I’d been very nervous for this day. It was Larry Walker’s last chance to make it into the Baseball Hall of Fame—literally. If he missed out, he would never get an opportunity to be a Hall of Famer. The fact that this was his last chance to get into the Hall made it a million times more nerve-wracking than it needed to be.
After coming home from work, I decided to check my Twitter account to see what was going on. Not much word about Larry. I thought to myself, well, this is it. Larry will never be a Hall of Famer. I will have to accept the fact that people will use anti-Rockies bias for everyone on the Hall of Fame ballot for the rest of my life. Looks like I’ve counted my chickens before they hatched and I really should have been careful what I wished for.
I was wrong. Dead wrong. I read a Tweet that implied that Larry had gotten into the Hall of Fame. I read more Tweets. It was official. Larry finally was in the Hall of Fame. After a literal decade on the ballot, Larry Walker was finally, at long last, a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame class of 2020.
I’m very happy about this. Larry Walker led a career that I like to call extremely legendary. He won a Most Valuable Player Award, seven Gold Glove Awards, three Silver Slugger Awards, and three Batting Champion titles. He also was a member of five All-Star Games.
Another reason why I find this news amazing is because people devalued his career because he played at Coors Field. Coors Field is known as a “hitter’s paradise.” However, he put up amazing stats during away games. I love that Larry, who played for the Rockies, finally got a Hall of Fame spot. In my opinion, it shows that the ballpark you play at doesn’t have to define how good you are as a player. Good players come from all walks of life and all home ballparks.
I think this will pave the way for many amazing Rockies players, from Todd Helton to Troy Tulowitzki. I’ve idolized Mr. Helton and Mr. Tulowitzki since I was in the fifth grade. When I was in the sixth grade, I had a major crush on Troy “Tulo” Tulowitzki. When I was thirteen, I finally got to meet him and I was beyond enraged after he got traded away.
I believe that by Larry Walker getting into the Hall of Fame, more Rockies players will follow in his footsteps. It will prove that Coors Field doesn’t have to mean that a player had a meaningless career. I am seriously so happy that Larry is finally getting recognition for his hard work instead of being dismissed for where he played much of his career.
Congratulations to Larry Walker on his Hall of Fame induction!
SOURCES:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/walkela01.shtml
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