Voters Name Larkin National League Mvp For All-Around Impact

Barry Larkin was a surprise choice as the N.L. Most Valuable Player on Wednesday, beating out Dante Bichette and Greg Maddux to become the first shortstop to win the award in 33 years.

Rather than pitching or power, voters clearly looked at the all-around contributions Larkin made on and off the field to the N.L. Central champion Cincinnati Reds, and made him a convincing choice.

Larkin, who was on a cruise in Mexico when the award was announced, hit .319 with 66 RBIs and 51 steals. He received 11 first-place votes and finished with 281 points.

Buck Showalter, a lifelong Yankee before splitting with George Steinbrenner, signed a $7 million, seven-year contract to manage the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Art Howe, former manager of the Houston Astros and bench coach for the Colorado Rockies, will be hired today as manager of the Oakland Athletics.

Don Zimmer and Mel Stottlemyre are among the coaches to be hired by the New York Yankees when manager Joe Torre announces his staff today.

Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench said he believes that ex-teammate Pete Rose bet on baseball and should be kept out of the Hall of Fame until he admits guilt and apologizes.

That prompted an angry response from Rose that Bench didn’t know the facts and should keep quiet. Both men, who were key components of Cincinnati’s “Big Red Machine” teams of the mid-1970s, made their comments in separate interviews Tuesday with Cincinnati radio station WLW-AM, which broadcasts Reds games.

On the 227th day since the 234-day baseball strike ended, negotiators for the players and owners met in Scottsdale, Ariz., for their first formal post-strike bargaining session.