December 9, 2019

By Bob Elliott

Canadian Baseball Network

Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa was a longtime admirer of outfielder Larry Walker.

La Russa also managed Walker for a short-time ... 144 regular season games.

“The question I always ask when the Hall of Fame comes up is ‘Was the player the best of his generation?’” La Russa said outside the first base dugout at Rogers Centre earlier this summer when he was working as an assistant to the president with the Boston Red Sox.

“And when it comes to Walker, the answer is yes. He was the best of his generation.”

Longtime admirer. First-time lobbyist.

La Russa managed Walker (Maple Ridge, BC) 44 games plus post-season play as his Cards were swept by the Boston Red Sox in the 2004 World Series. And he managed him 100 games plus the post-season the next year as St. Louis dropped the National League Championship Series to the Houston Astros in six games.

Walker retired after Roy Oswalt pitched seven innings allowing one run in a 5-1 win to eliminate the Cardinals in 2005.

This is Walker’s 10th and final year on the Hall of Fame ballot. The Canadian slugger made strides a year ago going from 34.1% in Baseball Writers of America Association voting to 54.6% of the required 75%.

How much did La Russa think of Walker? Well, when the Cardinals beat the Detroit Tigers in the 2006 World Series, La Russa and the Cards made sure Walker was given a ring to cap his 17-year career.

After Walker retired, he wanted to serve as a coach with St. Louis. La Russa asked what station Walker was best suited for ... and the conversation between the Hall of Fame manager and the Hall of Fame candidate went something like this (with Walker’s tongue planted firmly in his cheek):

La Russa: “How do you teach hitting?”

Walker: “Well, I stand there ... I see the ball, I hit the ball.”

La Russa: “How do you teach base running?”

Walker: “Just run.”

La Russa: “What about taking a route to a fly ball?”

Walker: “Catch it.”

Walker had succeeded in teasing his ex-skipper.

With the Cardinals, La Russa had a sign with a man on base where he wanted the hitter to hit the ball behind the runner on second to get him to third.

Walked asked, “Ah, is it OK if we hit the ball to right field, knock the guy in and get an RBI?”

La Russa said most certainly.

“One day we have a man on second, we give him the sign, he singles to right, we score, Larry gets to first and gives (first base coach) Dave McKay a big wink,” La Russa said.

Larry Walker -- secret agent man.

La Russa said Walker was a trend setter as it was his idea for both teams to shake hands after the National League Division Series against the Los Angeles Dodgersin 2004 -- like National Hockey League teams do.

“Larry asked me with about a month to go and I liked the idea,” La Russa said. “I told him it depended upon who we played. So it turns out we’re going to play the Dodgers ... managed by Jim Tracy.”

With the Cardinals leading the best-of-five series 2-1 and Game 4, 6-2, Walker caught La Russa’s eye in the dugout at Dodger Stadium.

“I gave him a thumbs up,” La Russa said. “The two teams didn’t really line up like two hockey teams, (the Cardinals and the Dodgers) milled about in the infield shaking hands with each other.”

La Russa reported that Chris Carpenter was inducted into the Cardinals Hall of Fame in 2018 and this past August another ex-Jay, 3B Scott Rolen, was inducted along with Jason Isringhausen and the late Mort Cooper.

And now Walker and his supporters await the January results.