Hall of Fame Poll: Barry Larkin

Because I want to distract myself from the Heath Bell rumors (please Alex, even if you do want Bell, don't get in a bidding war over him) I thought I'd put up the next of the Hall of Fame polls.

Next on the list is Brian Jordan, but even though Brian had a nice major league career, I don't think he is anyone's idea of a Hall of Fame player.

So we'll just skip to Barry Larkin. Larkin had a great 19 year career, all with the Reds. He hit 198 home runs, drove in 960, scored 1329 runs and stole 379 bases. His career line: .295/.371/.444. Career WAR of 68.9, by Baseball Reference, Fangraphs has 70.6.

He was named to 12 All-Star teams, won NL MVP in 1995, won 3 Gold Gloves and 9 Silver Sluggers. Really he is a terrific player, Gold Glove defense at short and a leadoff hitter's bat.

Barry is one that I really think should be in the Hall. He got 62.1% of the vote last year, I hope this is his year. Part of his trouble, getting the votes, is that he played in a era with a lot of good shortstops. Ozzie Smith, Cal Ripken, Alan Trammell, Robin Yount were all great. But just because he played at the same time as other great shortstops doesn't mean he shouldn't be going in. Shortstop is one of the positions that is underrepresented in the Hall.

Larkin's career numbers are here.