The 2010 Hall of Fame ballot holds the names of a couple of Reds favorites from the 80’s and 90’s with Barry Larkin appearing on the ballot for the first time, and Dave Parker returning for the 14th time.
In addition to the articles linked to above from Reds.com, Reds’ owner Bob Castellini sent a letter to voting members of the BBWAA. Included with the letter is a PDF file, which outlines all of Larkin’s awards, his statistics, how he matches up with other Hall of Fame shortstops, and how he performed relative to other shortstops from his era.
Also, the Reds have confirmed that Larkin is attending Redsfest Friday night at 6:30pm with the 1990 World Series team.
I think Barry Larkin deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. He was certainly a Hall of Fame caliber player, but his chances will be hurt in the eyes of many voters because of the amount of time he missed to injuries. Larkin played just 2 calendar seasons fewer than Cal Ripken, but he played in 820 fewers games and made 3800 fewer plate appearances. That’s the equivalent of 5 full seasons. Is it fair to compare him to the guy who never missed a start?