Olli Niemela is taking his own BATS project and enlisting the help of the APBA Baseball group on Facebook. Long story short, he was getting people’s opinions of the Cincinnati Reds representative for shortstop. It was between 1996 Barry Larkin and 1978 Davey Concepcion.
Well in my opinion, Larkin gets the nod. I know old timers like Davey but Larkin pretty much had it all. You can’t argue with someone who became the first 30-30 shortstop in MLB history. And what Concepcion had didn’t translate as much into APBA. Interesting project by the way, Olli!
After his 1995 MVP season, Larkin had a career year in 1996. He had his highest totals in home runs (33), runs (117), rbis (89) and walks (96) while slugging .567 and hitting .298.
His total of 33 homers in 1996 was the only time in his 19-year career that hit over 20.
Cincy-native Larkin stole 36 bases in 1996 which was the third highest of his career. At the end of the year, he was awarded a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger award.
| Split | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 Totals | 152 | 627 | 517 | 117 | 154 | 32 | 4 | 33 | 89 | 36 | 10 | 96 | 52 | .298 | .410 | .567 |
Barry’s Boasts
Let’s start with some quick details on 1996 Larkin; he’s fast and had a good defensive rating of SS-9.
Getting to his offensive prowess which is his forte, Larkin has power in front a decent average. His power numbers are 1-4-5-5 which means not only can he hit for the long ball but he’ll find the gap too.
Larkin’s 1996 card doesn’t have a 7 but of course with 36 steals, he has a 15-11. His 96 walks in 1996 garner him a nifty five 14s. Two of those 14s have an asterisk which means he’ll steal second base if it is empty.
Barry has some fun numbers in unusual places which long-time readers will know I love in an APBA card. There is a 21-22 and a 23-23.
One thing to be careful of with this ’96 Larkin card is its propensity to ground into a double play. Larkin has three 24s. This follows as in 1996, Larkin grounded into twenty double plays.
Thanks, Olli! No shade meant toward Concepcion at all as I grew up in his era. I would choose Larkin’s card though!
Everyone knows my preference for old time baseball, but this competition isn’t even close. Larkin wins by more than a mile.