Larry Walker: Hall of Famer?

[Van_Slyke_CF]

I was watching the Red Sox-Angels game and the announcers mentioned how Jason Bay is climbing up the list of top Canadian HR hitters.

Larry Walker is tops with 383 roundtrippers. This made me think of the absurd selection of Jim Rice for HOF induction later this year. As we discussed before, if Rice belongs in Cooperstown, then so do players like Dale Murphy and Dwight Evans because they put up similar numbers at the plate and were Gold Glove winners in the OF-something Rice never came close to.

Walker retired after the 2005 season so he is not eligible yet for the HOF. But when he's eligible, I'll be ticked off if he has to wait 15 years to get in.

Rice: .298 with 382 HRs and 1451 RBIs.

Walker: .313 with 383 HRs and 1311 RBIs plus 7 Gold Gloves and 230 SBs.

Larry Walker should be a shoo-in for the HOF, but we know the powers-that-be will have plenty of other darker players to get in first.

 

[Don Wassall]

I agree. It'll be tough for Walker to get in. Look for Andre Dawson to be the next dubious beneficiary of the same kind of PR campaign that Rice received.


Walker was a phenomenal all-around player. Only the injury bugaboo prevented him from being one of the best hitters of all time. From '97 through '99 he hit .366, .363 and .379, and then .350 in '01. Incredible. His NL MVP '97 season was one for the ages -- 49/130/.366, as good as Mickey Mantle's Triple Crown peak seasonof 1956. Three batting titles, seven Gold Gloves, .400 lifetime OBP, 230 stolen bases,Larry Walkerbelongs in Cooperstown.

 

[celticdb15]

I loved Walker while he played in Colorado. That was towards the end of his career, but my dad said he had one of the strongest arms in right field in his prime.

 

[j41181]

The Baseball HOF appears to be one tough and dirty looking business. It often seems to many here that many undeservings make it, as oppose to who really deserves to.

Edited by: j41181