Larry Walker

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Larry Walker
Outfielder
Batted: Left	Threw: Right
MLB debut
August 16, 1989 for the Montreal Expos
Final game
October 2, 2005 for the St. Louis Cardinals
Career statistics
Batting average	.313(81st MLB All-Time)
Home runs	383(51st MLB All-Time)
RBI's	1311(86th MLB All-Time)
Teams
Montreal Expos (1989-1994) Colorado Rockies (1995-2004) St. Louis Cardinals (2004-2005)
Career highlights and awards
All-Star (NL): 1992, 1997-1999, 2001 MLB Most Valuable Player Award (NL): 1997 Batting title (NL): 1998-1999, 2001 Gold Glove (NL OF): 1992-1993, 1997-1999, 2001-2002 Silver Slugger (NL OF): 1992, 1997, 1999 Led the National League in on base percentage, slugging percentage in 1997 and 1999 Led the National League in home runs, total bases and extra base hits in 1997 Finished 2nd in the National League in total bases in 1995, home runs in 1995, and extra base hits in 1994 and 1995, slugging percentage in 1995, runs scored in 1997, hits in 1997, on base percentage in 2000, batting average in 2002

Larry Kenneth Robert Walker (born December 1, 1966 in Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada) is a former right fielder in Major League Baseball. From 1989 through 2005, Walker played for the Montreal Expos (1989-94), Colorado Rockies (1995-2004) and St. Louis Cardinals (2004-2005). He batted left handed and threw right handed. Walker announced his retirement after Game 6 of the 2005 National League Championship Series.

Contents 1 Early career 2 Career Season 3 Later years 4 Accomplishments 5 Facts 6 See also 7 Sources 8 External Links

[edit] Early career

As a child, Walker enjoyed the typical Canadian passions and aspired to be an ice hockey player. In time, he thought handling a bat was easyer than using a stick.

Signed by the Montreal Expos as an amateur free agent in 1984, Walker made his debut with Montreal on August 16, 1989. During his first several seasons, he was an above average hitter in all respects, hitting for some power, stealing 20-30 bases, and regularly batting near the .300 mark.

In 1994, the Expos team — and Walker himself — appeared to be rising to its potential. Grounded by rising young stars Pedro Martínez, Moisés Alou, Cliff Floyd, Mike Lansing and Jeff Fassero, Montreal was off to a 74-40 start, leading the National League Eastern Division.

Walker, with 86 RBI, was well on his way to his first 100-RBI year. The season, however, was stopped due to the 1994 players' strike. No World Series, which the Expos appeared to be destined for, was played and Montreal lost many of its players during the next season due to free agency and salary constraints. The 1994 Montreal Expos team that could have been remains one of baseball's hot discussion points.

Before the 1995 season, Walker signed with the Colorado Rockies, where hitter-friendly Coors Field contributed to an instant boom in his statistics. Walker was a major factor in Colorado's winning 1995 season, hitting .301 with 36 home runs and 101 RBI. He remains in the top ten in many offensive categories for the Rockies.[1]

[edit] Career Season

Walker's career season came in 1997, when he hit .366 with 49 home runs, 130 RBI, 33 stolen bases, and 409 total bases, en route to becoming the first Canadian player to win a MVP Award.

In 1998, Walker won the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canadian athlete of the year after finishing runner-up the previous year to Formula One driver Jacques Villeneuve.

Combined with 12 outfield assists, the season remains one of the finest all around performances in recent baseball history. Even more impressively, Walker's breakout season came just one year after various injuries limited him to 83 games and 272 at-bats, although the NL Comeback Player of the Year award went to Darren Daulton.

[edit] Later years

Walker was plagued by injuries for the last several years of his career, but nevertheless continued to produce. Although he would never have 500 at-bats in a season after 1997, he hit .363 in 1998 in limited action, and .379 (a Rockies record) with 37 homers and 115 RBI in just 438 at-bats the year after.

After spending most of the 2000 season on the disabled list (albeit hitting .309 in limited action), Walker returned to form, hitting .350 and .338 the next two seasons with more than 100 RBI both years.

In August 2004, the injured (but batting .324) Walker was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for three minor league players. Now playing for the Cardinal powerhouse, Walker contributed briefly to the pennant-winning 2004 squad and the 2005 division winners.

He ended his career with 383 home runs, at the time 50th on the all-time list. As of 2006, Walker is currently an instructor on the St. Louis Cardinals spring training staff under manager Tony La Russa.

[edit] Accomplishments

• Lou Marsh Trophy (1998)
• 5-time All-Star (1992, 1997-99, 2001)
• 6-time National League Gold Glove Award winner (1992-93, 1997-98, 2001-02)
• 9-time Tip O'Neill Award winner (1987, 1990, 1992, 1994-95, 1997-98, 2001 - with Corey Koskie, 2002 - with Éric Gagné)
• National League MVP award (1997)
• 4-time Top 10 MVP (1992, 5th; 1995, 7th; 1995, 10th; 1997, Won)
• 3-time Silver Slugger Award (1992, 1997, 1999)
• In 1993 he had his first kid named brittany

[edit] Facts

• Walker's 409 total bases in 1997 were the most in a ML season since Stan Musial's 1948 season, although the mark was bettered by Barry Bonds in 2001 (411), Luis Gonzalez in 2001 (419), and twice by Sammy Sosa, in 1998 (416) and 2001 (425). Between 1948 and then, the mark was achieved only by Jim Rice in 1978 (406).

• Walker has the most home runs ever hit by a Canadian in the major leagues.

[edit] See also

• Players from Canada in MLB
• List of top 500 Major League Baseball home run hitters
• DHL Hometown Heroes

[edit] Sources

• Larry Walker at ESPN.com
• Baseball-Reference.com - career statistics and analysis

[edit] External Links

• Larry Walker to recieve World Series Ring

Preceded by Ken Caminiti	National League Player of the Month April 1997	Succeeded by Tony Gwynn
Preceded by Andres Galarraga	National League Home Run Champion 1997	Succeeded by Mark McGwire
Preceded by Ken Caminiti	National League Most Valuable Player 1997	Succeeded by Sammy Sosa
Preceded by Tony Gwynn	National League Batting Champion 1998–1999	Succeeded by Todd Helton
Preceded by Todd Helton	National League Batting Champion 2001	Succeeded by Barry Bonds
Preceded by Jeff Kent	National League Player of the Month July 2002	Succeeded by Barry Bonds
Preceded by Jacques Villeneuve	Lou Marsh Trophy winner 1998	Succeeded by Caroline Brunet