At 3 p.m. today, the results of the annual vote of the Baseball Writers Association of America were released.
Former Reds great Barry Larkin will join the Hall of Fame Class of 2012. Last year he missed being elected, with 62.1 percent. A player needs 75 percent.
Larkin becomes the 11th shortstop to be immortalized by the BBWAA.
The first class of Hall of Famers in 1936 had a shortstop named Honus Wagner who, to this day, is the gold standard at the position.
In 1936, if you were trying to construct a batting order of Hall of Fame shortstops, Wagner would have had to hit in every spot because he was the only shortstop in Cooperstown.
But over the past 75 years, 23 more shortstops (not including Larkin) have been added — 10 by the BBWAA and 13 by the veterans committee.
“It’s a shot of immortality. The best of the game in the history — in the history of the game,” Larkin said Thursday. “To be emblazoned into that history of the game is a tremendous honor.
“I certainly have some anxiety about it, but not really nervous,” Larkin said. “I had a chance to speak to Jim Rice, who got inducted on his 15th time, and he really put me at comfort and ease and said, ‘You know, it’s really out of our hands, and there’s nothing we can really do about it.’ ”