But that wasn’t a quip merely delivered for a chuckle. It was a quip that told you all you needed to know about what Larkin meant to the men he played with. His 1995 MVP award — in a season in which he had only 15 home runs and 66 RBIs — was a testament to Larkin’s never-ending presence and leadership.
I’ve often compared Larkin’s presence on those Reds teams to Derek Jeter’s presence on the Yankees of 1996 to 2009. And just as you can’t measure what Jeter means to the Yankees just by counting up his home run trots, numbers alone didn’t measure Larkin’s greatness, either.
But those numbers, as I believe I mentioned someplace, are not to be confused with, say, Ricky Gutierrez‘s numbers. They are numbers that tell the story of a man who dominated his position, in his time, in a way few other shortstops have.
So there’s a term we often use to describe men like that. I believe you’re familiar with it:
Hall … of … Famer.
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