Former Cincinnati Reds shortstop Barry Larkin was inducted into the franchise’s Hall of Fame prior to Saturday’s game against the New York Mets. A member of the Reds for all 18 years of his baseball career, Larkin had a lot of people to thank for his success during his speech Saturday night. Too many people, if you ask Keith Hernandez.

During the broadcast, the former first baseman who works alongside Gary Cohen as the voices of Mets baseball on SportsNet New York said, “Barry Larkin said everything in his speech, except I thought he was going to extend (George) Bush’s tax cuts.” That’s the kind of line you get out of Keith when Jerry Seinfeld or Larry David isn’t writing his material.

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS called Hernandez and Cohen, who joined in on the rant, “condescending and petty.”

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Barry Svrluga of the WASHINGTON POST reports today that Jim Lefebvre is the manager of China’s Olympic baseball team in Beijing this summer. And that Barry Larkin has also, already, played a prominent role in coaching up the Chinese squad.

But Larkin might be most excited about his role working with the Chinese national team, which is preparing for the Olympics in August. Larkin spent three weeks in Beijing working with former major leaguer Jim Lefebvre, who is managing the team, and he hopes to be invited back for the Olympics.

We’ve all seen the insane protests involving the Olympic torch the past few weeks, and we think things are likely to get uglier as we approach the opening cermonies in August. Read more…