Some humorous tales from spring trainings

By Hal McCoy | Friday, January 27, 2012, 04:06 PM

There is no better time in baseball than spring training, especially for snowbirds who are exhausted from digging out from under snowstorms and from trudging outside in heavy coats, gloves and mufflers (Ask your grandpa what a muffler is — and tell him you don’t mean the muffler on the exhaust system of his 1998 Buick).

The entire six weeks is relaxing for everybody, even the players. Nothing counts. Wins and losses don’t count. Batting averages and ERA’s for veterans mean nothing.

It is all downhill after spring training.

But a lot of humorous things unfold during spring training involving the players, who are loose (for the most part — unless they are a rookie trying to win a spot on the roster or are battling injuries).

SOME OF MY favorite stories come out of spring training. In fact, sons of baseball writers even contribute in ways even they didn’t understand.

There was the day in Plant City, Fla., an outpost of pickup trucks with gun racks and strawberry growers and pickers, where the Cincinnati Reds once trained in a cow pasture that stunk the way cow pastures are supposed to stink.

There was a large retaining pond behind the right field wall at Plant City Stadium, complete with an alligator named Marge (more on that later) and an abundance of water moccasins.

One night Reds pitcher Rob Dibble couldn’t get anybody out during an exhibition game and was pulled before his inning was over. Robbie Hunter, young son of Columbus Dispatch writer Bob Hunter, was outside the clubhouse when Dibble came in. The game was still on and the writers remained in the press box.

After the game, young Robbie told his dad, “When Dibble came into the clubhouse, he came out with a bunch of chairs and threw them in the pond. And he went in and out a bunch of times for more chairs.”

Dibble, always a volatile but lovable guy, was taking the chairs from in front of players’ lockers and drowning them in his sorrow — and disturbing the alligator.

Because of Robbie, we had a good spring training yarn and a good follow-up when Dibble was fined. We had hoped, for an even better story, that the club would make Dibble wade into the pond among the snakes and gator to fetch the chairs.

MY YOUNGEST SON, Brent, accompanied me to spring training when he was a youngster and he, too, furnished the writers with a story when the Reds trained in Tampa, Fla. in old Al Lopez Field.

The press box was awful there, splintery board for seats and splintery working surface, endangering both hands and rear ends. So the writers (most of us) sat in the left field bleachers during games, suntan lotion slathered generously. The clubhouse door was close to the bleachers and we sent my son, Brent, inside the clubhouse to grab some soft drinks.

He came back with the drinks and a tale: “Paul O’Neill is in the locker room throwing shoes all over the room, everybody’s shoes. And gloves and whatever he can pick up.”

Turns out O’Neill discovered that despite a great season at Triple-A the year before and a great spring training he was being sent back to the minors. It was fun watching the players trying to find and match their shoes.

THE ALLIGATOR in the Plant City retaining pond never bothered anybody, mostly sunning itself on the far bank. Clubhouse personnel playfully named it Marge, in honor of former team owner Marge Schott, an animal lover.

And that’s the way it stayed until one day Mrs. Schott came to camp and saw the gator sunning itself on the far bank. When somebody looked up, Mrs. Schott was about 20 feet from the gator, hoping to see it up close and personal.

That was the end of Marge — the gator, not Mrs. Schott. It was ‘processed’ the next day, meaning gator control personnel removed it and Marge right now is probably somebody’s pair of shoes.

THE REDS drafted pitcher Jack Armstrong No. 1 in 1987 and he is pretty much a forgotten guy from the 1990 World Series team. He began the season 8-1 and made the All-Star team. But he finished 12-9.

The next spring he was a holdout, wouldn’t sign a contract, because he thought he deserved more than the Reds offered. He was in Plant City at a condo, but wouldn’t report to camp.

So Cincinnati Enquirer beat writer Mike Paolercio and I decided to visit Armstrong at his condo for an interview. During the interview, he told us, “I can make more money as a tuna boat captain that for what the Reds are offering me.”

A few days later, Armstrong signed. When he came to camp, he found his locker stuffed with some strange items — a fishing pole, yellow rain slickers, a creel, wading boots, a large compass, a nautical map and a sign that said, “Welcome back, Captain Jack.”

From then on he was known as Captain Jack Armstrong (the tuna boat captain), which was somehow apropos because he was from Neptune N.J. He was only 7-13 that year and the next year he was traded to the Cleveland Indians ¬— forever remembered (or forgotten) as a No. 1 draft pick half-year wonder.

REMEMBER WHEN Tony Fernandez played second base for the Reds in 1994? General Manager Jim Bowden decided to take a chance on him after he had knee surgery in the off-season.

When the exhibition games began that year, Fernandez didn’t play. His knee hurt. But he could be found every day before a game slurping vegetable soup or chicken noodle soup while seated face-in at his locker.

I approached him one day and asked, “How’s the knee coming along?” His one-word answer, as he sucked soup off his spoon: “Fine.”

I approached the next day and asked about the knee. “Don’t want to talk about it,” he said. “Talked about it yesterday.” He blew on his soup spoon and that was the end of the interview, although I wanted to say, “Why are you eating soup? You had soup yesterday?”

Later on, we walked into the clubhouse one day and Fernandez was standing on a chair reciting Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech at loud decibels. Not even his teammates knew why.

A PITCHER NAMED Scott Scudder found out it wasn’t nice to mess with the Nasty Boys — relief pitchers Norm Charlton, Rob Dibble and Randy Myers.

As a gag one day, Scudder sneaked a pair of cowboy boots out of Charlton’s locker. He immersed them in a Bucket of water and froze them solid in the water bucket before putting them in front of Charlton’s locker.

But, as they say, payback is hell.

A few days later, it was pouring outside. When Scudder ran to his jeep to leave the complex, he found his vehicle sitting on four cement blocks with all four tires and wheels stacked on top of the Jeep. The Nasty Boys watched Scudder struggle to put his Jeep back together while they stood inside the dry clubhouse, laughing heartily.

MY OLD BOSS, Si Burck of the Dayton Daily News, used to drive his big boat of a Pontiac to spring training in the 1970s. The media parking lot was right behind the left field wall at Al Lopez and Burick always grabbed the spot right behind the left field foul pole.

One day he wrote gleefully in the press box about a young player named Johnny Bench hitting a home run down the left field line. The proof was when Si went to his car and found a hole in his windshield and the baseball nestled neatly on the seat.

AS I WROTE earlier, we writers liked to sit in the left field bleachers. And sometimes we sat on the benches in the bullpen with the relief pitchers. Once in a while I’d play catch with the Reds left fielder to warm him up between innings.

As a gag one day, I took a pen and autographed the ball with which left fielder George Foster and I played catch. He didn’t notice anything on the ball the first two times he caught and returned it to me. On my third toss, he dug the ball out of his glove, looked at it, saw the signature, turned his back on me and threw the ball over the left field wall.

Fortunately it missed Burick’s car.

SPEAKING OF Johnny Bench, after his knees gave out from years of pounding behind home plate, he decided to play third base. During spring training, it wasn’t pretty. Al Lopez’s infield was as lumpy as a cheap bed and ground balls took hopes left, right, up and down. Several balls went through Bench’s legs and I cruelly wrote one day, “Johnny Bench is doing a great job at third base of imitating a croquet wicket.”

Fortunately, after a few days he forgave me.

ONE OF MY favorite stories involving writers also happened in Plant City. In those days, the St. Petersburg Times sent young, inexperienced interns to cover the Reds’ exhibition games.

When an exhibition game began, the Reds media director would say, “First pitch, 1:05,” telling everybodu that the first pitch of the game was at 1:05 p.m.

One day, The Times sent a young lady to cover a game that Tim Belcher started for the Reds. In the next day’s paper, there was headline: “Belcher throws a pitch 105 miles an hour.”

We asked the writer the next day where she got that information and she said, “The Reds PR guy announced it: ‘First pitch 105.’” Belcher cut out the article and had it hanging on his locker the rest of the spring.

HOW MANY out there remember that Jack Morris tried to end his career with the Reds? It was one of the saddest days I’ve ever encountered.

GM Jim Bowden liked to sign an abundance of pitchers every year, many of them coming off injuries or coming to camp with sore arms or shoulders. Bowden’s theory was that if you threw enough pitchers again the wall, some might stick (as did Pete Harnisch and Pete Schourek).

In 1995, Bowden brought Morris into camp, hoping the future Hall of Famer (he should be in the Hall right now) might stick.

But midway through spring camp, I arrived one morning and my timing was impeccable. As I walked in the door, Morris was on his way out, toward the players’ parking lot. Something was wrong.

I turned and trotted to the lot just as Morris had started his Corvette convertible to leave. I asked, “Where are you going?” With tears streaming down his checks, he said, ‘I’m done. I can’t do it any more. I’m out of here.’ And I stood in the parking lot and watched one of baseball’s all-time great players pull out of the parking lot and disappear over the horizon, his career finis

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Giving Jocketty grades on his off-season deals

By Hal McCoy | Sunday, January 22, 2012, 12:48 PM

NOTE: This piece appeared in Sunday’s Dayton Daily News, but for those who only come to the blog and don’t see the paper I’ve posted it here. Let me know what you think. HAL

Fortunately for Cincinnati Reds general manager Walt Jocketty, it hasn’t snowed much this winter. He wouldn’t have had time to shovel out.

To say he has been a busy man this winter is to say it snows a lot in Buffalo this time of year.

After the 2010 season, after the Reds won the National League Central, Jocketty did very little outside his own little world to improve the 2011 edition.

Inactivity paid zero dividends and the Reds never were much of a factor in 2010, finishing behind both Milwaukee and St. Louis, retreating to that weary old habit of finishing under .500.

Actually, Jocketty hadn’t done much outside the box since he acquired third baseman Scott Rolen on July 31, 2009, a trade that improved the Reds twofold — acquiring Rolen and jettisoning third baseman Edwin Encarncion — the E’s stood for enigma and errors.

Jocketty this winter has removed the ‘in’ from inactivity this winter. Activity was his middle name.

So far, in order, he has acquired starting pitcher Mat Latos, relief pitcher Sean Marshall, closer Ryan Madson and left fielder Ryan Ludwick ¬— thus covering the major needs he and his staff identified after last season.

For sure, Jocketty gets an ‘A’ for activity.

So how did he do? Let’s rate ‘em.

ONE: The best move he has made so far is the singing on Madson to a one-year $8.5 million deal, with a mutual option. The deal might have been better if a multi-year deal could have been made, but Madson probably wants to check out free agency again next year after he fumbled a $44 million deal to stay with the Philadelphia Phillies.

So it will behoove Madson to have a big year so those big offers will roll in. And Reds fans no longer will have to endure the heart-palpitating appearances of former closer Coco Cordero. More often than not, he did the job, but how he did it (putting runners on base and falling behind in count after count), left fans and teammates gasping for breath.

Madson, a 6-6 200-pound right-hander seems to fit Great American Ball Park like a perfectly tailored suit. He is 10-4 over his last two seasons with the Phillies. He posted 2.37 and 2.55 ERAs the last two years. Amazingly, he has given up only six home runs the last two years and walked only 29 while striking out 126. Give Jocketty an A-minus on this one and the minus coming only because of the one-year deal.

TWO: Trading for Sean Marshall was a move necessitated by a weakness in the bullpen last year, mostly inconsistency. The Reds have to give up left-handed starter Travis Wood to complete this deal with the Chicago Cubs, but the Reds do seem to have a surplus in starting pitchers. But isn’t that what everybody tought last year, too?

The left-handed Marshall was an awesome set-up guy for the Cubs and while he is death to left-handers, he is also poison to right-handers. And he has some closing experience in case Madson needs comfort and aid.

At 6-7 and 220 pounds, Marshall is a Clydesdale with his work ethics. He appeared in 80 games in 2010 and 78 last year, posting ERAs of 2.65 and 2.26. Give Jocketty a B-plus on this one and it would have been an A had he not had to give up a top starting pitcher prospect.

THREE: What Mat Latos will the Reds get. Will it be the 2010 Latos who was 14-10 with a 2.92 ERA or will it be the 2011 Latos who was 9-14 with a 3.47 ERA. He pitched in expansive Petco Park. How will he do in Yellowstone American Ball Park, a.k.a. Great American Small Park.

Jocketty is given much credit for signing a young player who remains under the Reds’ control for three more years. But why would San Diego let go of a player supposedly with a huge upside when they had him under control, too?

It is for sure Latos was acquired for more than a replacement for Jonny Gomes and his body art. Like Gomes, Latos is covered in tattoos, but nobody will care if he doesn’t get tattooed on the mound.

Jocketty gets a C-plus on this one because of the uncertainty of last year and the fact he gave up four players to get him, including three No. 1 draft picks (Yonder Alonso, Yasmani Grandal and sandwich pick pitcher Brad Boxberger).

FOUR: Although the Reds haven’t yet announced it, free agent outfielder Ryan Ludwick is coming to the club as a possible left fielder. To Jocketty’s credit, he could have acquired Ludwick early last season from the San Diego Padres, but the Padres wanted outfielder Chris Heisey. Jocketty said no and he was able to sign him on the relative cheap without giving up players. Hasn’t he given up enough already.

Ludwick started the season with San Diego and finished with Pittsburgh, hitting .238 in 101 games with the Padres and .232 in 38 games with the Pirates. He started his career with Texas, moved on the Cleveland and had his best of times in St. Louis. He one big year was 2008 when he hit 37 homers and drove in 113. But he has never hit more than 22 in any other season.

Give Jocketty a C-minus on this one because he probably could have done better and Ludwick may not be better than Heisey. Ludwick struck out 124 times and walked 51 times in 553 at-bats last year.

Jocketty did not consider nor sign Manny Ramirez to play left field and for that we give him an A-plus, plus, plus.

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Madson, too, is in the ‘produce’ business

By Hal McCoy | Friday, January 20, 2012, 06:46 PM

Ryan Madson was in Great American Ball Park Friday, getting his shoulder, arm, knees, ankles and everything else checked out before the Cincinnati Reds permitted him to sign his name to a one-year $8.5 million contract with a mutual option.

After all his body parts checked out, Madson stopped into the office of CEO/owner Bob Castellini and Madson said with a laugh, “He told me he was in the produce business and that he was pretty good at it, too.”

Madson is in the closer business, but Castellini and the Reds are banking on him being in the produce business, too — as in, they expect him to produce big results.

Madson said the main reason he signed with the Reds is because he wants to be a closer, something he did for the first time on a full-time basis last year for the Philadelphia Phillies.

“There weren’t a lot of closing jobs out there, but I wanted to close and close for a team with a chance to make the playoffs,” said the 6-6, 200-pound right-hander who was Philadelphia’s ninth-round draft pick in 1998.

Madson pitched mostly in middle relief throughout his career — until 2010 when he had a few chances, although he didn’t do well in his few closing look-sees (five saves). Overall he was 6-2 with a 2.55 ERA.

With an injury last year to closer Brad Lidge, Madson slid comfortably into the role and had 32 saves for the Phillies, winners of the National League East.

“I learned the key to closing is taking the pressure off yourself and putting it on the hitters,” he said. “The first few times I tried to close in 2010 I tried too hard, tried to be perfect, tried to make every pitch perfect. I had some pretty good baseball people tell me that’s not the way to do it.

“Now I know when to throw strikes and when not to throw strikes,” he said. “You have to try not to force things because you can’t do it. You have to make pitches. If you make good pitches, what happens after that is out of your control. You can’t control the results.”

The best thing about Madson is that he nearly always had things under control, even in the tiny confines of Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park.

CBP and Great American Ball Park have a lot in common — baseballs fly out of those places like mosquitoes fleeing bug spray.

Amazingly, in two years Madson has given up only six home runs, two in 2010 and four last year. And he doesn’t walk batters — 13 in 2010 and 16 last year while striking out 64 and 67.

“You just don’t think about it,” he said of the small surroundings. Just make your pitches. As I said, you can’t control the results.”

Madson sincerely believes the Reds are in a position to contend this year and liked what he saw when he ran his fingers down the bullpen names and ran across Sean Marshall, a set-up guy the Reds acquired via trade from the Cubs this winter.

“I don’t know him personally, but I’ve seen him pitch and he is a good set-up guy, a guy who can get us to the ninth inning,” Madson said. “I’ve pitched against a lot of guys on this team and now I’m happy to be with them with a chance to make the playoffs again.”

Madson nearly re-signed with the Phillies, but balked at a $44 million offer and the Phillies signed Jonathan Papelbon to be their closer, making Madson disposable and enabling the Reds to grab him.

Now all he has to do is, uh, produce.

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How the Reds nearly missed out on Larkin

By Hal McCoy | Friday, January 13, 2012, 06:12 PM

There is nothing more invigorating for a baseball fanatic on a cold, snowy January night than a trip to southeastern Ohio for the annual Portsmouth Murals baseball dinner.

These are true baseball-aholics and the night is dedicated to former players, umpires and scouts telling baseball stories. And some of ‘em are even true.

AND IT IS always great to see Portsmouth people like Bill Warnock and Bob Morton, both affiliated with Portsmouth Murals, Inc., and my yearly host William McKinley of nearby Lucasville, a huge benefactor to the Ohio State University band.

Plus you get to chat with former players like Don Gullett, Al Oliver, Larry Hisle, Gene Tenace, Johnny LeMastser, Willie Blair, Walt Terrell, Jim Lett and John Stephenson. And major-league umpires like Greg Gibson and Terry Craft.

Amazingly, all are from the Portsmouth area, the same area where Branch Rickey was born and raised.

BEST OF ALL, though, is the chance to visit with Gene Bennett, one of the best scouts ever to grace the bleachers of a high school baseball field. Bennett was a scout for the Cincinnati Reds for 57 years — FIFTY-SEVEN YEARS.

And only due to his insistence did the Reds draft and sign now Hall of Fame shortstop Barry Larkin.

It was June, 1985 — draft time, a day before the draft. The Reds had Larkin projected as a fifth or sixth round pick and Bennett was astounded. He thought Larkin was a No. 1.

Bob Howsam was president/general manager at the time and was in a meeting with all the scouts when Bennett got up and said, “Do you know how foolish we are going to look when we don’t sign Larkin? He’s a hometown guy from right near downtown Cincinnati. Somebody will take him ahead of us and we’ll look stupid when he becomes a star.”

Nobody said anything. Nothing changed.

“Later that day I was at a water cooler in the Riverfront Stadium offices when Mr. Howsam walked by and stopped,” said Bennett.

“I stood up and he said, ‘Gene, how soon do you think Larkin can make it to the majors? Dave Concepcion is still pretty good, but we’re going to need a shortstop real soon.’”

BENNETT SAID he looked at his watch.

“It was like June 23 and it was 9:45,” said Bennett. “I told him, ‘June 23 at 9:45.’ And Mr. Howsam said, ‘You’re saying he can play in the majors right now?’”

Said Bennett, “You can put him at shortstop right now and defensively you won’t skip a beat. Give him a couple of months to get adjusted and he’ll hit, too.”

The next day, draft day, Bennett walked into the conference room where scouts and Howsam were seated.

“It was real quiet,” said Bennett. “Nobody saying a word. I looked at the blackboard and whose name do you think was at the top of our draft list? Right. Barry Larkin.

“Mr. Howsam called me aside and said, “Do you think you can sign him?’ I said, ‘I know I can.’ So Mr. Howsam told me, ‘Get to his house right now and let me know because we’re taking him first.’”

AND THAT’S HOW close the Reds came to not drafting Larkin before another team would snatch him up and as Paul Harvey used to say, “Now you know the rest of the story.”

Larkin is Bennett’s first Hall of Famer, but because the Reds didn’t take his advice he will miss out on a couple more.

Bennett suggested they draft pitcher John Smoltz No. 1, “But some of our other people said, ‘He short-arms the ball. He won’t make it.’ Bennett said that was a fixable problem, but the Reds passed on Smoltz.

Bennett also suggested the Reds draft another shortstop No. 1. The Reds also passed on Derek Jeter. Enough said about that.”

BEFORE DON GULLETT blew out his arm, before the days of Tommy John surgery, he was on his way to a Hall of Fame career, too. And Bennett signed him for the Reds.

Gullett was a three-sport star at McKell High School in Kentucky. He did things like score 77 points in one football game, score 55 points in a basketball game and struck out 20 of 21 batters in a seven-inning game (the other guy bunted).

Bennett told Gullett the Reds were going to draft him and had assurances he would sign. Bennett also officiated basketball in the winter, often calling games at old UD Fieldhouse in University of Dayton games coached by Tom Blackburn.

“One night I was referring a McKell-South Portsmouth game and that rivalry was like the Bengals-Steelers or the old Bears-Lions games,” said Bennett.

“Well, Gullett had like 20 points in the first half, but picked up his fourth foul late in the first half,” said Bennett. “At halftime, Gullett tapped me on the shoulder. And people who know him know Gullett doesn’t say much about anything and talks real low. Well, he tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘If I get one more foul, you can forget about me signing with the Reds.’”

Said Bennett, “Wouldn’t you know it? Gullett didn’t commit a foul the entire second half.”

There was another outstanding pitching prospect Bennett wanted to sign for the Reds in the 1970s and he visited the prospect’s house.

“Remember, it was the 1970s and $15,000 was a lot of money,” said Bennett. “I told his dad we’d like to sign his son for $15,000. His daddy said, ‘I have a job waiting for my son in my company that will pay him $500,000.’”

And what did Bennett say?

“You wouldn’t happen to have two jobs like that, would you?”

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Reds agree on terms with closer Madson

By Hal McCoy | Wednesday, January 11, 2012, 10:04 AM

It looks as if the Cincinnati Reds have said good-bye to Coco Cordero and hello to Ryan Madson, according to several reports.

Madson becomes the Reds’ closer, replacing free agent Cordero, who could not come to an agreement to re-up with the Reds.

Madson, though, is more than an adequate replacement and is the third pitcher the Reds have added in the offseason.

GM Walt Jocketty earlier made trades for starter Matt Latos and set-up man Sean Marshall.

THE REDS HAVE not confirmed the deal because it isn’t done yet, not until Madson passes a physical. But here is the Associated Press report on the deal.

Madson and the Reds reached an oral agreement on an $8.5 million one-year contract.

Madson saved 32 games in 34 chances last year for the NL East champion Philadelphia Phillies.

The contract is subject to a written agreement.

Madson replaces Francisco Cordero as the closer in Cincinnati while Cordero remains a free agent after the Reds declined a $12 million option, choosing instead to pay him a $1 million buyout.

Madson nearly re-signed with the Phillies, but a four-year $44 million deal collapsed in November and the Phillies later reached a $50 million, four-year contract deal with closer Jonathan Papelbon.

In 491 career games, including 18 starts, Madson is 47-30 with a 3.59 ERA with 52 saves.

After years of success as a set-up guy, he took over for injured Brad Lidge as Philadelphia’s closer last year and went 4-2 with a 2.37 ERA in 62 games with a 3.59 ERA in 62 games. The lanky Madson allowed only two home runs and 16 walks in 60 2/3 innings.

Madson is coming off a three-year deal with the Phillies that guaranteed him $12 million and he earned $5.1 million last year, including a $600,000 bonus for games finished.

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Barry Larkin: The humble Hall of Famer

By Hal McCoy | Monday, January 9, 2012, 05:10 PM

Be he ever so humble, there is nobody like Barry Larkin.

On his mammoth day, the day he was introduced as the only 2012 inductee into the Baseball Hall of Fame, when he should have been eating filet mignon, he was chewing humble pie.

But that always has been Larkin’s credo and modus operandi.

How many Hall of Famers have you heard say, “I always considered myself a complementary player, somebody who would do things beyond the X’s and O’s of hits, homers or stolen bases, somebody who did what it took to help the other players on my team.”

HOW MANY Hall of Famers have you heard say, when asked what defines him, say quickly, “Not one single thing pops up, not one single image. Maybe if somebody took a picture of me talking to players on the field or in the clubhouse or in the hotels about how to be a professional, they might say, ‘Oh, that was another part of his game.’”

And it was, a deep part of his contribution over 19 years with the Cincinnati Reds. He was the player teammates followed, respected and admired — as a person and as a player.

“The people I admire most starts at home — my mom and my father,” he said. “They both had strong character and strong morals and they are the reason I am the type of person and player that I am.”

WHAT MOST people don’t know is that Larkin went to the University of Michigan on a football scholarship, ostensibly to play for legendary Bo Schembecher.

“Bo recruited my older brother, Mike, and was in my house,” said Larkin. “Mike went to Notre Dame with Coach Gerry Faust and Bo told my mother, ‘I’m taking your next son to Michigan.’”

And he did. But he told Larkin he would be red-shirted his freshman year and gave Larkin permission to play baseball. Larkin never played a down of football.

“That was the first time I ever concentrated on one sport instead of three,” he said. “I was a better football player than baseball player, but concentrating that one full year on baseball and that made me a better player.”

SCHEMBECHLER TOLD him, “I could strike you out. And you’ll be back. You’ll miss football. Nobody comes to Michigan to play baseball.”

He didn’t and didn’t.

Larkin was born a shortstop and will die as a shortstop, but there was a short period when the Reds wanted to change him to second base.

It lasted two games at Triple-A Indianapolis and when two balls rolled through his legs Larkin said, “That’s it. No more second base.”

Larkin said he was Triple-A Rookie of the Year and Triple-A Player of the Year at Indianapolis, but one day former farm director Chief Bender called him to his office.

“I was excited. I thought I was being promoted to the big leagues,” said Larkin. “Instead, he told me, ‘We don’t think you have the tools for shortstop and want you to play second base.”

The real reason was that a couple of years before they signed Larkin, telling him, “You’ll be a shortstop,” they drafted another shortstop No. 1. His name was Kurt Stillwell and the Reds thought he was the shortstop of the future.

LARKIN PROVED them wrong, wrong, wrong. The Reds eventually traded Stillwell to Kansas City, “And that showed me the Reds really did want me,” he said. “And there was a nice gesture, too. I was wearing No. 15 at the time and Stillwell had No. 11, the number I’d always worn. When he was traded, he gave me a piece of gold jewelry with the No. 11 on it. That was a nice gesture.”

LARKIN WAS ASKED if he thinks his predecessor, Dave Concepcion, belongs in the Hall of Fame and as he did so often during his stay in Cincinnati Larkin took the diplomatic high road.

“I don’t have a vote, so I’ll leave that to others,” he said. “I’m a rookie (Hall of Famer) myself.”

But Larkin then extolled Concepcion.

“The first time I met Concepcion was when I was still at Michigan and the Reds drafted me,” he said. “The Reds were in Detroit for an interleague game and I visited the clubhouse in old Tiger Stadium.”

“Dave Parker (another Cincinnati native and a Reds outfielder at the time) grabbed me by the arm and led me to Concpecion’s Larkin and said, ‘Here’s the guy who is going to take your job.’

“I didn’t know about Parker’s sense of humor and thought, ‘What is this guy doing?’ Davey asked to see my hands, which were rough and calloused and he said, “He won’t be taking my job.”

THEN CONCEPCION helped Larkin take his job.

“I idolized Davey growing up,” said Larkin. “He was part of The Big Red Machine that I grew up with.”

When Larkin showed up at spring training, Concepcion took him aside and taught him things, “Especially how to make that bounce throw that he made famous. I will say this. Davey was the best shortstop I ever saw. And he took time out of his day to help me when he knew that some day I might take his job. It is incredible to realize that two guys, Concepcion and I, were the only two shortstops the Reds had for almost 40 years.”

THERE IS ANOTHER off-beat story about Larkin. He had no Latin background whatsoever, but he went to school to learn Spanish.

“Becayse I idolized Concepcion and Tony Perez, I thought, ‘The only things they can do that I can’t do is speak Spanish, So I learned Spanish.”

As one of only two team captains in Reds history (Concepcion was the other), Larkin used his Spanish to converse with Latino teammates, gaining him even more respect.

And it helped on the field, too.

“Second baseman Mariano Duncan and I used to converse in Spanish when there were runners on second base,” said Larkin. “Some of them would look at me funny, wondering, ‘Is he really speaking Spanish?’ A couple of times it enabled Duncan to sneak behind the runner and pick him off.”

Asked who they were, Larkin said, “I’d rather not embarrass them.”

That, in a Hall of Fame nutshell, is Barry Larkin.

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Larkin elected to baseball hall of fame

By Brian Kollars | Monday, January 9, 2012, 03:17 PM

This news release just in from the National Baseball Hall of Fame:

Barry Larkin Elected to the Hall of Fame

— Larkin will be Inducted on July 22nd in Cooperstown along with Golden Era Committee Electee Ron Santo —

(NEW YORK, NY) - Barry Larkin, a 12-time All-Star, nine-time Silver Slugger and three-time Gold Glove winning shortstop, was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America in balloting verified by Ernst & Young.

Larkin, 47, will be inducted into the Hall July 22 at the Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown, N.Y., along with the late third baseman Ron Santo, who was elected last month by the Golden Era Committee. Also to be honored over Induction Weekend will be Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun with the J.G. Taylor Spink Award for baseball writing and television analyst Tim McCarver, the former major league catcher, with the Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting.

A total of 573 ballots, including nine blanks, were cast by BBWAA members with 10 or more consecutive years’ service. Players must be named on 75 percent of ballots submitted to be elected. This year, 430 votes were required.

Larkin, who was in his third year of eligibility, received 495 votes, for an 86.4-percent plurality. His vote total reflected a 24.3-percent gain from the 2011 ballot, the largest jump in one year to gain election since 1948 when pitcher Herb Pennock received 77.7 percent of the vote after having tallied 53.4 percent in 1947. Larkin’s jump is the largest for any Hall of Fame election in which at least 400 ballots were cast. The previous highest was the 16.4-percent jump by first baseman Tony Perez from 1999 (60.8) to 2000 (77.2).

Larkin’s election brings to 297 the number of elected Hall members. Of that total, 207 are former major-league players, of which 112 have been through the BBWAA ballot. Larkin is the 24th shortstop elected to the Hall and the 11th by the BBWAA. He is also the 48th Hall of Famer who played his entire career with one club and the third to do so for the Cincinnati Reds, joining catcher Johnny Bench and 19th-century second baseman Bid McPhee.

A Cincinnati native, Larkin played 19 seasons for the Reds and batted .295 with 2,340 hits, including 441 doubles, 76 triples and 198 home runs. He drove in 960 runs, scored 1,329, stole 379 bases and had more walks (939) than strikeouts (817). Larkin became the first shortstop to join the 30-30 club when he had 33 home runs and 36 steals in 1996. He was voted the National League Most Valuable Player in 1995 by the BBWAA and hit .353 in the Reds’ World Series sweep of the Oakland Athletics in 1990.

The only players other than Larkin to gain more than 50 percent of the vote were pitcher Jack Morris with 382 votes (66.7%), first baseman Jeff Bagwell with 321 (56.0%) and reliever Lee Smith with 290 (50.6%).

Players may remain on the ballot for up to 15 years provided they receive five percent of the vote in any year. There were 13 candidates who failed to make the cut this year (30 votes), including 12 of the 13 players who were on the ballot for the first time. The only first-year candidate who received sufficient support to remain was outfielder Bernie Williams with 55 votes (9.6%). Two-time American League MVP Juan Gonzalez got 23 votes (4.0%) and fell off the ballot in his second year of eligibility.

Other holdovers that will remain on the ballot in addition to Morris, Bagwell, Smith and Williams are first basemen Mark McGwire, Fred McGriff, Don Mattingly and Rafael Palmeiro; outfielders Tim Raines, Dale Murphy and Larry Walker; designated hitter-third baseman Edgar Martinez and shortstop Alan Trammell.

The vote:

Barry Larkin 495 (86.4%), Jack Morris 382 (66.7%), Jeff Bagwell 321 (56.0%), Lee Smith 290 (50.6%), Tim Raines 279 (48.7%), Edgar Martinez 209 (36.5%), Alan Trammell 211 (36.8%), Fred McGriff 137 (23.9%), Larry Walker 131 (22.9%), Mark McGwire 112 (19.5%), Don Mattingly 102 (17.8%), Dale Murphy 83 (14.5%), Rafael Palmeiro 72 (12.6%), Bernie Williams 55 (9.6%), Juan Gonzalez 23 (4.0%), Vinny Castilla 6 (1.0%), Tim Salmon 5 (0.9%), Bill Mueller 4 (0.7%), Brad Radke 2 (0.3%), Javy Lopez 1 (0.2%), Eric Young 1 (0.2%), Jeromy Burnitz 0, Brian Jordan 0, Terry Mulholland 0, Phil Nevin 0, Ruben Sierra 0, Tony Womack 0.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is open seven days a week year round, with the exception of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. The Museum observes regular hours of 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. from Labor Day until Memorial Day Weekend. From Memorial Day Weekend through the day before Labor Day, the Museum observes summer hours of 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. Ticket prices are $19.50 for adults (13 and over), $12 for seniors (65 and over) and for those holding current memberships in the VFW, Disabled American Veterans, American Legion and AMVets organizations, and $7 for juniors (ages 7-12). Members are always admitted free of charge and there is no charge for children 6 years of age or younger. For more information, visit our Web site at baseballhall.org or call 888-HALL-OF-FAME (888-425-5633) or 607-547-7200.

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All is quiet down on the Riverfront

By Hal McCoy | Thursday, January 5, 2012, 01:26 PM

UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave, a nearly permanent residence for a few days while workers tear out tiles and rug from the sun room, dining room, kitchen and living room prior to installing wood floors. Simonize, anybody?

Spent a wonderful New Year’s weekend at the French Lick (Ind.) Resort & Casino. After setting a world’s record for 12s, 13s, 14s and 15s at the blackjack punishment tables, followed by tens to bust me, I need to make another trip in hopes that they permit me to visit my money.

So it is time to break my Code of Silence, a code mostly enforced because all is quiet on the Riverfront on the baseball front.

AFTER A PRODUCTIVE week of obtaining pitchers Mat Latos and Sean Marshall, things have gone quiet in the offices of the Cincinnati Reds.

Don’t they still need a left fielder? Or are they willing to give Chris Heisey a try?

Don’t they still need a closer? Or are they willing to put Sean Marshall in that role, a role he served with the Chicago Cubs on days closer Carlos Marmol was not up to it.

The Reds continue to maintain a dialogue with Coco Cordero and his agent, Bean Stringfellow (love that name), but the Reds are only offering one year and Stringfellow wants to string the Reds out for a multi-year deal.

Have to cast my vote with the Reds on this one. Cordero is too old to gamble on a two or three-year deal. Stringfellow says he is in touch with other teams willing to do more than one year, but nothing has happened.

LET’S SEE NOW, despite the forced departures of starters Edinson Volquez and Travis Wood, the Reds still have six viable guys in pursuit of five spots: Bronson Arroyo, Johnny Cueto, newly-acquired Matt Latos, Homer Bailey, Mike Leake and Aroldis Chapman.

The Reds remain adamant that Chapman is going to spring training as a starter, even though shoulder tenderness stopped him from playing winter ball.

Wouldn’t it be better to see if Chapman and his smoke-eating fastball might be a closer? Or if they move Marshall into the closer’s spot, Chapman could remain as a set-up guy.

WE SHALL SEE soon enough. Spring training isn’t THAT far behind. I know that because next Wednesday I’ll attend the Portsmouth Murals baseball dinner, a yearly event to which is one of the year’s highlights.

Nearly 400 people attend, along with several former and current major league players and umpires from the southeastern Ohio area. The guest of honor is always former Reds scout Gene Bennett from nearby Wheelersburg. Every time his name is mentioned he gets a standing ovation, a richly deserved standing ovation.

I’VE NOTICED one thing during the football bowl season. It isn’t a whole lot of fun being a placekicker. I’ve lost count on how many games came down to a field goal attempt and whether the kick was good or missed determined the outcome of the game.

I kicked extra points in high school (we never once tried a field goal and I was thankful for that). When UD play-by-play broadcaster Larry Hansgen heard me say that, he said, “I can just see it. Hal the Toe, straight-on kicker (no soccer style kickers in my day), wearing high-top cleats.

He was right on.

RECEIVED A NEAT phone call today. Dave Goren, executive director of the National Sportscaster & Sportswriters Association (NSSA) told me I was Ohio sportswriter of the year for 2011, my 12th time to win the award.

It never gets old, especially the awards weekend in Salisbury, N.C., the only city in America that loves sportswriters and treats them like royalty. And there are no better hosts in America than Dennis and Linda White, who takes care of Nadine and me while we’re there.

Dennis is a huge Cleveland Indians fan, so misery really does love company.

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Are the Reds trying to go ‘all-in’ in 2012?

By Hal McCoy | Friday, December 23, 2011, 04:41 PM

IF THE CINCINNATI Reds were playing Texas Hold ‘Em, it would appear that they are going all-in.

General manager Walt Jocketty made his second trade in a short few days and once again acquired a pitcher for multiple players.

This time the Reds plucked left-handed relief pitcher Sean Marshall from the Chicago Cubs for left-handed starter Travis Wood and two minor-leaguers, outfielder Dave Sappelt and infielder Ronald Torreyes.

Late last week, Jocketty obtained right-handed starting pitcher Mat Latos for four players — starting pitcher Edinson Volquez and three high prospects in Yonder Alonso, Yasmandi Grandal and Brad Boxberger.

So, in a one-week period Jocketty has acquired two players in exchange for seven players, five of whom are minor-league prospects.

THAT SEEMS TO BE a n indication that Jocketty and the Reds are trying to load up for a 2012 run at the National League Central title. That seems a legitimate move judging from what has happened within the division.

The St. Louis Cardinals have lost Albert Pujols and it appears that Milwaukee first baseman Prince Fielder is headed out of the division as a free agent. The Cardinals, though, did sign free agent Carlos Beltran on Thursday.

When the Reds acquired Latos for their rotation, they snapped up a pitcher who will be under their control for the next four years. Not so with Marshall. He is in his third year of arbitration eligibility and can become a free agent after this season, during which the Reds will pay him $3.1 million.

“I have a good relationship with his representative, (agent) Barry Meister),” said Jocketty. “There are no guarantees, but we’ll sure try to sign him to a long-term deal. We hope he’ll come in and see what a great team and organization we have and will want to stay.”

ASKED IF HIS CARDS are sufficient enough to go all in, Jocketty said, “We try to win every year, tried to win this year. We can’t do things through free agency so we have to do it through trades. That’s why we develop players. We either fit them into our team or use them to make trades.

“You hate to trade young players and hate to call them and tell them they’ve been traded,” he said. “But in the case of Sean Marshall, he was one of the top left-handed relief pitchers in the game and he can certainly help us win next year.”

While Marshall was primarily a set-up guy for the Cubs, look for him to be in the mix to become the team’s closer.

“That’s a possibility,” said Jocketty. “We’re still talking to Francisco Cordero, but if that doesn’t work out, we have people already on our club who can compete for it and Sean certainly would be included.”

That suits Marshall.

“I had a couple of opportunities last year when Carlos Marmol struggled,” he said. “I took the ball and really enjoyed it. I was very comfortable in the closing role.”

MARSHALL, 29 and 6-7 220 pounds, was a set-up man for Marmol last year and appeared in 78 games (75 2/3 innings), going 6-6 with a 2.26 ERA.

He also finished 18 games and had five saves while walking 17 and striking out 79. Amazingly, pitching in the tight quarters that is Wrigley Field, Marshall gave up only one home run all year.

“I was surprised by the trade, but I understand the business,” said Marshall, the Cubs’ sixth-round draft pick in 2003. “It will be an adjustment, but I know with the great players they have we have a chance to win and I hope I can help them win a World Series ring.”

Jocketty knows that Reds’ left-handed hitters like Joey Votto and Jay Bruce came back to the dugout mumbling after trying to make solid contract against Marshall, but he was equally effective against right-handers, too. Ask Brandon Phillips. Or Drew Stubbs.

“When we can’t figure out how to hit a pitcher, we try to acquire him,” said Jocketty with a laugh.

Wood, 24, was 6-6 with a 4.84 ERA in 18 appearances for the Reds last year and made four bullpen appearances. He began last season as the team’s No. 2 starter behind Volquez (also traded) and struggled enough that the team sent him to Class AAA Louiville for a significant portion of the season.

OUTFIELDER SAPPELT, 24, was a spring sensation, hitting over .500, but didn’t make the team until later in the season. He was eventually called up to be part of the revolving door that was left field and hit .243 in 38 games.

Infielder Torreyes is only 19, a free agent signed out of Venezuela was a mini-mite0000. He is listed as 5-10, but is closer to 5-5. He played his first full professional season at Class A Dayton, where he hit .356 in 67 games.

The Reds acquired another pitcher on Friday when they claimed right-hander Josh Judy off waivers from the Cleveland Indians.

Judy, 25, was a 38th-round draft pick by the Tribe in 2007 and made his major-league debut last year, appearing in 12 games over 14 innings. He was 0-0 with a 7.07 ERA and gave up 18 hits, four of them home runs.

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Reds trade: Was it too one-sided?

By Hal McCoy | Monday, December 19, 2011, 02:53 PM

After sleeping on it for a couple of nights, I still believe the Cincinnati Reds trade with the San Diego Padres for pitcher Mat Latos is a nightmare.

Well, at least a bad dream.

Let’s put this into a bit more perspective as to what the Reds have given up to put Latos into their rotation.

Start with Josh Hamilton. The Reds traded Hamilton to the Texas Rangers for pitcher Edinson Volquez. And now Volquez was included in the four-for-one package to get Latos.

So the real cost for Latos was Hamilton, Volquez and three top prospects in Yonder Alonso, Yasmani Grandal and Brad Boxberger.

WHILE I HATE to agree with ESPN’s Jim Bowden, who accomplished next-to-nothing when he was GM of the Reds, Bowden said the Reds were robbed.

I put it in four words: “The Reds got hosed.”

A trade cannot be judged appropriately until it all plays all, but it is for sure that Hamilton for Volquez goes down as treasure out and garbage in.

What hasn’t much been talked about is that Latos, 24, comes in with some baggage. Some of his San Diego teammates called him a head case, a guy who easily flies off the handle and is easily distracted when things don’t fly right.

And some San Diego insiders say manager Bud Black is happy to say good-bye to him.

THE Q UESTION is this: San Diego is not that blessed with pitching (they let Aaron Harang go via free agency), so why would they be so eager to trade a potential No. 1 starter who barely makes more than the major-league minimum and is under team control for four more years?

Clearly for San Diego, it was an offer they couldn’t refuse, who there were no horse’s heads in any beds.

At 24 Latos is still young and can still mature. There is no question he has ability with his 97 miles an hour fastball and three other usable pitches.

The fear here is that perhaps the Reds felt a need to do something, do anything, because they hadn’t made a significant trade in more than two years — Since acquiring Scott Rolan — and the fans were screaming that their team is not trying.

So they did something. They gave up three top prospects and a starting pitcher who once was very good (before Tommy Johns surgery) to get a pitcher who was 9-14 last year, a guy who pitches only every fifth day.

And remember this. Latos pitched in pitcher-friendly Petco Park, the second biggest park behind Yellowstone. Now he comes to a park in Cincinnati barely bigger than Williamsport and he has been know to give up a lot of fly balls.

Couldn’t this deal have been done without including Alonso, a nautural-born hitter? General manager Walt Jocketty says not. In fact, he says a three-for-one that included Alonso was not acceptable to the Padres until he included young pitcher Brad Boxberger, something he didn’t really want to do. But he did it to seal the deal.

The cliché, only time will tell, applies here. But right now, I give this deal a two thumbs down — and to make it a four-finger deal, add two index fingers down.

A headline in Monday’s DDN said, “Reds did what they had to do.” No, they didn’t HAVE to do it and probably shouldn’t have.

AS A LIFELONG Cleveland Browns fan, I’m glad only a handful of games have been available on TV in the Dayton area this year.

By now I would have had to replace about three flat screens because of thrown shoes and Yuengling bottles.

All year long, the Browns have been teasers — they stay in games until the final few minutes and blow it.

It happened again Sunday at Arizona. The Browns had a 17-7 lead at halftime, but didn’t score again and lost in overtime, 20-17.

It was obvious that when the game was being decided, the Browns played not-to-lose rather than played-to-win. With the score tied, 17-17, and less than two minutes to go, Arizona punted.

THE BROWNS were deep in their own rea, estate, but didn’t even try to get out of their own backyard and into field goal position. The first two plays they ran into the middle of the line with Payton Hillis for short gains.

Each time, Arizona used a timeout and eventually the Browns had to punt, giving the Cardinals the ball back and they nearly completed a long pass to set up a field goal.

They didn’t score on that possession, but it was disheartening to see the Browns not try to do anything on the previous possession, almost a frightened approach.

OVERTIME WAS a mess. All game long the Brown avoided punting to Patrick Peterson, the NFL’s best punt returner. They punted out of bounds.

But in the overtime they punted it to him and he ran it back 32 yards to the Browns 40. Right then, Browns fans knew the party was over, so take your favors home and thanks for coming.

Cleveland’s defense, a stout bunch, had all but shut out Larry Fitzgerald, arguably the best receiver in the NFL. But after the punt return by Peterson, Fitzgerald somehow got loose for a 32-yeard passs completion to the Browns’ four.

And a field goal ended it — another fabulously frustrating afternoon for win-starved Browns fans.

Cleveland’s defense is workable, plays well enough week-to-week to win. But the offense stinks up the place the way Lake Erie used to smell in downtown Cleveland. The team has no game-breakers, no big playmakers.

DURING THOSE seven straight weeks that Denver quarterback Tim Tebow led his Broncos to late-game victories, few people gave him credit.

They said the Broncos won because of their defense. Denver didn’t win Sunday against New England, but it wasn’t Tebow’s fault (11 for 22, 197 yards, plus a nine-yard touchdown run and 93 yards rushing).

The Denver defense collapsed like a wall of Kleenex, giving up 41 points and 320 yards passing by Tom Brady.

So now who is to blame?

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