Take a bow, Barry Larkin! You're a Hall Of Famer!

As a kid, I was very lucky.  I live in Louisville, which means I live within driving distance of two of the best shortstops of the 80’s and 90’s.  To my west is St. Louis (the 2011 World Series Champion) and Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith.  To my right is Cincinnati (home of human cannon Aroldis Chapman) and new 2012 Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Barry Larkin.  Barry Larkin was the only member of the Class of 2012 to make the cut into Cooperstown, and with good reason.

Barry Larkin’s Hall of Fame resume is pretty stellar.  He spent his entire 19-year career with his hometown Cincinnati Reds, where he batted .295 with 2340 hits and more walks than strikeouts.  During his tenure with Cincy, he was a 12-time All Star, won 9 Silver Sluggers, and even picked up 3 Gold Gloves despite Ozzie Smith playing in the same league as he did.  In 1996, Larkin became a 30/30 player with 33 home runs and 36 steals; he was 1995’s Most Valuable Player and won a World Series ring in 1990.

“It was absolutely an unbelievable experience,” said Larkin–now an ESPN baseball analyst–who received 86.4 percent of the vote cast by the Base Ball Writers of America.   “I felt like it was almost an out-of-body experience. I couldn’t believe it. Honestly, I couldn’t believe it.’”

Tags: Cooperstown, Baseball Hall of Fame, professional baseball, shortstops, Hall of Fame baseball players, Barry Larkin,  Cincinnati Reds, Barry Larkin elected to Hall of Fame, 2012 Hall of Fame class, Barry Larkin only person elected to baseball hall of fame, baseball writers of America, sports

I’ve never had a problem eating food from a gas station.  Just two weeks ago, I ate a couple of hot dogs purchased from a gas station.  They were delicious.  That’s not the first time I’ve eaten gas station food, and I doubt it will be the last.  There’s nothing like a fun food novelty. […]

Commissioner Roger Goodell gathered 32 NFL owners for one big question.  One of the league’s most wanderlust-stricken franchises is looking to move again.  The Oakland-Los Angeles-Oakland Raiders, tired of gutting it out in a run-down stadium, were once again looking for greener pastures.  Only the Miami Dolphins refused to cooperate.  With a vote of 31-1, […]

In 2006, an injury to Dallas Cowboys starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe opened the door for an undrafted free agent by the name of Tony Romo to take the helm of America’s Team and lead the Dallas Cowboys to an early playoff exit.  Bledsoe went from starter to afterthought in a season.  Now, the circle continues […]

For 89 years, Oscars has never had a major mistake.  The last few Oscars might have had a few flubs, but at least they never got the most important category of the night wrong.  Well, that’s now changed, all thanks to OG Bonnie and Clyde legends Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway.  When Faye Dunaway called […]

Tom Brady has been wildly successful, if controversial.  He’s the first quarterback ever to win five Super Bowls and only the second player to do so after Charles Haley.  Unlike Haley, Brady won all his Super Bowls with the same team, the New England Patriots.  The only thing that seems to be able to stop […]

Ben Affleck, no matter what you might think of him, is a talented actor and director.  He’s got the goods, but he’s smart enough to know when he’s in over his head.  All along, since he took on the mantle of Batman, he’s had his eyes on writing, directing, and starring as the Caped Crusader. […]

In May, students for the for-profit American College of Education were running into some problems.  Their access to email accounts and course information was locked down by Google, who had disabled their accounts.  The reason why?  A fired IT worker for the American College of Education locked the school out of their Google cloud account. […]