BARRY LARKIN: Hall of Famer?
Yesterday, ex-Cincinnati Reds shortstop Barry Larkin was informed he had been elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the esteemed members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA). He must have been ecstatic when he got the news. As ecstatic as I was dumbfounded.
Larkin’s playing career spanned the same seasons (1986-2004) as my peak baseball watching years. I always thought he was a good player, but not elite. It was a warm and fuzzy story when he played his entire career with his hometown team and special that he won a World Series there, but a Hall of Famer? Larkin is not due any post-career recognition in baseball. Maybe a Barry Larkin Appreciation Day in Cincinnati, but that’s it. I understand fully the importance of Larkin being generally loved by the media and being a member thereof since 2008, when he took a job with MLB network. Being friendly with the media shouldn’t warrant a Hall of Fame nod. Larkin was also a really nice guy by all accounts and I don’t recall him being in much trouble ever. And, he had a nice career with pretty good numbers. That said, his behaviour off-the-field doesn’t mean his performance on it should be amplified.
It is also telling Larkin was inducted this year. The year before the BBWAA will be forced to weigh in on Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens and their respective worthiness. The entire steroids controversy is a subject for another article (or several books), but voting Larkin into the Hall of Fame largely because he’s a nice guy is a bigger travesty than writers potentially leaving Bonds and Clemens out because they are not.
As an avid baseball fan, Larkin was never considered by me to be worthy of enshrinement in the Hall. I must have missed the games when Larkin redefined his position like Cal Ripken Jr. or made magical plays with his glove like Ozzie Smith. He was, at best, the top shortstop in the National League for a few years in the early 1990s. That is to say he was the tallest dwarf. Shawon Dunston and Jose Vizcaino were his competition. Being a better player than your contemporaries when your contemporaries were Kevin Elster and Dickie Thon doesn’t make you bound for Cooperstown! Had Larkin played in the American League during his career, he would have been no better than the third best shortstop in his league at any time, behind Ripken Jr., Alan Trammell, Tony Fernandez, and later Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, and Nomar Garciaparra.
Here are Larkin’s 162-game averages, according to baseball-reference.com, side-by-side with a current mystery shortstop: (Keep in mind Larkin was hurt a lot and only played 150 or more games in 4 of his 19 seasons.)
LARKIN MYSTERY SS
AVG HR RBI R SB AVG HR RBI R SB
.295 15 71 99 28 .286 11 69 90 22
The numbers are not much different. A few percentage points here and there, but the statistics tell similar stories. One variance not seen in the numbers is that Mystery Man is a two-time World Series champion. In his first Series, he ended game 7 in extra innings with an RBI single. In his latest World Series, he was named MVP. Anyone who thinks Edgar Renteria should be in the Hall of Fame, put up your hand…he’s the Mystery SS. I hope at least 86% of BBWAA members have their hands up.
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I agree, I was confused to see Larkin make it. More than that, I’m just confused about a lot that has to do with the Hall voting. Why does someone HAVE to make it every year? Why not reserve the right to be enshrined for the truly deserving? When those players come around, and they do/will, we’ll all know it. The way the world is today, we don’t need the Hall of Fame to tell us which players are good and which were better than others – we have baseball-reference.com, MLB Network, etc. The numbers don’t change, nor do the highlights, we won’t just forget these guys, no matter what the voters say. The fact that Barry Larkin and Ted Williams are both Hall of Famers just seems kind of strange, don’t you think? I don’t know, just a thought but I always wonder about the idea the Japanese Baseball League uses for Hall of Famers over there. They have certain numbers that need to be met. If you meet one of them, you’re in under that heading. A gold glove Hall of Famer would have won at least 7, a Home Run guy would have hit at least 500, a BA guy would hit .340, etc.. If not, oh well, you were still a professional ball player.
That’s a pretty good idea. Like the LPGA has, where you win a certain number of tournaments and you’re in the HOF. I agree there doesn’t need to be a new inductee every year. It would almost be better when there wasn’t. Another idea would be to raise the voting minimum from 75% to 90%. I never understood how a player can get 51% of the votes one year, then 86% a couple of years later. Nothing changed as far as their career.
I like the article I have always thought of the hall of fame as a brotherhood so i think the members of the hall of fame should vote on who gets in i understand many members are dead, so that is the main problem. Any ideas on how that could work?
That’s a little like what they have for the Veteran’s Committee. I think it would be a great idea to have the living members get a say as to who gets enshrined with them. There would still be problems with players voting for their friends, but it wouldn’t be as bad as writers voting.