Congratulations to Barry Larkin who was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 86.4% of the vote from the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA). It was Larkin’s third year on the ballot.

A native of Cincinnati, Larkin played his entire 19-year big league career with his hometown Reds where he collected more than 2,300 hits, batted .295, with a .371 on base percentage, won a World Series ring in 1990, a National League MVP in 1995, three Gold Gloves and 12 NL All-Star appearances.

Jack Morris received 66% of the vote. Morris, who won World Series with the Detroit Tigers, Minnesota Twins and Toronto Blue Jays, has two years left on the ballot. A player needs 75% of the vote to be enshrined in Cooperstown.

In his second year of eligibility, Houston Astros slugger Jeff Bagwell received 56% of the vote. I would not be surprised if Bagwell were to be inducted next year given that his teammate Craig Biggio, who collected 3,000 plus hits, comes on the ballot for the first time. Given that Biggio and Bagwell were the heart and soul of the Astro teams in the 1990s and early 2000s, it would be fitting if they were inducted together.

Larkin will be inducted in July along with Chicago Cubs great Ron Santo who was posthumously inducted by the Veterans Committee last month.

I am just finishing up an article on players who were given scant attention by the BBWAA and are worthy of consideration by the Veterans Committee. Hopefully it will be up on the front page tomorrow morning. Here is the article I wrote on the subject last year.