Is Barry Larkin a Hall of Famer?

At my look of the 2012 Hall of Fame eligible class, I spoke of the weak set of candidates for the Hall of Fame class of 2012. The only player that had a legitimate shot of making it in 2012 appears to be Barry Larkin. While he appears to have the best shot of entering the Hall of Fame of anyone in 2012, what are his qualifications? Is he actually Hall of Fame worthy?

Barry Larkin is a difficult player to judge for the Hall of Fame. He was a very good player with a darn good career. However, there isn't anything that stands out on his resume that makes you think he's a definite Hall of Famer. Here are Barry Larkin's career offensive numbers:

.296 BA, 2340 H, 198 HRs, 960 RBIs, .371 OBP, .444 SLG, .815 OPS, 116 OPS+

For a shortstop these numbers are excellent. However when compared to some contemporaries during the time he played, they have difficulty standing out. Take a look at these career numbers for a number of contemporary shorstops Barry Larkin played with.

Cal Ripken Jr.: .276 BA, 3184 H, 431 HRs, 1695 RBIs, .340 OBP, .447 SLG, .788 OPS, 112 OPS+

Migel Tejada: .286 BA, 2300 H, 301 HRs, 1265 RBIs, .338 OBP, .461 SLG, .798 OPS, 109 OPS+

Derek Jeter: .313 BA, 2947 H, 234 HRs, 1140 RBIs, .384 OBP, .451 SLG, .835 OPS, 118 OPS+

Nomar Garciaparra: .313 BA, 1747 H, 229 HRs, 936 RBIs, .361 OBP, .521 SLG, .882 OPS, 124 OPS+

Alan Trammell: .285 BA, 2365 H, 185 HRs, 1003 RBIs, .352 OBP, .415 SLG, .767 OPS, 110 OPS+

Barry Larkin's .815 OPS and 116 OPS+ definitely stand out against some of the players he played against earlier in his career, such as Cal Ripken Jr. and Alan Trammell. However, they fall a fair amount behind the younger shortstops he played against later in his career. The career total numbers don't stand out as particularly special either. They are quite similar to Alan Trammell and even Miguel Tejada's.

While Barry Larkin was a very good defensive shortstop, who was able to win 3 Gold Gloves in his career, he was never in the same class as Ozzie Smith (13 Gold Gloves), Luis Aparicio (9 Gold Gloves), Omar Vizquel (11 Gold Gloves), or by some statistical measures even Cal Ripken Jr. (2 Gold Gloves). He was able to accumulate over 400 assists in a year only 5 times in his career. Omar Vizquel accomplished this 12 times in his career, and humorously Ozzie Smith and Luis Aparicio did not accomplish this only 2 times in both of their careers.

Barry Larkin ended up winning 1 MVP in his career and appeared in an excellent 12 All Star games. However, without that special something to separate him from the pack, I fear that he will fall short of Hall of Fame entrance. He will likely fall into the same category of players such as Dale Murphy, players that will enter the "Hall of the Very Good".

With a very lackluster set of Hall of Fame candidates for 2012, the 2012 vote may be Barry Larkin's best chance to enter the Hall of Fame, as he will be given far more attention this year than any year in the near future. From 2013 to 2015, players such as Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mike Piazza, Sammy Sosa, Craig Biggio, Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, Frank Thomas, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, and John Smoltz will all be up for consideration. Barry Larkin will likely be lost in the shuffle those years.

Sources:

"Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Baseball Statistics and History", Baseball-Reference