Baseballs right around the corner

[ItownHosscat]

I found this,who would you pick?

Larkin or Concepcion? Barry's bat was better
By Hal McCoy

Staff Writer

Thursday, February 05, 2009

An intriguing question was posed on Mark Schlemmer's WONE-AM (980) talk show this week: Davey Concepcion or Barry Larkin?

Listeners were asked to choose which former Cincinnati Reds shortstop they would pick for their team.

Schlemmer asked me, and I said, "I'll give you the first pick and I'll take the other guy."

It's that close.

If somebody threatened to force-feed me a peanut-butter cookie made by Peanut Corporation of America, I'd say Larkin.

Defensively, they're a wash. Both played 19 seasons, with Larkin winning three Gold Gloves and Concepcion five.

The difference is offense. Larkin was a force while Concepcion was a snug-fitting piece in the Big Red Machine. Larkin's career average was .295, and Concepcion's was .267. Larkin drove in 960 runs, only four more than Concepcion.

Larkin hit 198 homers and won nine Silver Slugger Awards. Concepcion hit 101 homers and won two Silver Slugger Awards. Larkin wins the on-base average contest, .371 to .322. Larkin was on 12 All-Star teams, Concepcion nine.

Both played their entire careers in Cincinnati. And I believe Larkin and Concepcion are the only two players ever to wear a captain's C on their Reds uniforms.

My solution? Larkin at shortstop and Concepcion at third, where he played during his last days in Cincinnati.

[ItownHosscat]

Im going with Barry Larkin.My family met him at Riverfront one year.Adventures for wish kids set it up for us.
He was very polite and down to earth.