins Matt Barnes and Chris Young for a long overdue conversation. K-Lo was a six-time All-Star, five-time stolen base champion and four-time Gold Glove winner — but somehow was one-and-done on the Hall of Fame ballot.
Lofton breaks down why he believes the home run era buried his legacy and what it was really like playing on the greatest teams never to win a World Series. He also opens up about growing up poor in East Chicago, being raised by his blind grandmother, and the promise he made her before leaving for the University of Arizona — where he played point guard on a Final Four team.
Plus, Lofton gets into some amazing untold stories, like almost taking out Cal Ripken during his consecutive games streak, chasing Sammy Sosa through the Cubs dugout during the playoffs, getting held up by the third base coach in Game 7 of the 2007 ALCS, and why he believes Shohei Ohtani should never bat leadoff.
00:00 Intro, Hall of Fame Snub, Steroid Era
08:30: Ichiro Stats Comparison
16:55: Slow Death of the Leadoff Hitter, Should Ohtani Bat Leadoff?
22:50: Raised in East Chicago by Blind Grandmother
28:25: Playing Basketball at University of Arizona under Lute Olsen
39:05: Foot Locker Slam Dunk Contest
44:13: Taking only one at-bat at Arizona, Getting Drafted to MLB
55:30: Superpower of the bunt
58:18: First MLB memories with Astros
01:00:46: Traded to Cleveland Indians, Albert Belle, Eddie Murray
01:03:53: 90’s Indians Best Team to Never win it?
01:05:48: Shocking Trade to Braves for David Justice
01:10:58: Golden Era of Outfielders
01:13:13: Journeyman back half of career
01:14:45: Bartman game, almost fighting Sammy Sosa
01:20:00: Signature Shoe with Nike
01:21:00: 3-0 Blown ALCS with Yankees
01:23:45: Held at 3rd Base in Game 7 of ALCS
01:31:28: Quick Hitters
01:35:50: End
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Clips
Showing 10 of 12Transcript preview
First 90 secondsMatt Barnes· Host0:00
This is an iHeart podcast, Guaranteed Human. Welcome back to All The Smoke. Dugout here with my co-host CY. Good to see you, man.
Chris Young· Host0:09
Oh, yeah. Appreciate you having me.
Matt Barnes· Host0:10
How was the flight? Flight good?
Chris Young· Host0:11
Flight was good.
Matt Barnes· Host0:11
Good.
Chris Young· Host0:12
Flight was good.
Matt Barnes· Host0:12
Nice and easy. Man, today we have a legend, someone I've actually been chasing. I've been chasing him down for a minute. You know, he's still fast. He a little older- [laughs] ... but he's still fast. One of the best athletes in MLB history. Should be a Hall of Famer. We're gonna get into that. One of the greatest leadoff hitters in Major League Baseball history. Also played a little bit of hoop. We gonna get into that. A true icon, six-time All-Star, five-time Stolen Base champ, four-time Gold Glove winner. Welcome to the show Kenny Lofton.
Kenny Lofton· Guest0:39
Thank you, bro. Thank you, bro.
Chris Young· Host0:40
[clapping] Welcome in, welcome. It means a lot, man.
Matt Barnes· Host0:42
Kenny, Kenny, Kenny, Kenny, Kenny.
Chris Young· Host0:43
It means a lot, OG.
Kenny Lofton· Guest0:43
Yeah, yeah.
Matt Barnes· Host0:44
CY, what's this man mean to the game?
Chris Young· Host0:45
Oh, man, when I think of '90s, that's ... When you think about the era of your sport, you think about when, when you were a kid growing up.
Matt Barnes· Host0:54
Growing up.
Chris Young· Host0:54
And when you're picking your greats, you normally go to that time in your life.
Matt Barnes· Host0:58
Mm-hmm.
Chris Young· Host0:58
You normally ain't going to when you was playing, you're going to when you were a fan of the game- Mm-hmm ... growing up. And for me, when you go into the '90s, talking about leadoff hitters, two names come up.
Matt Barnes· Host1:08
Him and Rickey.
Chris Young· Host1:08
Rickey Henderson- Mm-hmm ... Kenny Lofton.
Matt Barnes· Host1:11
Mm-hmm.
Chris Young· Host1:11
Very different styles of play, but I really believe that one player got their flowers and the other player never got their flowers.
Matt Barnes· Host1:21
Facts.
Chris Young· Host1:21
I'm, I'm, I'm so excited to have you on the show today, K Lo, because I wanna dig into it.
Kenny Lofton· Guest1:27
Okay.
Chris Young· Host1:27
It's so much, even prepping for this,