Larry Walker became only the second Canadian player in the Baseball Hall of Fame and the first position player. Walker's speech was delayed thanks to the pandemic. His speech felt very Canadian: humble and appreciative.
Walker called out Ferguson Jenkins, the first Canadian player in the Baseball Hall of Fame. He talked about pulling off a social media moment when trying to get support to get him into the Hall of Fame: #Fergieneedsafriend.
He started his career with the Montréal Expos. Walker spoke of his unconventional way of getting to the major leagues since he didn't play much baseball. He spoke of a story in the minor leagues where he needed to backtrack on the bases. Instead of following the basepaths and touching second base before heading to first base, Walker cut across the diamond and was called out for clearly running outside the baseline.
Most Hall of Fame players have a much clearer path to MLB. Given at the time that Canadians were not allowed to be drafted, the Montréal Expos are literally the reason Walker played in the major leagues.
Walker went into the Hall as a Colorado Rockies player. He was granted free agency after the 1994 season and signed with Colorado. The loss of Walker in early 1995 and Patrick Roy in late 1995 from Montréal to Denver were gigantic blows to the sports world in Montréal.
"I'll always be grateful that the Montréal Expos took a chance on me and gave me an opportunity to play baseball professionally. To all the Expos fans and people of Montréal, it was a great honour to put on the Expos uniform and represent my home country. I enjoyed many years in Montréal, none of them as good as that 1994 team. We all lost out that year from the work stoppage. And nobody knows what would have happened that year but I still imagine what it would have been like to bring a World Series to Quebec. To the fans hoping for their team to return to Montréal, I join you in hoping before long that Major League Baseball returns to your beautiful city."
Walker told the story of getting a $1500 signing bonus, which came out to $2000 Canadian at the time. He felt like at the time that he had won the lottery.
"Thank you Canada for all your support I have received throughout the years from my home country. I share this honour with every Canadian and I hope that all you Canadian kids out there that have dreams of playing in the big leagues that see me here today gives you another reason to go after those dreams."
While the ceremony had been delayed by over a year, Montréal Expos fans couldn't make the trip down from Quebec to be there in person. While Americans under certain circumstances can cross into Canada, the same is not true for Canadians into the United States. They would have been loud and proud.
Adnan Virk (Canadian) of the MLB Network wrote a rather nice essay on the impact of Canada on Larry Walker and the impact of Larry Walker on Canadian baseball. Canadian Joey Votto, who may be the next Canadian in the Baseball Hall of Fame, served as the narrator.
Rogers Sportsnet had a nice interview on the impact in Canada of Walker being in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Larry Walker is now the second Canadian in the Baseball Hall of Fame
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"(Larry Walker) influenced an entire country and changed the dynamic of which we play baseball up there." That was Canadian MLB pitcher Ryan Dempster on the MLB Network on the day of the original Walker announcement. Dempster talked about Canadians who would be on the fence as to whether to play hockey or baseball.
Seeing Walker succeed made them "believe now that they could play in the major leagues and be successful major leaguers because of him. And to me, that influence he had on an entire country and a generation of baseball players coming from there should put him in the Hall of Fame alone."
Dempster had the second highest win total of any Canadian pitcher in MLB history, a long way behind Ferguson Jenkins.
Walker made a significant impact on Canadian baseball. The Canadian pipeline has included Joey Votto, Justin Morneau, and Russell Martin along with Mike Soroka and Vladimir Guerrero, Jr., among many others.
Like his Montréal Expos teammate Tim Raines, Larry Walker reaches the Baseball Hall of Fame on his 10th and final try. Walker was on 76.6% of the ballots, making the Hall by a 6-vote margin.
Tim Raines had to wait even longer to make Baseball Hall of Fame speech
Tim Raines finally makes the Baseball Hall of Fame
CanadianCrossing.com MLB coverage
What a day!! So proud to join the great Fergie Jenkins!! pic.twitter.com/aijornrS17
— Larry Walker (@Cdnmooselips33) September 8, 2021
Since we are talking Canadians and the Baseball Hall of Fame, we wanted to share this National Film Board of Canada (NFB) documentary King of the Hill. The documentary captures bits of Ferguson Jenkins during the 1972-1973 seasons, his final 2 seasons with the Chicago Cubs.
Jenkins started his career with the Philadelphia Phillies but made a name in baseball with the Cubs.
Jenkins became the first Canadian to win the Cy Young Award in 1971, going 24-13 with 30 complete games (in 39 starts) with 37 walks and 263 strikeouts. He was a 20-game winner every year from 1967-1972.
After being traded to the Texas Rangers, Jenkins won 25 games and became the first baseball player to win the Lou Marsh Trophy, an award given each year to Canada’s top athlete, in 1974. Jenkins was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 1987 and the Hall of Fame in 1991.
video credits: Colorado Rockies/MLB; MLB Network; National Film Board of Canada
photo credit: MLB Network
Twitter capture: @Cdnmooselips33
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