Forgotten Blue - Barry Larkin

Submitted by mGrowOld on

Recently my new BFF It's Harambe took on the thankless task of asking his fellow MgoBloggers to rank the top 25 Michigan athletes of all time.  As the list was revealed it was clear to this reader that some of the most notable players who competed during the athletic stone age (pre-internet) had been forgotten about.  This weekly diary will take a look at the more notable players from our past to remind everyone of what they did and why they deserve to be honored and remembered.

 

BARRY LARKIN

 

Image result for barry larkin michigan

Dusty Baker, Reds manager

"Barry not only was one of the most talented and gifted players, but he was one of the most intelligent on and off the field. He had great speed but had the ability to slow down the game, so he made very few mistakes. He is one of the few players who maximized the ability he was born with. Barry could do it all. He is the six-tool player all the scouts are looking for now, one with all the baseball skills plus intellect."

 

One of the more glaring omissions in the top 25 greatest Michigan athletes poll was the absence of any baseball or hockey players on the list when in fact; one of the greatest baseball players of all time was a “Michigan Man” – Barry Larkin.

Larkin accepted a football scholarship to the University of Michigan to play for legendary coach Bo Schembechler, but during his freshman year he decided to play baseball exclusively

Born April 28, 1964, in Cincinnati, Ohio, Larkin was an honor student and athletic star at Cincinnati’s Moeller High School and enrolled at the University of Michigan with the idea of playing both baseball and football. But when legendary UM football coach Bo Schembechler advised Larkin to redshirt his freshman year, Larkin’s path to Cooperstown began. “The best decision Bo Schembechler ever made, in my opinion,” Larkin said. “It allowed me to focus on only one sport (baseball) for the first time.”  . He was a two-time All-American and led the Wolverines to berths in two College World Series, in 1983 and 1984 (the last time Michigan reached the finals).  Larkin was also named Big Ten Player of the Year in 1984 and 1985.

After earning a spot on the 1984 U.S. Olympic Baseball Team, Larkin was taken by the Reds with the fourth overall pick in the 1985 MLB Draft.

Larkin finished seventh in the National League Rookie of the Year voting in 1985 despite playing just 41 games. The next season, he won the Reds’ starting shortstop job, and by 1988 Larkin was a first-time All-Star with a .296 average, 91 runs scored, 32 doubles and 40 stolen bases.

In 1990, Larkin finished seventh in the NL MVP voting after hitting .301 with 30 steals and 67 RBIs. The Reds went wire-to-wire in winning the NL West that year, then dispatched the Pirates and the A’s in the postseason to win the World Series. In the four-game sweep over Oakland in the Fall Classic, Larkin hit .353 and scored three runs.

Larkin began to develop power in 1991 when he hit 20 homers, and his all-around play continued to improve. He won the first of three consecutive Gold Glove awards in 1994, was named the NL MVP in 1995 after hitting .319 en route to the Reds’ NL Central title and trip to the NLCS, and became the first shortstop – and just the second Reds player – to post a 30-homer/30-steal season in 1996.

“I’m not a home run hitter,” said Larkin, who hit five home runs in two consecutive days in 1991 – another first for a shortstop. “I’m a line drive hitter. (In 1996), I hit (33) line drives that went over the fence.”

Larkin was also a role model off the field, winning the Roberto Clemente Award in 1993 and the Lou Gehrig Award in 1994.

Larkin retired after the 2004 season – he was named an All-Star in his final year in the big leagues – with a .295 career average, 2,340 hits, 1,329 runs scored and 379 stolen bases. Larkin scored at least 80 runs in a season seven times, hit 30-plus doubles in six seasons and stole 30-or-more bases five times. He won his three Gold Glove awards at shortstop en route to a career fielding percentage of .975, and won nine Silver Slugger awards.  He played every one of his 19 big league seasons with the Reds.

Larkin's number 16 was retired by Michigan on May 1, 2010.

 

 

Sources:

http://baseballhall.org/hof/larkin-barry

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Larkin

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/college/university-michigan/2015/02/12/barry-larkin-said-bo/23332575/

http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/m-basebl/spec-rel/032910aaa.html

Comments

mGrowOld

September 14th, 2016 at 9:32 AM ^

I had two videos embedded in the post that both disappeared within minutes of my posting - wierd.  Anyways here they are.  

Barry's highlights

 

 

Barry's Hall of Fame Induction Speech

 

Sleepy

September 14th, 2016 at 12:28 PM ^

1) Barry Bonds - 93.9

2) Junior Griffey - 68.5

3) Barry Larkin - 60.0

4) Jeff Bagwell - 56.9

5) Mark McGwire - 56.3

 

Larkin was a GREAT player for over a decade.  Awesome write-up.

trueblueintexas

September 14th, 2016 at 12:32 PM ^

Thanks for this post about Larkin. I was at his first game as a starter in 1986. He made a great defensive play, made two great base running decisions getting an extra base and forcing a throw allowing another player to score. My Dad and I looked at each other after one of the plays and both said, "He's going to be a special player". 

Everyone Murders

September 14th, 2016 at 12:35 PM ^

The Larkin - Chris Sabo shortstop - second base combination was amazing.  Larkin was definitely the better player, but they were the best defensive infield combination I've ever seen at the college level.

Reminiscent of Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker on the Tigers, for those of us long in the tooth.

UM Indy

September 14th, 2016 at 12:46 PM ^

So much so that I went to Cooperstown to see him inducted, went to his number retirement at UM and thankfully got to see him play many times in Cincinnati.  Simply too good to be forgotten on any UM, MLB or just awesome person list.

mGrowOld

September 14th, 2016 at 1:38 PM ^

While the 25 best athlete poll was entertaining the things I thought it got the most wrong were as follows:

1. Anthony Thompson at #25 (Great player, didnt belong on list)

2. Cazzie Russell at #14 (Should've been in top 5 IMO)

3. Braylon Edwards at #9 (Maybe he gets on the list but in the 20's at best.)

4. No hockey players made the list

5. No baseball players and most notably no Barry Larkin who should've made top 10

Next week I'm going address the #4 error.

ST3

September 14th, 2016 at 3:17 PM ^

I didn't follow that series very closely, but I'd have a hard time NOT including Anthony Thomas on the list. Great stats, great nickname, national champion, what more do you want?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Thomas_%28American_football%29

He was honored as the 1997 Big Ten Freshman Of the Year by both the conference coaches and media. His 1,733 rushing yards in 2000 remains the second highest single-season total in Michigan history. Thomas's 4,472 rushing yards broke Jamie Morris' Michigan career rushing records... He also broke Tyrone Wheatley's modern Michigan career record with 56 touchdowns (55 rushing and one receiving). He also set and continues to hold Michigan records with an average of 144.4 rushing yards per game in 2000 and six games in a season with at least 150 rushing yards.

And just watch his highlight tape.

P.S. I think Larkin deserves to be on the list, but not at the expense of the A-Train.

mGrowOld

September 14th, 2016 at 3:23 PM ^

Lamar Woodley?

Or maybe Michael Phelps who never actually, you know, swam at Michigan?

Either way....that's why I love this - for everybody there is an arguement for and against inclusion.  My plan is to provide another opportunity for the board to vote, probably next spring, after all the "forgotten Blue" members have been profiled.  And when I do I'll include everybody on a list so nobody will need to pull names from memory when they vote.

That should be interesting IMO.

M Ascending

September 15th, 2016 at 2:34 PM ^

I view Thomas more as a cumulative stats guy. Not a true superstar performer. He could be deleted in favor of Larkin or Brendan Morrison.
AT also had a horrible fumble to lose at Northwestern -- all he had to do was go to the ground after getting the first down, but he tried to take it to the house and coughed it up. I think the final was 54-51 NW.

M Ascending

September 15th, 2016 at 2:28 PM ^

Brendan Morrison, Red Berenson, and Bill Freehan should all have made the list, in addition to Larkin. Also disappointing that just one female athlete was recognized.
How was Phelps on there? He never swam for Michigan.

ChalmersE

September 14th, 2016 at 1:34 PM ^

Loved Larkin, but if we're talking Michigan and baseball, we'd be remiss not to mention George Sisler, who lettered at Michigan for three years and was among the earliest elected to the Baseball HOF in 1939.  In 1922, he hit .420 and led the AL in stolen bases, triples and hits. The latter total was 246, the record until Ichiro broke it several years ago. He also set the modern era record for consecutive game hitting streak -- 41 -- which was eventually broken by Joe Dimaggio.

Erik_in_Dayton

September 14th, 2016 at 5:17 PM ^

He was a great leader for the Reds for a long time. He helped pilot the franchise through both the Pete Rose and Marge Schott fiascos. He learned Spanish to speak to the Latinos on the team who were still learning English. He set a professional and selfless tone for the team day after day for year after year. He also should have won several more Gold Gloves, but Ozzie Smith kept winning them on reputation even after Larkin had surpassed him.

I've never heard anything but good things about the man. The word "class" gets used a lot, but Larkin really had it in abundance.

rschreiber91

September 14th, 2016 at 5:29 PM ^

I got to meet both Larkin and Sabo at Shea Stadium in 1990, and I did a 10-question Q&A with both of them on the field during batting practice for the Daily.  Larkin was the nicest guy you'd ever meet, and was truly astonished to be talking to a Michigan Daily reporter in that setting.  Many forget that Hal Morris was the 1B for that Reds team in 1990, making 3/4 of the infield Wolverines -- unfortunately I didn't get to talk to him that day (he may have been injured -- I don't recall).  While it's not the most exciting piece ever, with the Daily archives now available on the web, here's a link to the Q&A if anyone is interested in it:

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2706&dat=19900924&id=3uBQAAAAIBA…

WhoopinStick

September 15th, 2016 at 12:24 PM ^

As I recall Larkin played second base on the Olympic team.  I can picture the guy they put at shortstop but can't recall his name at the moment.  I don't think that guy lasted very long in the majors, or at least didn't have nearly the career Larkin had.  Have to think that it was a mistake not putting Larkin at short on the Olympic team.

mGrowOld

September 16th, 2016 at 11:14 AM ^

Well.....

Given that as of the year 2000 there have been over 15,000 people play baseball in the big leagues and of those only 310 made the Hall of Fame and of those only 24 were shortstops like Barry I feel pretty good with the statement he was one of the greatest of all time.

http://baseballhall.org/hall-of-famers

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2000/may/11/how-many-players-have-pl…

 

pinkfloyd2000

September 17th, 2016 at 9:49 AM ^

As a big Reds' fan living in Cincy, Larkin has always been a very special player (and person) for me. Had the opportunity to meet him some years ago, when he was still playing. 

Larkin (along with Sabo and Hal Morris) was a huge part of that 1990 World Series Championship team...and, I often cite those three to my Buckeye fan buddies down here as reasons why they cannot, in good conscience, "not give a damn for the whole state of Michigan."