2012 Call To The Hall – Barry Larkin

The baseball writers solely elected Barry Larkin to the Hall of Fame officially on Monday. For some reason, Larkin was the only one shocked by this news. He was arguably one of the top 5, definitely top 10, shortstops in history.

Larking received a solid 86.4 percent of the vote; well over the 75 percent minimum needed. The BBWAA (Baseball Writer’s Association of America) took their time; this was the third year Larkin was eligible, as he deserved to go in on the first ballot. Not sure what the reasoning was for most writers waiting to vote for him, as his percentage increased by (an unheard of) over 24 percent from last year’s voting! That turns out to have been the largest jump in voting in some 64 years.

For most players, getting into the Hall is the capping of a great career, for many a validation of where they stand in baseball history. Barry Larkin is no exception; his personality, career and skills are worthy of acceptance into the HOF. Larkin was a bridge from the old school shortstops to the new age ones (along with Cal Ripken in the American League). One where almost all shortstops were only expected to be great fielders, and if they gave anything on offense it was considered a bonus. The shortstop position is the most critical defensively on the field; most championships teams have had one.

Larkin was a gold glove caliber shortstop who also could play the game offensively, having the skills to bat 1^st, 2^nd or 3^rd in a lineup as needed. He only won 3 Gold Gloves at the tail end of Ozzie Smith’s career, and would have had more if Ozzie wasn’t gobbling them all up. But while Larkin may have been a notch below the greatest fielding shortstop ever on defense, he didn’t take a seat to any shortstop on offense, as his 9 Silver Slugger Awards confirm.

He did it all. He could handle the bat, sac bunting runners over and he rarely struck out. Only twice in his 19 year career did he strike out more than 60 times. Larkin had more walks than strikeouts during his career, something you rarely see any more in baseball. He could hit a home run, get the clutch hit or simply advance the runner a base when needed. Pitchers didn’t want to see him come to the plate when the game was on the line, as he would rarely ever get himself out.

He was also considered one of the best base runners of his time, both running the bases and stealing bases. Larkin did not pad his stolen base numbers for the sake of the numbers, but stole bases when the team needed. And he did it at an amazingly successful rate of 83 percent (anything 80 percent or greater is considered elite). For players with career totals of 200 or more stolen bases, his 83 percent successful rate is 5^th best all time.

If there was a knock on Larkin, it was his all out play which resulted in constant nicks and bruises. He regularly played injured though he also would regularly miss games. Unfortunately, Larkin only played 140 or more games 7 times during his 19 seasons. (Although he did play 110 out of 114 games for the Reds in the strike shorted 1994 season) His total number of trips to the DL was an incredible 14 times! How much greater would his stats have been if he could have stayed on the field regularly? Would he have gotten to the golden 3,000 hit plateau if he had stayed healthy during his career? I certainly think so.

It is great that Larkin spent his whole career with one team, the Cincinnati Reds. It’s even more special since he was a Cincinnati native. That kind of thing rarely happens anymore. He was a 12 time All-Star, 3 time Gold Glove winner, 9 time Silver Slugger, 1995 NL MVP and 1990 World Champion. He also was considered one of the best people in baseball receiving many “good guy” awards over the years. The two biggest are the Lou Gehrig Memorial Award (he won in 1994) and the Roberto Clemente Award (he won in 1993). Larkin represents everything that is good and right about baseball.

Barry Larkin Career Stats – 19 seasons (1986 – 2004):

Games: 2,180

At bats: 7,937

Plate appearances: 9,057

Hits: 2,340

Runs: 1,329

Doubles: 441

Triples: 76

Home runs: 198

Runs batted in: 960

Walks: 939

Strikeouts: 817

Stolen bases: 379

Batting average: .295

On base: .371

Slugging: .444

OPS: .815

Just to show you how the shortstop position has been changed by Ripken and Larkin: Larkin is only one of five shortstops (half a player’s career games are at shortstop) that finished with 2,000 hits and 150 homeruns. The 5 are: Ripken, Larkin, Robin Yount, Alan Trammell and Joe Cronin (Ernie Banks played more games at first base). If you think those two totals are low you are right, but again, that was because defensive players almost exclusively manned the shortstop position. Of course, there will be more players to join that list as the position has tremendously morphed thanks to Larkin and Ripken.

Is there an argument that if Larkin wasn’t a shortstop perhaps he wouldn’t have made the Hall of Fame? Absolutely, and that is probably correct. His offense is solid, but it becomes great when compared to other shortstops. And while his defense was hall worthy on it’s own (a la Ozzie Smith or Phil Rizzuto), he would never have got there with just 3 Gold Gloves to his name.

In terms of offense comparison with the 22 previous shortstops elected to the HOF…

Here is how Larkin ranks with some of his statistics:

Average – tied for 7th

OBP – 8^th

SLG – 6^th

Hits – 10^th

HR – 4^th

RBI – 10^th

Runs – 8^th

SB – 6^th

When you are one of the top players at your position during your career and also when compared to historical peers, then you deserve to be in the Hall of Fame without question. Welcome aboard Barry Larkin!