Today’s the big day for Barry Larkin and his legion of fans; the National Baseball Hall of Fame will announce the Class of 2011 this afternoon.
There is no question whatsoever that Barry Larkin is a Hall of Famer, and it’s a disgrace that he wasn’t elected last year, in his first year of eligibility. John Erardi makes the case for Larkin this year (and here he looks at some arguments for Larkin by other analysts), and it’s a strong one. In a just world, Barry Larkin would be celebrating today.
As you may be aware, however, Larkin is unlikely to be elected this year. There are no legitimate reasons for this, except that the Hall of Fame voters are ignorant. If Larkin isn’t a Hall of Famer, they should shut the museum down.
Our friend Chris Jaffe has an in-depth piece over at Hardball Times predicting who will be elected. I can’t disagree with his conclusion that only Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven will reach the 75% threshold required; both those guys should have already been inducted anyway. Jaffe predicts that Larkin will get 61% of the vote, and finish third in the balloting.
If Jaffe is right — and I expect that he is — I’ll be disappointed. Of course, if he’s correct and Tim Raines gets 36 percent, Jeff Bagwell gets 35%, Edgar Martinez gets 32%, and Alan Trammell 26%…well, that’s more proof of something silly going on with Hall of Fame balloting. Every single one of those guys is a legitimate Hall of Famer.
I’m going to try not to get irritated when the results are announced today, but I make no guarantees.