Larkin, Santo Inducted

Today Barry Larkin and Ron Santo will take their rightful places in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.   Congratulations to both men, who were excellent all-around players in midwestern cities who were criminally underrated for a variety of reasons (both played in small markets, were overshadowed by their peers, and didn't post monster stats, to name a few).  And while the two ended up at the same destination--Cooperstown00their journeys couldn't have been more different, with Santo's being much longer and more tragic. 

Santo starred with the Cubs in the '60s and '70s

In 1980, his first year on the ballot, Santo failed to attain the requisite five percent of votes needed to stay there, so he fell off the ballot until reappearing in 1985.  He slowly gathered momentum but ultimately fell well short of induction, topping out at 43.1 percent of the vote his last year of eligibility.  15 times his name was on the ballot and 15 times the voters denied him entry.  Santo's health rapidly deteriorated shortly thereafter, and he made it clear that he wanted to see his plaque enshrined while he was still alive.  Sadly, he died on December 2nd, 2010 with the reputation as the best baseball player outside the Hall.  More than a year later Santo was posthumously elected by the "Golden Era" Veteran's Committee, a 16 member panel consisting of former greats such as Hank Aaron, Al Kaline, Ralph Kiner, Juan Marichal, Brooks Robinson, Al Rosen, and longtime teammate Billy Williams.  Santo received all but one possible vote.  Shame on the Hall of Fame for waiting too long, allowing more than 30 years to pass before inducting Santo, who was second only to Eddie Mathews among third baseman at the time of his retirement.  Better late than never, I suppose, but I can't get over the fact that Santo was robbed of the opportunity to cherish the honor with his family, friends, and teammates.  Nobody would have enjoyed Hall of Fame weekend more.

Larkin played his entire 19 year career
in Cincy

Thankfully, the BBWAA did not make the same mistake with Larkin.  He debuted on the ballot in 2010 with 51.6 percent of the vote and jumped to 62.1 percent the following year.  The general consensus was that Larkin was one of the ten best shortstops of all time and clearly deserved a place in the Hall of Fame, but that his track record was not distinguished enough to merit a prestigious first ballot induction.  If that logic doesn't make a whole lot of sense to you, join the club.  Given the extremely weak class of 2012 (best candidate: Bernie Williams) Larkin was all but guaranteed to make it in, and did by receiving 86.4 percent of the vote.  It will be interesting to see if this helps Alan Trammell's case at all...

I wrote more extensively about the lifelong Reds shortstop and the beloved Cubbie third baseman during the winter.  To read more about my opinions on the Hall of Fame, check out my "Hall of Fame" tab.