Larkin's still a Red - let's make it official

[Jason]

[quote][b][size=3]Larkin's still a Red - let's make it official[/size]
Legend deserves role with team[/b]

Link: [url="http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080719/COL03/807190358/1007/SPT02"]http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...0358/1007/SPT02[/url]

Barry Larkin is here, but only for the day, which is too bad. His deal with the Washington Nationals, as a special assistant to general manager Jim Bowden, expires at the end of this year. Larkin should be back with the Reds in 2009, in whatever capacity he desires. Larkin lives in Orlando but remains of Cincinnati, in ways having nothing to do with roots. He owns a Cincinnatian's humility, workmanlike sensibility and aversion to bright lights.

He always could get a runner home from third base with fewer than two outs, too. There is that.

"Barry knows how to play," Bret Boone told me in 1995, Larkin's MVP year for the Reds. "He just knows. Like the tight situations. Two strikes on him. Runner on third. One out. He'll get the runner in. Base hit, fly ball. Whatever."

A big rule in sports journalism is not to fall for the people you write about. I've toed that line successfully, save for two people: Skip Prosser, the late Xavier basketball coach, and Barry Larkin. Covering Larkin for 17 of his 19 years as a Red was a privilege.

The Reds formally will induct him into their Hall of Fame today. They need to have him on the field in Sarasota next February. Reds owner Bob Castellini was out of the country Friday and could not be reached. But knowing The Big Man's desire to involve former Reds in the team's doings, this should be a no-brainer.

"I told them I want to come back" is what Larkin told his brother Byron not long ago. Said Byron: "He needs to be with the Reds. He's a Red, man - always has been."

As a player, all Larkin did was everything. When the Reds had power behind him, as they did early in his career, he hit leadoff. In 1988, Larkin stole 40 bases and struck out just 24 times in 588 at-bats.

When they needed him to hit for power, he did that, too. In '96, Larkin batted third and hit 33 home runs. When a ground ball to the right side would score a run, he did that. When a sacrifice was the answer, he bunted.

He later took a leadership role. Larkin learned Spanish in the early '90s, with the help of former teammate Dave Martinez, partly so he could communicate with younger Latin teammates.

When Larkin sensed the late-'90s Reds weren't committed to winning, he spoke. Larkin knew when to speak, and he knew if he rationed his words, they'd have power. When the club traded Boone after the '98 season, Larkin told me: "I want to win. It's about winning, not wanting to be here or there. If I have a chance to win here, great. If not, move me."

The Reds won 96 games the following year. Larkin played in 161 games, at age 35.

Before he retired after the 2004 season, Larkin spent extra time tutoring his replacement at shortstop, Felipe Lopez. "Selfless," Byron Larkin calls it. "That right there shows his character." Barry and Byron were especially close. Growing up in Silverton, they shared a bed. "Spent half my life telling him to move over," said Byron, a former XU basketball star who's now a financial adviser.

"He doesn't want the spotlight," Byron said. "That's one of the reasons he moved to Orlando. He just wants to blend in." Byron said one of Barry's favorite moments with the Nationals occurred at spring training not long ago. He was eating with several players when fans approached for autographs. "None of them recognized him," Byron said.

There were blemishes on the résumé. Larkin could be political. His term as "special assistant" to Bowden began when he was still playing and Bowden was the Reds' GM. Larkin and Ken Griffey Jr. left Cinergy Field before the final game of the 2000 season ended.

Those are minor matters. Larkin was a line drive into the gap in right-center field. He was ballet on a grounder behind the second-base bag. He was a bunt or a ground ball behind the runner.

Larkin was whatever it took. He knew how to play.

The Reds will honor him tonight at Great American Ball Park. He would honor them next spring, with his presence and influence, in Sarasota.[/quote]

:applaud: :applaud: :applaud: :applaud: :applaud: :applaud:
:applaud: :applaud: :applaud: :applaud: :applaud: :applaud:
:applaud: :applaud: :applaud: :applaud: :applaud: :applaud:

Larkin was always one of my favorite Reds. All time he is in my Top 2 with Bench.