Red Reporter, a Cincinnati Reds community

Barry's year? Peering into the Hall of Fame Crystal Ball

Had baseball video games existed during the 1970s beyond those that required taping a "baseball field" transparency over your TV screen, I'm sure there would have been licensed products featuring members of the Big Red Machine. But from the beginning of the advent of video games (mid-80s?) until the present day, there hasn't been a truly nationally-marketable household megastar playing for the Reds during prime years.

Baseball fans are self-indulgent nostalgia junkies, it's true. There's no Ken Burns Football, no leatherhead re-enactors (at least for the purposes of this argument), no sacred talisman of memorabilia that matches the Honus Wagner card. This has a lot to do with the sheer longevity of the sport, but at least a little to do the meditative, journal-keeping Costasian nerds it attracts.

A look at Barry Larkin's case for the Hall of Fame using statistics that account for his total combination of hitting, fielding, and playing time.