Barry Larkin Reacts To Hall of Fame Election

The cameras were set up in his Orlando home.  The area in which the call from Jack O'Connell, president of the Baseball Writer's Association of America and Jeff Idelson, the director of the Baseball Hall of Fame were expected to tell Barry Larkin that he would be elected to the Hall of Fame.

Larkin was told the call would come around 1:00 and it was put off for a while.  He was told that if he was elected he would get the call well before the official announcement at 3:00.  By 2:53 pm he had decided he wasn't going to be elected.

As he walked from the kitchen to the living room to turn on the TV with thoughts of picking up his daughter from school and other daily events of his current life, the call came from O'Connell.  He couldn't believe what he was hearing.  He HAD been elected to the highest honor a baseball player could have.

"I was floored.  It was so far fetched that I couldn't believe what I was hearing," Larkin said.  "My phone has been blowing up ever since."

Thoughts started running through the mind of the 47-year old, born in the modest Cincinnati neighborhood of Silverton.    "I looked at the caller ID and saw that it was the 212 area code.  I didn't recognize that it was from New York," Larkin said.

"The support from the baseball writers has been over whelming.  I wondered how I would celebrate with the fans of Cincinnati.  This is huge.  How in the world am I going to celebrate with the Cincinnati fans?"

Larkin never dreamed or thought of being elected to the Hall of Fame.  He considered himself a support player, the type that would never be elected.  He did all of the little things to win games,  moving runners along, making a defensive play, stealing a base when it was needed.

"I didn't have that one thing that defined me as a Hall of Fame player.  Ricky Henderson had his speed.  Barry Bonds had his power.  When you think of players like Eric Davis and Albert Pujols, they are the one guy on the team that you don't want to let beat you.  Bonds was the type of player that you would tell Norm Charlton to waste four pitches, don't let him hit it, then he reaches out and hooks the ball down the line for a hit.  You didn't want to let Henderson get on base and if he did, you were going to pitch out and still he would end up stealing the base.  I was never like that."

"At times when I was hot or in certain situations I was that guy but I was usually the second choice. The way I was taught to play was to move the runner along.  Sometimes I would leadoff, sometimes bat second, sometimes third but I wasn't the guy you built the lineup around."

Larking also learned how important it was to be a good teammate off the field.  He would take rookies, who made the minimum on a clothes shopping spree in New York every season.

"That's the way I was treated.  I was shown what to do by Buddy Bell (a fellow Moeller grad) and Davey Concepcion.  A lot of players don't have that.  I feel sorry for them.  A lot of players never learn how to do that for teammates but it was how I was taught when I reached the Major Leagues," Larkin said.

When Larkin arrived in Cincinnati in 1986, David Concepcion had manned shortstop through championship seasons for 16 seasons.  Larkin was asked if Concepcion should be elected to the Hall.

"I'm not sure," Larkin said.  "I've never been one to analyze the numbers and his numbers are comparable to mine.  I don't know what the criteria is to become a Hall of Fame shortstop and I don't have a vote.  All I know is that when I came up Davey was in a position near the end of his career that someone like me was going to come along and take his job.  Davey took me into his home.  He taught me so many things.  He taught me how to make the bounce throw to first base.  He taught me the hitters around the league.  He helped me learn Spanish.  He taught me to meringue, to salsa.  For what he did for me, he should be in the Hall of Fame.  In the next few weeks, I am going to get to talk to Hall of Fame shortstops and find out what the criteria is to be in as a shortstop.  I will definitely put in a word for Davey."

Larkin will be inducted along with Ron Santo on Sunday July 22nd in Cooperstown.