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Hall of Fame baseball writer Hal McCoy has retired from the Dayton Daily News after covering the Cincinnati Reds for 37 years. Hal's blog, though, will continue to be a must-read for Reds fans. He'll share his thoughts on the team this season and will file updates from Great American Ball Park. You also can catch Hal in print every Sunday in his popular Ask Hal column

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Home > Blogs > The Real McCoy | Cincinnati Reds baseball news > Archives > 2012 > January > 13 > Entry

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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