Larry Walker

Previously, Canadian baseball luminaries included Tip O'Neill, the first Canadian to win a Triple Crown back in 1887, and Ferguson Jenkins, Canada's first selectee to the American Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991.

It was Walker who would help dramatically increase the profile of the sport in a hockey-mad nation.

Part of the factor are Canada's short summers, which make it more challenging to play outdoors than in the United States.

Recalled Walker later in his major league career, "I'd never seen a forkball, never seen a slider. I didn't know they existed. I had never really seen a good curveball. In Canada, as a kid, we'd play 10 baseball games a year. Fifteen, tops. Some pitchers had a thing they'd call a spinner, but nothing like this. Baseball just wasn't big. The weather was against it. Nobody ever played baseball thinking about making the major leagues."

He was also unaware of many of the rules, attesting to his lack of experience playing when he turned a professional.

His career SLG of .565 ranks 12th all time.

Walker is one of only 19 hitters in history to accomplish a .300 batting average, .400 on-base percentage (OBP), and .500 SLG with at least 5,000 plate appearances, and one of six whose careers began after 1960.

Considering advanced metrics, he is one of only three players in history to rank within the top 100 of each of batting runs, base-running runs, and defensive runs saved; the others are Barry Bonds and Willie Mays.

Raised in the Greater Vancouver area of British Columbia, Walker spent his youth playing street hockey with consuming NHL goaltender aspirations.

Larry Kenneth Robert Walker (born December 1, 1966) is a Canadian former professional baseball right fielder.

During his 17-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career, he played with the Montreal Expos, Colorado Rockies, and St. Louis Cardinals.

Larry Kenneth Robert Walker Jr. was born on December 1, 1966, in Maple Ridge, a suburb of Greater Vancouver in British Columbia, to Larry Sr., and Mary Walker, both of Scottish descent.

Larry Jr. was the youngest of four boys, Barry, Carey and Gary.

The five men often played together in a fastpitch softball league, frequently all in the same starting lineup.

Walker grew up passing much of his free time playing street hockey, especially as part of a group of boys in the backyard and driveway of another boy named Rick Herbert.

In that group was future Hockey Hall of Famer Cam Neely, who became one of Walker's close friends.

Walker dreamed of a career in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a goaltender, only casually playing an occasional baseball game during the summer.

He played hockey and volleyball at Maple Ridge Secondary School; baseball was not offered.

Brother Carey, also a goaltender, was drafted by the Montreal Canadiens in the 12th round of the 1977 NHL Draft.

At the age of 16, Walker was offered tryouts with Junior A teams in Regina, Saskatchewan, and Kelowna, British Columbia, however, he was cut from both teams, while Herbert made the Regina Pats.

Other offers Walker received were from Western Hockey League teams, including Swift Current, which he toured.

After seeing substandard conditions there, he decided that he no longer wanted to pursue hockey once he arrived at the rink, and subsequently focused his athletic aspirations on baseball.

The popularity of baseball in Canada during Walker's youth was minuscule in contrast to the following he would help spawn related to his later success with the Montreal Expos.

One of his boyhood idols was NHL goalie Billy Smith, winner of four consecutive Stanley Cups from 1980−83 during Walker's teenage years.

Walker sharpened his skills by blocking shots against Neely.

That dream never materialized; however, the Expos saw his baseball potential and signed him in 1984.

By 1990, Walker became their starting right fielder, propelling them to the majors' best record in 1994 when that year's strike stopped their first serious World Series run.

In 1997, he became the only player in major league history to register both a .700 slugging percentage (SLG) and 30 stolen bases in the same season, on his way to winning the National League (NL) Most Valuable Player Award (MVP).

The first player in more than 60 years to record a batting average of .360 in three consecutive seasons from 1997 to 1999, Walker also won three NL batting championships.

He signed with the Rockies as a free agent following the season, and, during a six-year period starting in 1997, was the major league batting leader three times while finishing second in the NL twice.

In 1997, he also led the league in home runs, OBP, and SLG, while joining the 30–30 club, registering 12 outfield assists and leading his position with four double plays turned; he won the NL MVP Award that year.

He was recognized as the top Canadian athlete in 1998 with the Lou Marsh Trophy.

Other honors include five MLB All-Star selections, seven Gold Glove Awards, three Silver Slugger Awards, and nine Tip O'Neill Awards.

Desiring a trade to a contending team, Walker was sent by the Rockies to St. Louis in the middle of their 105-win season of 2004 where he made his first World Series appearance while tying or setting three Cardinals postseason records.

He announced his retirement from playing baseball after Game 6 of the 2005 National League Championship Series.

He was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2007, and the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in the Class of 2009, and was named the 13th-greatest sporting figure from Canada by Sports Illustrated in 1999.

Following his playing career, Walker has served as a guest instructor for the Cardinals, and, since 2009, has coached the Canadian national team.

In that time, Team Canada has competed in three World Baseball Classic (WBC) tournaments, and twice at the Pan American Games, winning consecutive gold medals in 2011 and 2015.

In 2020, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Widely considered a five-tool player of prodigious athleticism and instincts, Walker hit for both average and power, combined with well-above-average speed, defense and throwing strength and accuracy.