Colorado Rockies legend Larry Walker will be part of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He will be the first Rockies player inducted into the Hall of Fame.
The outfielder was elected to the class of 2020 by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America with 76.6% of ballots – just above the 75% required. The votes were announced Tuesday afternoon.
This was Walker’s tenth and final year of eligibility.
Walker said Tuesday that he didn’t believe he would get elected to the Hall of Fame, right up until he got the call that he was in. “That call comes, and all of the sudden you can’t breathe,” Walker said in an interview on MLB Network.
In parts of 10 seasons with Colorado, Walker hit .334 with 258 homers and 848 RBIs. He ranks first in team history in batting average, on-base percentage (.426) and slugging percentage (.618). He also won the 1997 NL MVP during a season in which he hit .366 with 49 homers.
Walker played a total of 17 seasons with Montreal (1989-94), Colorado (1995-2004) and St. Louis (2004-05). He hit .313 for his carer with 383 homers.
The Rockies announced last week that they will honor Walker by retiring his number 33 at a ceremony on April 19 when they play the St. Louis Cardinals.
Larry Walker stats
- Batting average: .313
- Home runs: 383
- RBIs: 1,311
- 7-time Gold Glove winner
- 5-time All-Star
- 1997 MVP with the Rockies
- 3-time batting champ (’98, ’99, ’00)