From Silverton to Cooperstown Barry Larkin Gets The Call

The Cincinnati Reds are setting up a conference call today in the event that favorite son, Barry Larkin is elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame this afternoon.

The vote by the senior members of the Baseball Writers Association of American was due on December 31.  The selections if any will be announced on the MLB Network at around 3:00 pm this afternoon.

Larkin narrowly missed election last January in his first year of eligibility.

Larkin played all 19 season with the Reds, having been born and raised within seven miles of Riverfront Stadium.  He attended Moeller High School and played football, basketball and baseball for the Crusaders. The Reds drafted him in the second round out of Moeller in 1982.  Larkin decided to play baseball at the University of Michigan.  Jerry Faust Larkin's football coach at Moeller once told me that Michigan coaches begged him to play football.  The Reds drafted him again with their first round choice in 1985.  He signed this time and broke in with the Reds in 1986 playing for Pete Rose.

Larkin was also a member of the USA 1984 Olympic Baseball Team.

His older brother Mike played football for Moeller and Notre Dame.  His younger brother, Byron, played basketball at Xavier University and remains the schools leading all-time scorer.  Byron is the analyst for Xaviers radio broadcasts.  Youngest brother Stephen played baseball at the University of Texas and played 11 season in the minor leagues.  Stephen played one game for Cincinnati in 1998.  At 1-for-3 he actually finished with a .333 average.  Famous brother Barry finished his 19-year career as a .295 hitter in 2,180 games.

Larkin's son Shane is a freshman guard on the University of Miami (Florida) basketball team.