Gallagher: If not 2020 for Walker then perhaps in 2022 for Cooperstown induction
Canadian slugger Larry Walker (Maple Ridge, B.C.) will be on the National Baseball Hall of Fame baseball writers’ ballot for the 10th and final time this year. Photo: Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame
November 8, 2019
By Danny Gallagher
Canadian Baseball Network
Larry Walker is back in the spotlight as National Baseball Hall of Fame voting results gets closer and closer.
Twitter and Facebook users began circulating information recently about the Expos legend, who really made his mark over nine and a quarter seasons with the Colorado Rockies. Walker played five and a quarter seasons with the Expos.
In January, we will find out if Walker gets his due berth on Main St. in Cooperstown. It's the famous Canadian's 10th and final try on the regular Hall of Fame ballot handled by the Baseball Writers Association of America.
Walker requires more 20% additional votes in order to crack the door open to induction. Last January, he earned 54.6% of the votes after he had been trending much higher in open voting posted on Twitter by @notmrtibbs Ryan Thibodaux of Oakland, Calif.
The catch to Thibodaux's tracking process is that only about 50% of the voters actually made their choices known, meaning another 50% kept their choices close to the vest. And some of those 50% who kept their choices secret didn't support Walker, bringing his final tally down much lower than what Thibodaux's tracking showed.
Walker was quoted as saying after the results were released that he would likely refrain from following Thibodaux's tracking because more or less, he got his hopes up too high.
So if Walker doesn't make it to Cooperstown when results are made known in January, it will be another two years before he's considered again through another voting platform: the Today's Game Era committee which doesn't convene every year.
The Today’s Game Era committee convenes next in December, 2021 for consideration as part of the class of 2022. Yet, there is no guarantee that Walker's name would be placed on the ballot by the selection committee at that time.
Expos fans are also hoping that French language Expos broadcaster Jacques Doucet finally gets selected as the Ford Frick Award winner in Cooperstown's broadcast wing when voting is announced Dec. 11 at the winter meetings in San Diego.
Doucet has been on this ballot for years and years and the competition gets tougher and tougher.
It's possible that there will be no Expos-related folks inducted in Cooperstown next year, meaning there will be no reason for Expos fans to make the trek there.