New Hall of Famer makes the Cooperstown case for an overlooked Cubs standout

Ahead of next weekend's Hall of Fame ceremony in Cooperstown, 2025 inductee CC Sabathia weighed in on several topics, including a handful of players he believes should join him in the Hall before it's all said and done. Among the trio of names is a name familiar to Chicago Cubs fans, especially those who rooted for the team during its 2003 campaign.

Sabathia singled out Gary Sheffield, Andruw Jones and Kenny Lofton as Cooperstown-worthy. Lofton and Sheffield are at the mercy of the era committee, but Jones could join Sabathia as soon as next summer. Last winter, I made an impassioned plea on the part of Lofton ,going so far as to say he's not only worthy of joining baseball immortality, but on par with Ichiro Suzuki, who goes in this year as the sport's second-ever unanimous pick.

Kenny Lofton did it all - and was dominant at his peak in Cleveland

Lofton played 17 years in the big leagues, debuting in 1991 and closing the book on his career in 2007. He spent at least parts of 10 of those seasons with Cleveland, but then split the rest of his playing days across 10 other clubs - hardly the sexy, 'I played my whole career with one team' resume voters seem to love.

But what he did do was put up numbers. A six-time All-Star and four-time All-Star Lofton was about as plug-and-play as they come, impacting the game in every aspect: with his legs on the basepaths, at the plate and roaming around the outfield. During his peak years with the Indians and Braves, the speedster did it all - even finishing fourth in AL MVP voting in 1994 with Cleveland.

From '92 to '99, he averaged just under 6.0bWAR annually, posting a 115 OPS+ and swiping more than 50 bags a year. He ranks 15th all-time with 622 stolen bases - and even though he was 36 years old when he came to the Cubs ahead of the '03 deadline, he still managed to swipe a dozen bags down the stretch for manager Dusty Baker.

Sabathia is spot-on in his assessment. Lofton's enshrinement in Cooperstown is long overdue and one that, I hope, will be rectified by the Eras Committee. It's not just that he was snubbed; he was immediately dismissed by voters when eligible, and it's one of the biggest misses we've seen in recent years when it comes to Hall of Fame voting.