[nannook]

Larkin came up short once again in his bid to be elected to the Baseball HOF. This year he got 62% of the vote. Last year he got 55%. It takes 75% to be elected.

IMO Larkin is a HOF. IMO a HOF is a player who was one of the best at his position during his era.

Here are some facts provided by espn...

Won 9 Silver Slugger awards. Only 3 players in the history of Baseball have won more, A-Rod with 10, Bonds 12, Piazza 10.

The only shortstop to steal 50 bases in any season in the '90s, and the first shortstop ever to join the 30-30 Club. He was safe 83.1 percent of the time, anyway -- which is merely the fifth-best stolen-base success rate since the invention of the caught-stealing stat, among members of the 200-SB Society.

Won three consecutive Gold Gloves (1994 to 1996) while Ozzie Smith was still playing.

One MVP award (1995)

More All-Star teams (12) than any shortstop in history except Ozzie and Ripken.

Career batting average over 19 seasons, was .295. The average shortstop in that time hit .256. That's a difference of 39 points -- or 15 percent.

Career on-base percentage was .371. The average shortstop's OBP was .317. So Larkin beat that by 54 points or 17 percent.

Career slugging percentage was .444. The average shortstop slugged .361. So that's an 83-point gap or 23 percent.

Career OPS (.815) was 137 points -- or 20 percent -- better than the average shortstop of his time (.678). The only two shortstops in the past 35 years who had an OPS that much better than the rest of their generation were A-Rod (31 percent) and Nomar Garciaparra (25 percent). But both of them moved to other positions before end-of-career declines shrunk those gaps. Larkin only played SS.

I say yes and hope the voters give him the 13% next year he will need to be elected.

Go Reds!