Former Cincinnati Reds shortstop Barry Larkin was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on Monday, his third year on the ballot. The shortstop was the only player to be elected to the Hall this year by the Baseball Writers Association of America, which gave him 86 percent of the vote.
Larkin spent his entire 19-year career with the Reds. A 12-time All Star and three-time Gold Glove winner, Larkin was also the MVP of the National League in 1995 and is one of the few players to make it into the Hall while spending his entire career on one team. He finished his career with a .295/.371/.444 career line, 198 home runs and 379 stolen bases. All of that combined gave him a career WAR of 70.6, one of the highest marks ever posted by a shortstop.
As for the rest of the ballot, it's a series of mixed reactions. You can read my ballot here, and I was among those that would've voted for Larkin if I had the chance. I also would've voted for numerous other players, too. Here are the final percentage figures for the highest vote-getters, from Jay Jaffe of Baseball Prospectus:
- Barry Larkin: 86 percent
- Jack Morris: 67 percent
- Jeff Bagwell: 56 percent
- Lee Smith: 51 percent
- Tim Raines: 49 percent
- Alan Trammell: 37 percent
- Edgar Martinez: 37 percent
- Fred McGriff: 24 percent
- Larry Walker: 23 percent
- Mark McGwire: 20 percent
Pretty disappointing that Morris got more votes than Bagwell and Smith got more votes than Raines, among my many other complaints, but I suppose we can call this progress.