Baseball Hall Of Fame

Baseball Hall Of Fame, Barry Larkin received 51.6 percent of the votes when he appeared on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time in 2010, then got 62.1 percent last year.

With no shoo-ins among this year’s new candidates, he’s the leading contender to gain election when voting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America is announced Monday.

“It’s a shot of immortality. The best of the game in the history – in the history of the game,” he said. “To be emblazoned into that history of the game is a tremendous honor.”

A player needs at least 75 percent to gain election. A 12-time All-Star and the 1995 NL MVP, Larkin fell 75 votes short as Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven were elected last year.

But, of course, there’s always the possibility that no player receives 75 percent. A different sort of baseball shutout.

“I certainly have some anxiety about it, but not really nervous. I have a great perspective on it,” Larkin said during a telephone interview with The Associated Press. “I had a chance to speak to Jim Rice, who got inducted on his 15th time, and he really put me at comfort and ease and said, ‘You know, it’s really out of our hands, and there’s nothing we can really do about it. We don’t campaign for it, and it is what it is.’”

A day after the announcement, the Hall of Fame holds a news conference in New York for anyone voted in. Even if he failed to get the necessary percentage, Larkin will be in Manhattan, to help his 16-year-old daughter CymcoLe put together a music video. She’s performs what he says is a combination of R&B, hip-hop and pop, and they shot footage last week in a Florida aircraft hangar. They plan to get footage at Times Square and the Empire State Building.

That’s taken precedence over focusing on his Hall chances.

Hall Of Fame Inductees

Hall Of Fame Inductees, More than a quarter century after they brought hard rock back to the top of the heap, the original lineup of legendary Los Angeles band Guns N’ Roses will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April. Guns were among the acts named on Wednesday as the Class of 2012, which includes fellow L.A. rockers the Red Hot Chili Peppers, iconic New York rap trio the Beastie Boys, 1960s pop singer Laura Nyro, the Small Faces (and their later Rod Stewart-led incarnation, the Faces), as well as mellow 1960s singer Donovan.

Also on the roster for the induction ceremony, which will take place on April 14 in Cleveland and air on HBO in early May, is early influence blues guitarist Freddie King and nonperformer Don Kirshner, who created the Archies and Monkees and hosted the long-running live-music TV show “Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert.”

Among those passed over? this year were the Cure, Joan Jett, Heart and hip-hip duo Eric B. & Rakim. Acts become eligible for the Hall 25 years after the release of their first single or album, so this year’s crop all started releasing music in or before the year 1986.

Led by the mercurial lead singer Axl Rose, GN’R re-invented hard rock with 1987’s Appetite for Destruction, which featured such indelible glam-punk hits as “Welcome to the Jungle,” “Paradise City,” “Sweet Child o’ Mine” and “It’s So Easy.” The band splintered a decade later amid a clash of egos, disagreement over musical direction and drug issues that resulted in Rose soldiering on alone with a parade of replacement sidemen.

Before their induction was announced, buzz had already begun to build around a potential reunion between legendarily unfriendly co-founders Rose and guitarist Slash as well as the rest of the classic line-up, which included rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Steven Adler. Rose is currently on the road with the new Guns.