Jeff Kent, who will be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame on July 26, is experiencing a profound emotional response to the honor, a sentiment he admits he did not anticipate.

"I had accepted that it just wasn’t going to happen," Kent said during a conference call with reporters. "It’s a bigger emotional deal than I ever thought it was going to be. I still tear up talking about it."

Kent, who retired in 2008, was repeatedly passed over by the Baseball Writers Association of America during his 10 years on the ballot, never securing more than 46.5% of the vote. His path to Cooperstown was revitalized by the Contemporary Era committee, a 16-member panel that recognized his career achievements.

He will be enshrined alongside Carlos Beltran and Andruw Jones. Kent, who hit 175 of his 377 career home runs—the most by a second baseman—during his six seasons with the San Francisco Giants, will have a Giants cap depicted on his Hall of Fame plaque. The Giants are also scheduled to retire his No. 21 in a ceremony later this summer at Oracle Park.

Despite his consistent performance and statistical achievements, Kent had come to terms with the possibility of never receiving this level of recognition. During the call, he paused multiple times, visibly moved, as he discussed his feelings.

"I’m trying to figure out why," Kent said, contemplating his emotional state. "Is it because of the game? Is it because I finally got in? Is it because I wasn’t there and now I’m in — that emotional roller coaster?"

Kent, who also appeared on the 25th season of "Survivor," has largely kept his personal life separate from his baseball career. He now resides in Austin, Texas, with his wife, Dana, and their three children. His son, Kaeden, is currently a minor leaguer in the New York Yankees' system.

However, the Hall of Fame induction will mark a rare occasion where his extended family will be present. "This is going to be the first baseball function that I believe I’ve had my entire family together," Kent said. "This is the biggest baseball function, so everybody’s coming to that. I’ll probably shed a tear or two for that."

Kent is currently working to condense his induction speech, which he aims to keep around 10 minutes. He shared that certain elements that won't make it into the speech, like the mustache he wore for 17 years and a gold chain, brought on significant emotion. He explained that the mustache was a tribute to his father, a former police officer, and the necklace was a gift from his mother before he turned professional. "Now they wear 15 necklaces and mustaches like it’s nothing," Kent reflected. "In my era, if you wore a mustache you were an idiot or they called you a porn star. I got ripped on that all the time."