Barry Larkin

Barry Louis Larkin (born April 28, 1964) is a retired Major League Baseball player. Larkin played shortstop for the Cincinnati Reds from 1986 to 2004 and was one of the pivotal players on the 1990 Reds' World Series championship team. Larkin was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in January 2012 and was inducted on July 22.

Larkin is considered one of the top players of his era, winning nine Silver Slugger awards and three Gold Glove awards. He was selected to the Major League All-Star Game twelve times, and was elected the 1995 National League Most Valuable Player.

Early life
Larkin attended Archbishop Moeller High School in Cincinnati. He played college baseball at the University of Michigan and had his number 16 retired by the school on May 1, 2010.

Minor leagues
Larkin played with the Vermont Reds on their team that won the 1985 Eastern League Championship and in 1986 was the Rookie of the Year and AAA Player of the Year with the Denver Zephyrs. In all, he played only 177 minor league games in his professional career.

1986-1989: Early years
After arriving in the majors, Larkin battled fellow prospect Kurt Stillwell for the starting shortstop spot but soon established himself as the starter.

In 1988 Larkin led all major leaguers by striking out only 24 times in 588 at bats.

1990: World Series winner
Larkin batted .353 in the 1990 World Series to help lead the Reds to a four-game sweep of the Oakland Athletics.

1991-1994: Mid-career
On June 27–28, 1991 Larkin became the first shortstop ever to hit five home runs in the span of two consecutive games. In 1993 he won the Roberto Clemente Award.

1995: Most Valuable Player
In 1995, Larkin was sixth in batting (.319) and second in stolen bases (51) to win the National League's MVP award, the first by a shortstop since Maury Wills in 1962. He led the Reds to a central division title and the 1995 National League Championship Series, where he batted .389 during the series loss to the eventual champion Atlanta Braves.

1996-2004: Reds captain and later career
In 1996, Larkin hit a career-high 33 home runs and stole 36 bases, becoming the first shortstop in Major League history to join the 30-30 club; he arguably had a better season in 1996 than he had in his MVP year of 1995. Larkin was named the Reds' captain before the 1997 season (the first player to hold the honor since Dave Concepción's retirement). On September 27, 1998 Barry, his brother Stephen Larkin, second baseman Bret Boone, and third baseman Aaron Boone all played the infield at the same time for the last game of the 1998 season, making it the first time in Major League Baseball that two sets of siblings were on the field at the same time. In July of 2000, Larkin blocked a blockbuster trade to the New York Mets to remain with the Reds.

Retirement
Larkin called off a planned retirement ceremony scheduled for October 2, 2004, because he was not sure if he would retire, but indeed he did. The Reds have not issued his #11 jersey since he retired, and it was eventually retired on August 25, 2012.

Accomplishments
Larkin learned Spanish in order to build a rapport with his Hispanic teammates. Despite being injury-prone (missing significant playing time in six of his nineteen major league seasons), he won the Gold Glove Award from 1994–1996 and was a 12-time All-Star (in the 1988-1991, 1993–1997, 1999, 2000, and 2004 seasons). He became the first major league shortstop to join the 30-30 club when he had 33 home runs and 36 stolen bases in 1996.

In his 19-year career with Cincinnati, Larkin hit for a .295 batting average with 2340 hits, 198 home runs, 960 RBI, 1329 runs scored and 379 stolen bases. Baseball historian and expert Bill James has called Larkin one of the greatest shortstops of all time, ranking him #6 all time in his New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract.

On July 20, 2008, the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum inducted Larkin, César Gerónimo, August "Garry" Herrmann, and Joey Jay. The induction was held at the Duke Energy Center in downtown Cincinnati.

On Tuesday, March 24, 2009, the College Baseball Foundation announced the names of the ten players and coaches comprising the 2009 National College Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Class, which included Barry Larkin.

In 2012 Larkin was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame

Post-retirement
After his retirement, Larkin was hired as a special assistant to the general manager in the Washington Nationals organization. In 2008, he signed with the MLB Network as a studio analyst. In 2011 he moved to ESPN to serve as a Baseball Tonight analyst. Larkin received great applause from Reds fans when he helped host Baseball Tonight's on-the-road coverage of Sunday Night Baseball at GABP on July 24, 2011. Crowd chants of "Barry Larkin" and "Hall of Fame" often caused the anchors to have to talk very loud to be heard. Larkin was coincidentally in Cincinnati for Baseball Tonight on the day of the 2011 Hall of Fame induction ceremonies.

He was the bench coach for the United States at the 2009 World Baseball Classic and managed the United States' second-round game against Puerto Rico when U.S. manager Davey Johnson left to attend his stepson's wedding.

In 2010, his first year of eligibility for the Hall of Fame, Larkin was not elected, garnering 51.6 percent of the vote (75 percent is needed for election). In 2011, he received 62.1 percent of the vote, the highest of non-inducted players and third overall. In 2012, his third year of eligibility, Larkin was voted into the Hall of Fame with 86.4 percent of the vote. He was the 8th Reds player and 24th shortstop inducted to the Hall of Fame. On August 25, 2012 his number 11 was retired in an official ceremony at Great American Ball Park.

In 2012, he was invited by the Brazilian Baseball Federation to manage their national team in the qualifiers for the World Baseball classic. Surprisingly Brazil beat the home country Panama qualifying for the first time ever for the event and are scheduled to play in Japan. They were originally scheduled to play in Puerto Rico but because of the huge Japanese baseball influence in Brazil they made the switch and the team is scheduled to play Cuba and China besides the home country. He currently resides in Orlando, Florida.

Personal
Larkin's brother, Stephen Larkin, also played in the majors (and with the Reds). Larkin's other brother, Byron Larkin, was a second-team All-American basketball player at Xavier University and is currently the color commentator on Xavier basketball radio broadcasts. Larkin's eldest brother, Mike, was a captain of the University of Notre Dame's football team in 1985.

He and his wife Lisa have two daughters, Brielle D'Shea and Cymber, and a son, Shane. The family lives in Orlando, Florida. Shane played on the same football team as Trey Griffey, the son of Ken Griffey Jr., another Cincinnati Moeller Graduate, and the grandson of Ken Griffey Sr. He also played basketball for Dr. Phillips High School. He was ranked 13 in the nation at one time. Currently Shane plays collegiately for the University of Miami. Larkin's daughters play lacrosse. Brielle D'Shea is named in honor of the New York Mets and their former stadium, Shea Stadium, as Larkin enjoyed playing there.

Philanthropy
In 2008, Larkin released a charity wine called "Barry Larkin's Merlot", with 100% of his proceeds supporting Champions Sports Foundation. Larkin built the Champions Sports Complex to harness the power of sport and use it to successfully develop the youth in America by targeting their social, emotional, and educational needs. The Foundation was established as the premier safe haven for the total development of young people through the authority of sport.