COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — Barry Larkin never would have gone into the Hall of Fame today as a Met, even if he had approved a trade to Flushing during the 2000 season.
After 15 mostly stellar seasons with the Reds, the shortstop — who will be inducted today along with the late Cubs star Ron Santo — had a chance to join the Mets that season. But Larkin vetoed the move when Mets general manager Steve Phillips said he wasn’t interested in signing Larkin to a three-year extension.
So, today, Larkin, born and raised in Cincinnati, will be inducted into the Hall of Fame having spent his entire 19-year career with his hometown team.
“In retrospect, I’m certainly happy I didn’t go to the Mets,” Larkin said on the eve of his enshrinement. “It wouldn’t be the same situation for me if I had played my last few years for another organization.
“Part of the story is me being a lifer, a Cincinnati Red. My last three years in Cincinnati weren’t the best years. Maybe they would have been better if I had gone to the Mets. But being from Cincinnati and playing my entire career there is very, very unique.”
Larkin, 48, was elected in his third year on the ballot. The 1995 NL MVP had a lifetime .295 average, three Gold Gloves and was an 11-time All-Star.
Santo, who retired in 1974, was elected last December by the Hall’s Golden Era Committee just 12 months after his death at the age of 70. A lifetime .277 hitter with 342 homers and 1,331 RBIs, Santo becomes the fourth member of the 1969 Cubs, who famously lost the NL East race to the Miracle Mets, to be enshrined in Cooperstown, joining Ernie Banks, Billy Williams and Ferguson Jenkins.
“It’s 10 years too late,” Jenkins said. “I just think that Ronnie deserved better.’’