Barry Larkin was named on 86% of the ballots cast and was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame today. Widely regarded as one of the greatest shortstops of all time, the Cincinnati native played for nineteen seasons and retired with impressive statistics. Larkin finished his career with a .295 batting average, 198 home runs and 379 stolen bases.

Larkin was the only player elected to the HOF this year, meaning that the crowds probably won’t be as big as they’ve been in years past. On the upside, it also means that everyone in attendance will be Barry Larkin/Reds fans.

Growing up, Larkin was my favorite player (and remains my favorite player of all time). I didn’t understand baseball for the first five years of my life while Barry was still playing but it didn’t matter. I proudly wore #11 for all one of my major league kid-pitch baseball seasons and for all 15 of my shirt league soccer seasons. Now that I’m older, I understand how great of a player Larkin truly was and his quality of character off the field. I also got his autograph when I was a kid, signed “To Andrew”, so that doesn’t hurt his case either.