Barry Larkin Elected to Baseball Hall of Fame

Barry Larkin?s oldest brother, Mike, was a linebacker at Notre Dame. When Mike chose the Irish over the University of Michigan, the Wolverines? coach, Bo Schembechler, told Larkin?s mother that he would someday persuade another of her sons to play for him.

Schembechler was only partly successful. He recruited Barry Larkin to play for Michigan, but he made him redshirt his first season. That decision cost Schembechler a defensive back, but set in motion an exceptional baseball career.

?That was influential, because I just worked on my baseball talent, just that alone,? Larkin said on a conference call. ?That was an eye-opener, because I got so much better.?

Larkin got so good that he achieved baseball?s highest honor Monday, collecting 495 of a possible 573 votes to be chosen as the newest member of the Hall of Fame. With 86.4 percent of the vote conducted by veteran members of the Baseball Writers? Association of America, Larkin easily eclipsed the 75 percent needed for induction.

He was the only player elected by the writers and will join Ron Santo, whom the veterans committee elected posthumously last month, with new plaques in July. Three others received at least 50 percent of the votes: Jack Morris (66.7 percent), Jeff Bagwell (56 percent) and Lee Smith (50.6 percent).

?I?m incredibly, incredibly honored by the whole experience, and so excited about being the newest member of the Hall of Fame,? Larkin said.

Larkin excelled at Michigan, where he was twice an all-American and was drafted fourth over all by his hometown Reds in 1985. Larkin attended Moeller High School in Cincinnati ? predating Ken Griffey Jr. by a few years ? and idolized the championship teams of the Big Red Machine in the 1970s.

The Reds? shortstop then, Davey Concepcion, was still playing when Larkin reached the majors in August 1986. Larkin said Concepcion drilled him on the finer points of fielding, practicing bad hops on grass fields, even though he knew he was being replaced.

Concepcion had played shortstop for the Reds since 1970, and Larkin indeed succeeded him, making the first of 12 All-Star teams in 1988. Two years later, Larkin hit .301 with 30 steals to help the Reds win their last World Series title.

Larkin was the National League?s most valuable player in 1995, the last year the Reds won a playoff series, and few players have equaled his combination of a high batting average, speed, respectable power and fielding excellence.

Only three others have reached Larkin?s career batting average (.295) while also reaching his totals for stolen bases (379) and home runs (198): Barry Bonds and the Hall of Famers Roberto Alomar and Paul Molitor. Bonds, Alomar and Larkin are the only players to do that while also winning Gold Gloves. Larkin won three, from 1994 through 1996.

Larkin, who is now an analyst for ESPN, was never connected to performance-enhancing drugs, an issue that is increasingly complicating Hall of Fame elections. Support for the sluggers Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro has virtually flat-lined; McGwire received 19.5 percent of the vote this year, down from 19.8 last year, while Palmeiro improved to 12.6 percent, from 11.

The ballot sent to writers next December will be loaded with first-time candidates connected to the steroids scandal, including Bonds, Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa. No tangible evidence has ever linked Mike Piazza to steroids, but writers have long been suspicious.

Some voters said last year that they did not vote for Bagwell because they believed he probably used steroids. Yet besides Larkin, who increased his share of the ballot by more than 24 percentage points this year, Bagwell made the biggest jump. His support increased by 14.3 percentage points, from 41.7, suggesting that many voters may have initially rejected him simply to keep him from being a first-ballot Hall of Famer ? even though, officially, there is no distinction.

The leading vote-getter among new candidates was the former Yankee Bernie Williams, who received only 9.6 percent, barely clearing the 5 percent threshold to remain on the ballot. Craig Biggio, who had more than 3,000 hits, and Curt Schilling, who had more than 3,000 strikeouts, will make their first appearance on the next ballot.

The absence of compelling first-time candidates in this election probably helped Larkin; only 9 of the 573 ballots were blank. It may have also helped Morris, one of the more polarizing candidates in recent years, who now stands on the doorstep of Cooperstown.

Morris?s detractors point to his statistics; his 3.90 earned run average would be the highest in the Hall of Fame. But Morris was the No. 1 starter for three World Series winners ? the 1984 Detroit Tigers, the 1991 Minnesota Twins and the 1992 Toronto Blue Jays ? and has two years remaining to gain just 8.3 percentage points and reach 75 percent. Candidates have up to 15 years of eligibility on the writers? ballot.

Larkin made it on his third try. He never learned what kind of football player he would have been, but even Schembechler knew Larkin was smart to stick with baseball.

?Bo always told me he would strike me out anyway,? Larkin said. ?That was his way of saying, ?Congratulations, kid, you did it.???

Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=72c76392120898aaa8ff30b3eae2e092

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