Larkin, Immortalized

Mike Carminati and Aaron Gleeman both make the case for Barry Larkin as a Hall of Famer, and I’m in complete agreement. Carminati lists the 20 Hall of Fame shortstops by career Win Shares: the average of the group is 330. Larkin finished with 346, compared to 318 for Alan Trammell and 269 for Dave Concepcion; the only higher WS totals for non-HOF shortstops are Cal Ripken, a sure inductee, at 427, and 19th century glove wizard Bill Dahlen at 394.
Larkin was the best shortstop in the National League for a decade and the best in baseball for about four years (1992-95). Larkin’s reputation for being injury prone, while somewhat deserved, is also a bit overblown; for the 1990s, adjusted for the shortened schedules of the 1994 and 1995 seasons, Larkin averaged 135 games and 578 plate appearances a year – not great, but not a guy who was always hurt, either, and Larkin’s career stretched over 19 seasons. As the star of a small-market team with unstable personnel, Larkin managed to play for a World Champion in 1990, a division winner in 1995 and a 96-win team that lost a 1-game playoff in 1999; he won 3 Gold Gloves and an MVP Award and played in 12 All-Star Games. I’d put him in.