By John Erardi
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The accumulation of 19 years and 17 openers in the big leagues evaporated as Barry Larkin wheeled around second and third base Monday afternoon and slid across home plate with the Reds' fourth run in the fifth inning to cut a four-run deficit to 5-4.

If this is indeed is Larkin's final season, and this was his final Opening Day, then that sprint goes on the farewell reel. Especially with Shirley Larkin, Barry's mother, shooting out of her seat , with those red-and-white pompoms waving.

"It doesn't seem like 19 years," Shirley had said earlier. "It seems like four or five."

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• At the ballpark • Opening Day Parade

Shirley recalls, as though it were yesterday, sitting next to the late Reds owner Marge Schott in Mrs. Schott's blue box seats and rooting wildly for Barry, who was making his major-league debut in Cincinnati in 1986. That night, Shirley yelled for her son to turn around in the on-deck circle and wave to his family. Barry wouldn't do it.

"He felt it would be unprofessional," recalled his father, Bob, the man who taught Larkin to play the game so correctly.

Barry felt it was unprofessional, that is, until he received a note a moment later from the Reds batboy. "Wave to your mother," ordered the note, signed by Mrs. Schott.

The 22-year-old Larkin obeyed. The 39-year-old Larkin, who turns 40 in three weeks, smiled Monday at the memory.

When you've struggled to stay healthy the past four years - doing anything you can to stay in the lineup, but not being successful - you have an intense desire to go out on top.

But, baseball is baseball. Despite the .375 Opening Day batting average Larkin brought into the game (21-for-56), he couldn't manage a hit in his last at-bat in the ninth inning with two Reds on base, two out and the Reds trailing 7-4.

Larkin went 0-for-4 Monday with a walk and a run scored, but is still hitting .350 on Opening Day, the eighth-best Opening Day batting average of any Red with more than 20 at-bats.

More importantly, he played in his 17th opener, tying the Reds record held by Pete Rose and 19th century second baseman Bid McPhee, a Hall of Famer. "Any link to Pete is great," said Larkin.

After the game, Larkin was asked what this final opener felt like. "It (was lousy)," he said. "I struck out with two men on."

If Larkin had gotten a hit on that last at-bat in the clutch - delivering in the clutch being something that has defined his career - he could have taken something away from it.

"It means a lot to Barry to finish his career here," said his brother, Byron, the former Xavier University basketball star. "He knows he's been blessed."

"I still remember that day in study hall at Xavier when I heard Barry was being called up to the Reds," Byron said. "I got the chills. I was happy for him, and then I got nervous. I broke out in a sweat. I knew what it meant. It was an unbelievable feeling."

Vowed Byron: "I'm going to come to more games this season."