Forgotten Blue - Barry Larkin
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
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.mgoblue.com/sports/m-basebl/spec-rel/032910aaa.html
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
September 14th, 2016 at 11:10 AM ^
Great write-up.
Larkin was a tremendous player.
September 14th, 2016 at 11:21 AM ^
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.
September 14th, 2016 at 1:14 PM ^
and larkin is all alone on that list.
September 14th, 2016 at 2:57 PM ^
Griffey wasn't juicing.
His body never changed an ounce. He started breaking down when he was supposed to break down.
September 14th, 2016 at 4:59 PM ^
lighten up
September 15th, 2016 at 11:35 AM ^
His Jaw says otherwise
September 15th, 2016 at 5:21 PM ^
Barry Bonds was not using steriods in that time period. He started using after 99.
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".
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.
September 15th, 2016 at 9:48 AM ^
Uh, Sabo played third most of the time. Indeed, Sabo played in 858 MLB games and 831 were at third and 0 were at second. (Unless you were saying Sabo played second at Michigan, in which case, never mind.)
September 14th, 2016 at 4:44 PM ^
Sabo played third at Michigan as well. Mike Watters played second.
September 15th, 2016 at 2:24 PM ^
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.
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.
September 14th, 2016 at 2:13 PM ^
It's Anthony Thomas, not Anthony Thompson. ;)
Agree Anthony Thomas should not be on UM's list. However, Anthony Thompson could arguably be #1 on IU's list.
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.
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.
September 15th, 2016 at 2:34 PM ^
September 15th, 2016 at 2:28 PM ^
September 14th, 2016 at 1:30 PM ^
Great addition to the blog!
But how good could a guy be if he only played for one team? Obvs nobody else wanted him...s/
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.
September 14th, 2016 at 1:55 PM ^
FYI - I sat down and listed all they Michigan players who argueably could've made the list (but didnt) and realized I could easily keep this going all the way till next spring. But thanks for the suggestion - I really do appreciate it.
September 14th, 2016 at 3:22 PM ^
Current LA Dodger SP Rich Hill is also a U of M alum who almost threw a perfect game the other night.
September 14th, 2016 at 5:17 PM ^
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…
September 14th, 2016 at 5:49 PM ^
he did considerable work in baseball development in Colombia for the State Department a few years ago.
September 15th, 2016 at 12:20 PM ^
I was suprised by the all tim elist as well and am very glad you're doing this series!
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.
September 15th, 2016 at 12:56 PM ^
My dad thought Larkin would be the perfect manager for the Tigers, but Detroit ended up with Ausmus instead.
September 16th, 2016 at 10:58 AM ^
Nice writeup on a great player, although "one of the greatest of all time" is a bit of a stretch. Still, very deserving of a place on a list of top 25 best Michigan athletes.
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…
September 17th, 2016 at 6:12 AM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
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."
September 28th, 2016 at 8:58 PM ^
Enjoyed watching Larkin play, and he seems to be a good character guy.
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