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Hall of Fame baseball writer Hal McCoy has retired from the Dayton Daily News after covering the Cincinnati Reds for 37 years. Hal's blog, though, will continue to be a must-read for Reds fans. He'll share his thoughts on the team this season and will file updates from Great American Ball Park. You also can catch Hal in print every Sunday in his popular Ask Hal columnHome > Blogs > The Real McCoy | Cincinnati Reds baseball news > Archives > 2012 > January > 09 > Entry
Larkin elected to baseball hall of fame
This news release just in from the National Baseball Hall of Fame:
Barry Larkin Elected to the Hall of Fame
— Larkin will be Inducted on July 22nd in Cooperstown along with Golden Era Committee Electee Ron Santo —
(NEW YORK, NY) - Barry Larkin, a 12-time All-Star, nine-time Silver Slugger and three-time Gold Glove winning shortstop, was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America in balloting verified by Ernst & Young.
Larkin, 47, will be inducted into the Hall July 22 at the Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown, N.Y., along with the late third baseman Ron Santo, who was elected last month by the Golden Era Committee. Also to be honored over Induction Weekend will be Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun with the J.G. Taylor Spink Award for baseball writing and television analyst Tim McCarver, the former major league catcher, with the Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting.
A total of 573 ballots, including nine blanks, were cast by BBWAA members with 10 or more consecutive years’ service. Players must be named on 75 percent of ballots submitted to be elected. This year, 430 votes were required.
Larkin, who was in his third year of eligibility, received 495 votes, for an 86.4-percent plurality. His vote total reflected a 24.3-percent gain from the 2011 ballot, the largest jump in one year to gain election since 1948 when pitcher Herb Pennock received 77.7 percent of the vote after having tallied 53.4 percent in 1947. Larkin’s jump is the largest for any Hall of Fame election in which at least 400 ballots were cast. The previous highest was the 16.4-percent jump by first baseman Tony Perez from 1999 (60.8) to 2000 (77.2).
Larkin’s election brings to 297 the number of elected Hall members. Of that total, 207 are former major-league players, of which 112 have been through the BBWAA ballot. Larkin is the 24th shortstop elected to the Hall and the 11th by the BBWAA. He is also the 48th Hall of Famer who played his entire career with one club and the third to do so for the Cincinnati Reds, joining catcher Johnny Bench and 19th-century second baseman Bid McPhee.
A Cincinnati native, Larkin played 19 seasons for the Reds and batted .295 with 2,340 hits, including 441 doubles, 76 triples and 198 home runs. He drove in 960 runs, scored 1,329, stole 379 bases and had more walks (939) than strikeouts (817). Larkin became the first shortstop to join the 30-30 club when he had 33 home runs and 36 steals in 1996. He was voted the National League Most Valuable Player in 1995 by the BBWAA and hit .353 in the Reds’ World Series sweep of the Oakland Athletics in 1990.
The only players other than Larkin to gain more than 50 percent of the vote were pitcher Jack Morris with 382 votes (66.7%), first baseman Jeff Bagwell with 321 (56.0%) and reliever Lee Smith with 290 (50.6%).
Players may remain on the ballot for up to 15 years provided they receive five percent of the vote in any year. There were 13 candidates who failed to make the cut this year (30 votes), including 12 of the 13 players who were on the ballot for the first time. The only first-year candidate who received sufficient support to remain was outfielder Bernie Williams with 55 votes (9.6%). Two-time American League MVP Juan Gonzalez got 23 votes (4.0%) and fell off the ballot in his second year of eligibility.
Other holdovers that will remain on the ballot in addition to Morris, Bagwell, Smith and Williams are first basemen Mark McGwire, Fred McGriff, Don Mattingly and Rafael Palmeiro; outfielders Tim Raines, Dale Murphy and Larry Walker; designated hitter-third baseman Edgar Martinez and shortstop Alan Trammell.
The vote:
Barry Larkin 495 (86.4%), Jack Morris 382 (66.7%), Jeff Bagwell 321 (56.0%), Lee Smith 290 (50.6%), Tim Raines 279 (48.7%), Edgar Martinez 209 (36.5%), Alan Trammell 211 (36.8%), Fred McGriff 137 (23.9%), Larry Walker 131 (22.9%), Mark McGwire 112 (19.5%), Don Mattingly 102 (17.8%), Dale Murphy 83 (14.5%), Rafael Palmeiro 72 (12.6%), Bernie Williams 55 (9.6%), Juan Gonzalez 23 (4.0%), Vinny Castilla 6 (1.0%), Tim Salmon 5 (0.9%), Bill Mueller 4 (0.7%), Brad Radke 2 (0.3%), Javy Lopez 1 (0.2%), Eric Young 1 (0.2%), Jeromy Burnitz 0, Brian Jordan 0, Terry Mulholland 0, Phil Nevin 0, Ruben Sierra 0, Tony Womack 0.
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is open seven days a week year round, with the exception of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. The Museum observes regular hours of 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. from Labor Day until Memorial Day Weekend. From Memorial Day Weekend through the day before Labor Day, the Museum observes summer hours of 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. Ticket prices are $19.50 for adults (13 and over), $12 for seniors (65 and over) and for those holding current memberships in the VFW, Disabled American Veterans, American Legion and AMVets organizations, and $7 for juniors (ages 7-12). Members are always admitted free of charge and there is no charge for children 6 years of age or younger. For more information, visit our Web site at baseballhall.org or call 888-HALL-OF-FAME (888-425-5633) or 607-547-7200.
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By michael
January 12, 2012 6:45 PM | Link to this
The hall is watered down now. Larkin was very good, not a true HOF’er. As a lifelong Reds fans, my memories are of too often tuning in to the game only to hear that Larkin was not in the lineup because of injuries. Humble player? I missed that part too. Of course he was probably humble in the presence of people of his own stature. Just not around fans. That being said, congrats to Barry Larkin. He was the best player on the team and gave us a lot of good days in Cincinnati, then he ran off to Florida. Homeboy Dave Parker still spends a lot of time in Cinci and was a more dominant player. He did some coke, so he won’t get in? I won’t even go into Pete Rose. There are much better players who belong there. This is where #11 deserves his credit as a HOF’er. BL wouldn’t consider drugs and was never involved in scandal. There is a case for his type of player getting elected.
By John
January 11, 2012 3:07 PM | Link to this
Hey, Hal! It’s great that the Reds signed Marshall, and then, Ryan Madson. So, good-bye to the unpredictable (but, often, successful) ways of Francisco Cordero. NOW, maybe it’s time for Drew Stubbs and others to hit for high-AVERAGE, and not strike out so much; eh?
By Mike-Dayton
January 10, 2012 8:43 AM | Link to this
Great sentence structure Joe. Read much? And Larkin was only on two All-Star teams when he was the only Red on the team and each time he was voted to the Starting Lineup by the fans. So he was never selected by the manager as a rule of one player per team.
By Joe
January 9, 2012 8:25 PM | Link to this
Barry got only because someone had to much like he made some all-star teams because every team must be represented.
By redsfandownunder
January 9, 2012 5:21 PM | Link to this
Good on ya Barry!
By BF Mary
January 9, 2012 4:47 PM | Link to this
And, thank you, Hal, for listing all the candidates and votes.
By Jim
January 9, 2012 4:24 PM | Link to this
I’m very happy for Barry. Not only was he a great player, but he’s truly one of the good guys in the game. Congratulations Barry.
By dodge09
January 9, 2012 4:10 PM | Link to this
congrats berry.i agree with randyman1956.barry can do it i have faith.
By Randyman1956
January 9, 2012 3:46 PM | Link to this
Congratulations Barry. Can we bring Barry in to manage and move Dusty up to the Boothe?