Cincinnati Reds
Reds go to bat for Larkin
By C. Trent Rosecrans, CNATI.com Posted November 30, 2009 10:31 AM ET
Reds CEO Bob Castellini sent a letter to Hall of Fame voters on Monday, trumping the merits of former Reds shortstop Barry Larkin, who is eligible for the Hall for the first time this season."The Cincinnati Reds organization is extremely proud of Barry's accomplishments during an extraordinary 19-year Major League career, spent entirely with his hometown team," Castellini wrote.
"On and off the field, Barry represented himself and the Queen City with the class and professionalism consistent with the ideals of Major League Baseball and the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Even today, he continues to be one of our game's greatest ambassadors."
What followed was a two-page document outlining Larkin's credentials and statistics, including his 1995 MVP, nine Silver Slugger and three Gold Glove awards. It also mentions Bill James' designation of Larkin as one of the 10 most complete players in baseball history and No. 6 shortstop in baseball history.
The Reds also released Larkin's statistics compared to other Hall of Fame shortstops. Larkin hit .295 in 19 seasons with the Reds, amassing 2,340 hits, 1,329 runs, 441 doubles, 198 home runs, 960 runs and 379 stolen bases. There are 23 shortstops in the Hall of Fame and Larkin's offensive numbers are among the top 10 in each of those categories.
Larkin will appear at Redsfest on Friday at the Duke Energy Convention Center.
Categories: Cincinnati Reds, Featured Stories, News
Tags: Barry Larkin, Bob Castellini, Hall of Fame
Comments (10)
Classy move by Castellini.
Reply
great move by the Reds and the ownership/front office. larkin was great for this city and for the game of baseball and if Ozzie Smith is in, no doubt Larkin gets in...better avg, power, run producer, and all-around player. he played the glove just as well and would have won more gold gloves if he too did flips around the baseball field. great career barry...this reds fan will be in cooperstown if you are there this summer!
Reply
Now if they could only find a spot for him in the organization. Mr. Larkin is, by far, the greatest player in this franchises history (post-Big Red Machine)
Reply
I totally agree, however when I said if Larkin did flips he'd be a first ballot HOF guy too, i was accused of never seeing Ozzie play and that I shouldn't compare him to Ozzie both were great. I think Ozzie was great, but got hyped where Larkin was just great. If Ozzie was first ballot, no doubt Barry should be too, I'm just affraid he won't be.
Reply
and i'll stand by that, btalbert. to say all ozzie did was backflips and that if larkin did the same is asinine.
i grew up a royals fan absolutely hating the cardinals, but ozzie smith is the greatest defensive player i've ever seen -- at the game's best position. i also think he was underrated offensively, especially considering the type of baseball the cardinals played in the 80s
that said, larkin was a great all-around player, and if i had a vote, i'd vote for him. he was a great defensive player, but not in the same stratosphere as smith -- but you can say that pretty much for any human.
your arguments work better when you build your own case, not attempting to tear down others. well, they do in real life, maybe not on the internets.
Reply
I guess when I made the comment the first time I should have started it out by saying how good I believe Ozzie Smith was, but I still felt he got a lot more hype than a player like Larkin. To be sure, there were some of those "This Week in Baseball" how about that plays that no one but Ozzie could make. I will give you that.
I just feel like, through out the nation, Larkin never got the publicity he rightfully deserved as he was truly one of the best players in the game when he was healthy. I do still feel like some of the later gold gloves that Ozzie got, Larkin probably deserved as he was younger and at the time in both of their careers he was better than Ozzie. Not that Gold Gloves should count toward HOF votes, but any award you can come away with helps.
I believe Larkin will be hurt because he largely played in a town where the reds just weren't noticed. Think about it, 2 years he was in the playoffs. One year they were in a one game play off. If Larkin would've been on a team like the Cardinals, Yankees he would've been noticed a lot more and would be a no brainer. That is what I mean by Barry Larkin didn't do a back flip. There's no moment anyone can say, awww that's typical Barry Larkin stuff right there.
Reply
Not in the same stratosphere as Ozzie? I wouldnt say that, I think they are very comparable. Ozzie Smith had a career .978 fld% with 281 errors in 19 major league seasons and Barry Larkin held a .975 fld% with 235 errors in the same amount of seasons. Im not saying that Barry was the better fielder but to say that Ozzie was that much better is not correct.
Reply
in a sport full of stats -- good and useless -- there are few i have less use for than fielding percentage
Reply
Besides fielding percentage and errors how else is there really to judge work in the field?
Reply
I can agree that fielding percentage doesn't give the full picture, because you can't guage the range a guy like Ozzie had vs a shortstop like Jeter or Larkin or someone else. I realize I'm not as well versed in advanced statistics as you are, but I refuse to believe that fielding percentage is useless.
I know there is a lot of variables that play into fielding percentage too, like the judgement of an official scorer. But if fielding percentage is so useless, what stat shows that Larkin isn't in the same stratosphere?
Reply