Colorado Rockies great Larry Walker will be on his 10th and final year on the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. In 2019 Walker reached 54.6% of the vote, he needs 75% to get in. The voters need to take a hard look at Walker because he deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.
Larry Walker is considered one of the best players to wear a Rockies uniform and his numbers are Hall of Fame worthy. According to Baseball-Reference Walker finished his career with 72.7 wins above replacement and ranked 19th among outfielders in MLB history. He was a two-way player who excelled at the plate and played strong defense in the outfield. Walker had a career .141 OPS and career averages of .313/.400/.565.
Then there are the various awards and accolades that he earned over the course of his great career. In 1997 Walker won the MVP award. To this day he holds the Rockies only MVP in their franchise history. He won 7 gold gloves, 3 silver sluggers and 3 batting titles in his career. Those awards are a real honor for many players because they are based on what the player has accomplished.
He should not be punished for calling Coors Field his home ballpark for most of his career. Even though Coors Field is a hitter ballpark, it should not matter because the players are taking advantage of what they have. Walker should get credit for not only using the ballpark to his advantage but manning that huge outfield. There are a lot of outfields to cover and many outfielders struggle with it. The fact that Larry Walker was able to handle it and he even won awards for his defense.
There is a lot to like about Larry Walker and what he did in his career. Based on his numbers he should be in the Hall of Fame because they are proof of how special of a player he was.
