Jeff Kent 'Embarrassed' by Steroid Era

Jeff Kent, now retired and preparing to be immortalized on the Giants' Wall of Fame on Saturday, got a few things off his chest on Monday.

"I am embarrassed by the era that I participated in because of the steroids," Kent said.

Kent was outspoken throughout his career, which ran from 1992-2008, about steroid-use in baseball, mostly after he left San Francisco, which was arguably the epicenter of the steroid era. He continues to assert that the problem was widespread, more widespread than a list of 104 names.

"You'll never find all the cheaters in the game that used steroids," he said in a conference call with reporters. "This 100-player list, if you find out the list, which I imagine you guys will work hard to find, you will never find them all. To say that's the only list of the players who did steroids in the game is wrong."

Not much of a revelation there, but still harsh words coming from a five-time All-Star, the all-time leader in homers by a second baseman, a potential Hall of Famer.

"If you cheated the game, there ought to be penalties," he said. "Maybe I'm standing on my soap box here for the human race, but so many people get away with cheating each other and cheating corporations and cheating business and people turn a blind eye and say it's OK and they let it go. We should all be held accountable for it."

Ironically, a player who had a frosty relationship with the media thanked reporters for their part in exposing steroid use.

"I thank you guys for this," he said. "The game wouldn't be as clean as it is if you guys weren't involved, and for that I'm appreciative."

Kent also revealed a bit about his relationship with Barry Bonds, which was often publicly contentious. In 2002, the two had to be separated by teammates in the dugout in San Diego. Kent said that was just one of their scuffles in the six years they played together.

"Friction is a bad word between me and Barry," Kent said. "It wasn't a wall. There was just a competitive ... what's the opposite of relationship? There was just a competitive relationship. It wasn't bad. It wasn't good. But it worked."

Although Kent was in a truth-telling mood on Monday, he still held on to one secret from his days with the Giants. Kent refused to say what happened in the spring of 2002, when he broke his wrist. Kent told reporters and the team that he had broken his wrist while washing his truck, but an investigation by two newspapers revealed that he was doing wheelies on his motorcycle.

"There is always a secret, and it will always stay a secret," Kent said.

Essentially, he said the public did not need to know the truth then or now.

"One of the things that I hold sacred is when a person, a human being, has the opportunity not to have to tell someone else something that they want to know, but they don't need to know, people should take it upon themselves that they don't need to know," Kent said. "At that point in my career, the media didn't need to know."

Although Kent may have violated the terms of his contract by riding a motorcycle, it didn't prove to be a serious issue (beyond the principle of honesty), because he missed only the first four games of the season. He ended up having one of his better seasons in 2002, and helping the Giants to the World Series.

Kent said he learned from his early days with the Mets to handle the media in a way that didn't always involve telling the whole truth.

"When I talked to the media, I held back a lot of the truth," he said. "It's not to say I lied to you guys, but I only gave you enough. ... That's probably a skill I picked up when I was in New York. The media there was so competitive and so aggressive and I got burned really fast when I was young there."