HOVG Heroes: Will Clark

DAVID ALLAN on WILL CLARK

Every year as fans of baseball we embark on a journey.

The trip, for all of us that love the idea of baseballs immortals, begins with a nomination in late November or early December. By early in the month of January, the call to The Hall has been made.  Then we wait with baited breath for that glorious day in late July when one or more of our heroes is inducted into the company of the games immortals.

The why and how of the voting has always been the most confusing part of the process.

During the month of December, the Baseball Writers Association of America tackles the large task which has been bestowed upon them. It is in the hands, hearts and minds of the baseball writers which we put this decision.

Will a players be immortalized, will his legend, his legacy be enshrined forever in the hallowed halls of Cooperstown New York? Will he be allowed to stand in the sun and gives the much scrutinized induction speech. A speech which Rollie Fingers once told me was one of the hardest things he’d ever had to do. Or will he go down as being “Very Good”?  Will he be celebrated here by the fans? Will his legacy be forever in the form of a bronze plaque or in our corner of the internet as a pixilated image?

As we are on the verge of another July day in the sun, I want to look at two players and my personal confusion with current system of induction. One player has seen his votes Yo-Yo on his hopeful march to 75%, and the other had his opportunity cut short after one ballot.

Why and how is this possible? I do know that one will be addressed elsewhere in The Hall’s examination of Heroes, so I’ll leave that for another time. That being said, I need to know how a player that I remember being great, being exceptional, being talented was lost on the first ballot.

In 2006, the Baseball Hall of Fame once again opened its door a closer. Not a converted starter, but the definition of closer.

Bruce Sutter received 400 votes to appear on 76.9% of all the ballots. More simply put, Sutter got in by ten votes. I mention Sutter not because I am here to make a case for or against his candidacy, I will leave that up to someone else if they’d like to tackle the issue or not.  I mention him because I am interested in another player on the 2006 ballot.

I am interested in a player that got 4.4% of the vote, a player that appeared on only 23 of 520 ballots. While this became this player’s only trip to the ballot, another player managed to generate 64 voters in his sixth crack at induction.

Why does it matter?

Well it matters to me because players B found himself on the ballot in 2001 with 145 votes in his first year. That was 24 more votes than eventually selectee Bret Blyleven got this year. He then saw his vote total plummet to 64 votes in 2006 and has since rebounding with 102 votes in 2012.

How is it possible for us as fan to understand the process when two players, very good players illicit such completely different results from the Baseball Writers Association of America. How are to understand the same player is more of a Hall of Famer some years than other?

Player	Games	HITS	2B	HR	RBI	AVG.	OBP.	SLG%
A	1785	2153	442	222	1099	.307	.358	.471
B	1976	2176	440	284	1205	.303	.384	.497

Alright, I’m sure you’ve had enough with all the mystery and avoidance, right? We are here to discuss Heroes so lets put a name to my issue.

William Nuschler Clark, better known as “The Thrill” or “The Natural” is “Player B”.

So if that’s true, then who is “Player A”?

One of the few men whose nicknames and baseball body of work matches up with Clark, Don “The Hitman, Donnie Baseball” Mattingly.

Clark, a Louisiana native was awarded the Golden Spikes by USA Baseball as the best player in amateur baseball in 1985 and from there was selected second overall in the draft by the San Francisco Giants. Then on April 8, 1986 in his first big league at bat Clark would take future Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan over the fence to announce he had arrived.  And despite an elbow injury that caused him to miss 47 games the 22-year old Clark would manage to play in 111 games as a rookie and bat .287 with 11 homeruns in 458 plate appearances.

His amazing run didn’t stop from there.  After a fifth place finish in the Rookie of the Year voting, Clark went on to finish in the top five in the National League MVP voting four times from 1987 to 1991. Mattingly, on the other hand, finished in the top five three times in the American League voting from 1984 to 1986, including winning the 1985 MVP Award.

Some will point to the fact Clark never won an MVP award as a detriment, but hey…neither did Hank Aaron or Derek Jeter. Now this isn’t to suggest that Will Clark or Don Mattingly are on par with “Hammerin’ Hank” or the Yankee Captain, but the fact of the matter is that consistently appearing at the top of the MVP voting shows greatness to win it is a combination of great play and great luck. Some would argue that in 1985, George Brett’s season with a better average, on base percentage and slugging percentage could have easily been selected as the American League MVP over Mattingly.

With similar careers in the same era, Clark and Mattingly should be attached at the hip when it comes to an over all evaluation of their careers, yet that does not seem to be the case.

In the case of Mattingly, we have seen Hall of Fame votes Yo-Yo up and down in an attempt by writers to constantly redefine where he stands. Where as Clark, on the other hand, was unceremoniously dropped without much debate. How is it possible that a player that meant so much to the Giants of the late 1980’s and early 1990’s and one of the all-time sweet swings in baseball was dumped off the ballot without a second thought?

It could certainly be argued that outside of a lack of Gold Gloves Clark produced a career that is on par if not slightly better than “Donnie Baseball”.

When we debate the best first basemen of the 1980’s, what names instantly comes to mind? Murray? Hernandez? Mattingly? Cooper? Hrbek? How should we compare them?

Players	Average	OBP	Slugging%	OPS+
Clark	.303	.384	.497	137
Mattingly	.307	.358	.471	127
Cooper	.298	.337	.466	121
Murray	.287	.359	.476	131
Hernandez	.296	.384	.436	128
Hrbek	.282	.367	.481	128

For his first six full seasons in the league Clark was the best first baseman in the National League, including leading the Giants to the World Series in 1989. After the 1993 season, the Giants let Clark walk away as they were not willing to commit to him long term because of series of injuries.

Does this sound familiar?

Mattingly’s brief but brilliant career was also marred by injuries. By age 32 both players had essentially begun a rapid physical decline. Had they played a decade later and partaken in the training programs and supplements that were around in the late 90’s by the time Mattingly had retired and Clark’s health was so miserable he was limited in his effectiveness they might have had the numbers to open the BBWAA eyes and who knows, maybe “Donnie Baseball” would be in and “Will the Thril”l might have gotten a second look or more.

Alas, they are what they are, a pair of contemporaries with strikingly similar careers.

In Clark’s case, a career that other than longevity stacks up against the other great names of the 1980’s and early 1990’s. Here at the Hall of Very Good we remember.  We remember one of the sweetest swings the game has ever seen.

Clark hit for average and power with a fluidity that has rarely been duplicated in the history of the game. In 15 seasons, many of them affected by injury he produced 284 homeruns, 440 doubles and hit .303/.384/.497, so I have to ask…while you debate the merits of this argument, I’ll be on the patio rocking shorts, shades, flip flops and my number 22. 

Because, while he might not be a Hall of Famer, he certainly was very good.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Allan has been a contributor here at The Hall as well as the former Fullcountpitch.com.  He has recently taken a break from writing to pursue his Masters in Education and looks forward to getting back to the business of baseball and opinions soon.  Allan is currently in the developmental stages of a "to be named later" podcast, which is scheduled to launch September 1.

For now, you can find him on Twitter at @The_DavidAllan.

 

David Ortiz's Annual Triple is in the Books

In an effort to take the focus off their miserable start, David Ortiz legged out his annual triple Monday night against Tampa Bay.

Sure, the Red Sox ended up losing (again), but with the three-bagger, the slugger joins Detroit Tigers outfielder Carlos Guillen as the only two players to have had at least one triple every year since 2000.

Yeah...we're talking twelve straight seasons!

Second on the active leaders list (Ortiz's new teammate Carl Crawford leads everyone with 105 triples), Johnny Damon with 100 career triples, will join the pair when he gets his.

For his career, "Big Papi" has 16 triples. And to put things in perspective (or not), career triples leader, Hall of Famer Sam Crawford, has 309 and 13 times over his 19 year career, he had 15 or more.

But here's the kicker, gang, the Red Sox and Ortiz's former team, the Minnesota Twins are 11-4 in the 15 games where Ortiz has reached third without stopping first for oxygen at either of the previous two bases.

An interesting sidenote...one of those three losses (an 8-3 victory by the Orioles July 22, 2004) marks the only game where Ortiz hit two triples in one contest.

Both times he was left stranded at third.

Tim Wakefield FINALLY gets the call

So there you have it, sportsfans, following in the footsteps of the selection shows for both the BCS Bowl Games and March Madness…TBS found it necessary to air (once again) the MLB All-Star Selection Show.

Really, TBS…is this necessary?!?

Let me guess, because “this one counts”…we get to be subjected to David Wells (with former teammate Cal Ripken, Jr. sitting next to him) talking all about how great it was to have Derek Jeter playing shortstop behind him and Dennis Eckersley referring to himself as “Eck” while introducing himself.

To be honest, I watched less than five minutes of the TBS abortion before switching back to the IndyCar race over on ABC and hopping online to see who will be playing in this year’s version of the Mid-Summer Classic.

To my happy surprise…Tim Wakefield made the cut.

Finally!

Hall contributor David Allan recently took in a game at Fenway Park and left with a few thoughts knocking around in his head about the Boston knuckleballer.

We’ve seen the signs around the ballpark: Wake for President, Wakefield for Mayor, I’m going to say it…TIM WAKEFIELD FOR THE HALL OF FAME!

God, I love shocking discussion to life.

Wait, wait, wait...before you scroll to the comments section and blast me, hear me out.

I’m not saying that tonight, the same night he was selected for his first All-Star Game, Wakefield is a lock for the Hall.

I’m not even saying that Tim-ah, as the locals call him, is worthy.

My thoughts began to wander a few weeks ago as Wakefield worked his way through eight innings of five-hit, one-run baseball.

My first thought was, how does a guy 42 years old pull this off? My next thought was…who had done it better?

The truth is Phil Niekro holds the record for most wins after the age of 40 with 121 and is a Hall of Famer on the strength of a 318-274 record and 3342 strikeouts over the course of his 24-season career.

But I’m not here to debate his Hall of Fame standing.

There are 72 pitchers in the Hall of Fame, from Don Drysdale and Nolan Ryan, to Cy Young and Hilton Smith.

Nobody has more wins (or losses, for that matter) than Cy Young. Nobody has more strikeouts than Nolan Ryan. And nobody has a lower ERA than Ed Walsh.

I’m not suggesting that Tim Wakefield will pass any of them.

So as I sat in my seat at Fenway behind home plate (Section 21, Row 07, Seat 15, entered through Gate A in case anyone wanted to know) I couldn’t help thinking that Wakefield looked better than ever.

Then I looked at what Wakefield had done in 2009 when I got home…and here was what I learned.

Through his first eight starts (remember I was at a game in May), Timmy was 5 and 2 and had fashioned an ERA of 3.59. As the mystery that is the knuckler goes, he had given up 21 earned runs in eight starts, 12 of them coming in just two outings that accounted for 9.2 of 52.2 innings.

Why do I bring this up? Because I think you can compare Phil Niekro and Tim Wakefield.

Sure, the eras were different, but are they all that different when they are dealing?

Prior to turning 40 before the 1979 season, “Knucksie” had won 197 and lost 171. Wake, on the other hand, had fashioned a record of 151 and 134.

The first thing people will notice is that the pre-40 Niekro is plus-46 in the win column and is also plus-37 in the loss column. Also…before the age of 40, Niekro made 86 additional appearances with 83 of those being starts.

His additional 83 decisions is not surprising when you see that, as a product of his era, Niekro had 245 career complete games, compared to Wakefield’s 62.

I would submit to you that part of the strength of Phil Niekro’s Hall of Fame case is that he is one of only 16 players with 3000-plus strikeouts. But when you look at Niekro vs. Wakefield in a head-to-head comparison, Wake strikes out 6.1 per nine innings for his career, whereas Niekro Ks only 5.6.

For the record, Wakefield, who is not known for the K, would be 16th among Hall of Famers in strikeouts per nine. That stat places him in front of Don Sutton, Bob Feller, Warren Spahn, Walter Johnson, Gaylord Perry AND Niekro.

Remember that stat of 72 pitchers in the Hall?

Well, if Wakefield is able to duplicate Niekro’s 121 wins after the age of 40, he will have more wins than 36 of them.

Niekro, going into what would seem to be the twilight of any career, was 26 games over .500. From age 40 through 48 he was an additional 18 games over .500.

Now I mention this because, Wakefield since hitting the big four-zero, has gone 32 and 25. He’s won .561 percent of his decisions, which is actually 26 points higher than his career average.

Over the 17 years so far, Wakefield has mustered an average of 13 wins per year and a percentage of .535. To put that in perspective, Niekro’s winning percentage is .537, and he averaged 14 wins per season.

Wakefield has never led the league in wins, which Niekro did on two occasions…in 1974 and 1979 (at age 40).

On the other hand, Wake only led the league in losses once, compared to Knucksie’s four…each season from 1977 through 1980 in fact.

What about walks?

Great question...1809 for PK and 1095 for WK…so both turn in an average of 78 free passes per season.

Now that only puts him ahead of Rich “Goose” Gossage and Hal Newhouser in the walks per nine category. But again, throwing the knuckleball doesn’t exactly increase your stats that indicate control.

Consider that we are in the era of the reliever and closer, an era of fewer starts and decisions. 121 wins after the age of 40 may seem more difficult to catch than the knuckleball itself.

Considering his strikeout per nine ratio, it’s not unreasonable that Wakefield could get to 2,600 to 2,800 strikeouts, or between 25th and 17th. I’d ask, is it that unreasonable?

I can hear it now; “he’s a compiler”. Only in baseball is longevity a curse.

He started, he relieved, he closed. He was on the mound to give up the Aaron Boone home run…you know, when it mattered most.

He also has two World Series Trophies in his pocket and now, finally, he’s an All-Star.

As he was putting the finishing touches on an eight-inning gem at age 42 and Fenway was starting to sway to "Sweet Caroline," I couldn’t help but wonder…Wakefield for the Hall of Fame?

The Magic of AM Radio

In the past week, AM Radio lost three legends.

Sure, we all had the pleasure of hearing Paul Harvey on a regular basis...
but who of you heard of, much less got to hear former Chicago Bulls greats Norm Van Lier or Johnny "Red" Kerr on the radio? Since I'm within earshot of Chicago...I did.

Last week, Hall of Very Good contributor David Allan wrote a glowing piece on the magic of AM Radio...here it is. Gooooooooooood day!

Baseball is a funny game isn’t it? I mean here we sit getting ready for another 162 game grind—on the verge of men doing amazing things, some will under-achieve, others will over-achieve.

Through 162 games and a month's worth of playoffs they will persevere. They will survive the blast furnace that is the local media for over 200 days. Then at the end they will be rewarded by lifting up the crappiest trophy in sports. You’ve got to admit baseball fans, that trophy is terrible.

But before we get there, we will be thrilled by clutch hits and huge defensive plays. Long home runs and flawlessly turned double plays. The images of a quick flip from the second basemen behind the bag to get a hard sliding runner on what looked to be a sure fire single up the middle.

And if all goes to plan, I will spend my summer listening to much of it on the AM radio. Not sure why—maybe it's because baseball fans are nostalgic. Maybe because it’s stop and start rhythm allows for a full disclosure of what is being witnessed. But baseball on the radio is like magic on the air waves.

With that being said, I wanted to take a look at some of the greatest baseball calls of all-time.

I mean some, more than others, give you shivers.

I’ll start with one that is personal to me. I grew up a Red Sox fan in a land of the Toronto Blue Jays. The Jays won their first American League East Title when I was four years old. But there I sat October 23, 1993. That’s right sports fan, the World Series used to END in October.

When Tom Cheek opened his mouth that night, it couldn’t have been planned. No World Series had ever ended on a walk-off home run where the home team was trailing to start the at bat. Yet there it was in all its perfection, tumbling out of his mouth like he’d said it a thousand times before.

"Here's the pitch on the way.
A swing and a belt! Left field...
way back. Blue Jays win it! The Blue Jays are World Series champions as Joe Carter hits a three-run home run in the 9th inning and the Blue Jays have repeated as World Series champions! Touch 'em all, Joe! You will never hit a bigger home run in your life!"

The genius, the calm truthfulness in "touch’em all, Joe" has always sat with me, as a baseball fan, as a magical moment that was accented not with hyperbole, but with sincerity.

Or how about the genuine exuberance of Jack Buck's Kirk Gibson call on that late October night in Dodger stadium?

"You have a big 3-2 pitch coming here from Eckersley. Gibson...swings and a fly ball to deep right field! This is gonna be a home run! Unbelievable! A home run for Gibson! And the Tigers have won the game, 5 to 4!
I don't believe...what I just saw!
I don't believe what I just saw!"

That is not a mistake on my part. So caught up in the moment was Buck that he had made the call on behalf the Tigers, Gibson’s former team.

Most people remember Vin Scully’s call of “in a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened!" Not many people remember, once Buck composed himself he continued, "I've seen a lot of dramatic finishes in a lot of sports, but this one tops almost every other one." As Gibson continued to hobble and limp around the bases.

I use these as examples. I am sure there are a number of you out there that remember the Russ Hodges call of Bobby Thompson’s “Shot Heart 'Round the World!” I am sure those same people still shiver at that Hodges call.

Or maybe it’s the grin that crosses the face of some when I quote Chuck Thompson.

"Well, a little while ago, when we mentioned that this one, in typical fashion, was going right to the wire, little did we know. Art Ditmar throws. Here's a swing and a high fly ball going deep to left, this may do it! Back to the wall goes Berra, it is...over the fence, home run, the Pirates win! (Long pause for crowd noise) Ladies and gentleman, Bill Mazeroski has just hit a one-nothing pitch over the left field wall to win the 1960 World Series for the Pttsburgh Pirates by a score of ten to nothing! Once again, that final score, the World Champion Pittsburgh Pirates TEN, and the New York Yankees NINE!”

Sure, he screwed up when he said ten to nothing. Yeah it was really 10-9, but I don’t think anyone at home cared. For all the smiles in Pittsburgh and all the disappointment in Yankeeville, the call was what it was and what it is. An enduring piece of the game we love so much, a mark that will still make you smile or cringe, every time you hear it.

I still love to hear baseball on the radio. I still smile when I see an old man at the park with his transistor radio trying to find the local AM wave. There is a magic moment when shares an ear bud with the boy or girl sitting next to him.

The joy they get from hearing a local legend, which is more than likely part of the fraternity of biggest homers in the world describe what our eyes can and sometimes can’t see. I still enjoy those long rides in the car, or nights after I finish playing and I can stand in the parking lot and let baseball on the radio waft into the conversation and out of it just as easily.

It’s that time of year, sports fan, we all long to hear the organ, the description of the red brick colored infields, the emerald green of a perfectly cut outfield and the call of a great play over the airwaves, reaching out and touching us, letting us have our game, no matter where we travel.

The best part is, as long as there is baseball on the radio dial, and the colorful personalities that describe it, there is more to come!

***After the passing of broadcast legend Joe Nuxhall in November 2007, Johnny P posted this tribute.***

Oh Canada...no, seriously!

***Ever wonder what happens when I am behind in giving my opinion on last week’s Hall of Fame announcement? In short…David Allan steps in.***

Well I guess I should start this off with congratulations to Rickey Henderson, a first ballot Hall of Famer to be sure. My first quick question is who are the 28 guys that honestly believed that Rickey wasn’t Hall worthy?

The conversations with colleagues, friends, family or anyone else interested for that matter had to go like this.

DA: So, who was on your ballot this year besides Henderson?
I mean, did you vote for Jim Rice, Andre Dawson, Bert Blyleven, Lee Smith and Jack Morris? How about it, were you one of the few that threw a vote to Dave Parker or David Cone, maybe Big Mac or Alan Trammell?

Bonehead Writer: Actually no, to be honest, I didn’t vote for Rickey.

DA: Oh really, you submitted a blank ballot? Figured none of these guys where Hall of Fame worthy then? It’s hard to believe, but I’d love to hear the argument.

Bonehead Writer: No, I wasn’t one of those two. I picked Rice, Dawson, Jay Bell, and Mo Vaughn.

DA: Jay Bell? Really?You voted for JAY BELL?!?

Bonehead Writer: Well, I feel that nobody should be a unanimous first ballot Hall of Famer.

DA: But somewhere out there guys like you support the notion that Jay Bell, Mo Vaughn and Jesse Orosco could be Hall of Famers. They got votes for crying out loud. Somebody must have checked their boxes? You guys must be half way to the moon if you think any of this makes a lick of sense! Those guys don’t even qualify for The Hall of Very Good!

Or at least that’s how I’d imagine the conversation to go in my head. Those 26 writers that voted should be ashamed of themselves for not choosing an obvious Hall of Fame choice in Rickey.

As for the two writers that submitted blank ballots, get over yourselves.

Honestly, you’ve been given the privilege of choosing who is inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and you waste it on some childish notion that there shouldn’t be a unanimous first ball Hall of Famer?

I would also like to say thank you to Jim Rice. Jim, Canada wants to buy you a drink.

Why Canada you ask?

No don’t go running for your atlas; Boston hasn’t somehow been magically transported to Manitoba. Although I am sure there are a few in New York that wish it had been.

I’d like to thank the Red Sox media machine for making Rice the darling pick over the last couple years, to the point where he edged his way over that 75% threshold.

Why you ask?

Great question, because I couldn’t understand how Rice got there. I mean it wasn’t like at some point in the last 15 years he collected a couple hundred more hits, or swatted another 120 home runs.

The argument I keep hearing is that his numbers have become more impressive because of the era he played in and the six or seven seasons of dominance that he had. His steep decline later in his career has some how become less of a problem with writers became over the past couple of rounds of voting.

So I submit to you Jim Ed Rice. A .298 batting average, 382 bombs, 2452 hits, 1451 RBI and 58 stolen bases. He was eight times an All-Star, once an MVP and one Hell of an American.

In his best major league season he batted .325 with 46 home runs and 139 RBI. He collected 213 hits, swiped 10 bases and was caught 5 times.

If all of that is Hall worthy, let’s talk about Larry Robert Kenneth Walker, born December 1, 1966 in Maple Ridge, British Columbia. That’s right, Larry Walker, or as I like to call him Canada’s next Hall of Fame inductee.

Nope, Canada isn’t struggling to add anyone else to the National Hockey League Hall of Fame, so let me focus my efforts on Cooperstown.

Okay, now that you have screamed out the word “WHAT?”, in utter disgust and then proceeded to slowly mouth the words “Larry Walker?” over and over again in an extremely slow and confused manner, let me get started.

First things first, Walker only averaged 125 games for his career, because of injuries, so we can conclude that although he did play 17 years in The Show for the Montreal Expos, Colorado Rockies and St. Louis Cardinals, some of his raw numbers are a little light.

That being said, let’s start with the two stats that Hall of Fame writers go straight to when measuring greatness, homeruns and hits.

Walker managed 383 home runs. One more than Rice’s all time total. Plus, he did it in 1300 less at bats. Larry managed to knock a big fly over the wall at a clip of 1 every 18.03 at bats. Rice on the other hand whacked long balls at a pace of 1 per every 21.53 trips to the dish.

Everyone, at this point, is going to point to the ballpark on this stat. But can we not agree that Fenway has inflated a few numbers in its day? For the record, Walker’s home vs. road splits for home runs during his entire career is 56/44 (home vs. away), while Rice is 54/46.

Now in the hits category Walker is 292 hits shy of Rice’s total at 2160, but taking into account the number of at bats missed over his career, especially those in his prime, we can safely say that Walker’s career .313 batting average would more than likely put his career total some where in the 2400-2500 hit range.

If you take his career average and multiply it by the number of additional at bats Rice had, we get an additional 412 career hits for Walker or 2572. Moreover, if you look at his 162 game avg, and multiply that by his 17 year career we are looking at 2992, or a mere eight hits shy of 3000, but I am sure he would’ve come back to get, and probably 100 or so more.

Walker does get hurt by the limited at bats in the RBI total as well, although he falls short of Rice, his 1311 has him in similar company to Paul Molitor, Roberto Clemente, Pete Rose, Mike Piazza and Duke Snider.

I would again go back to a yearly average of 107.

1700 runners driven in is exclusive company as it puts you in the top 25 for an all-time career. That’s ahead of Ernie Banks, Tony Perez, Cal Ripken Jr. It puts you in the club with Manny Ramirez, Frank Thomas, Reggie Jackson, Honus Wagner and Ken Griffey Junior.

Those names all sound like Hall of Famers to me.

His 471 career doubles outpace Rice by 98 for his career. We are talking about Jim Rice, a right-handed batter that played in a park that manufactures doubles out of long fly ball outs. So again I am not impressed by the home vs. road knock on Walker.

I know you’re thinking it.

We can talk offense all day, but it is apparent to people that watched that both were great, but that Walker was a more complete player. He stole 230 career bases, compared to Rice’s 58.

Walker took home, count them with me now 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 Gold Gloves over a ten year period. Rice managed NONE.

Rice was a two-time Silver Slugger winner, an award Walker took home three times. Walker’s resume also includes three league batting titles. He hit a whopping .379 in 1999! He finished in the top ten six times. Rice also had six top ten finishes, but was never higher than third.

There are 92 members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. For his career, Larry Walker ranks in the Top 100 all-time in batting average, home runs, doubles, at bat to RBI ratio, extra base hits and on base percentage. In 1997, he became a member of the 30/30 club.

I submit to you Larry Walker. One MVP, three batting titles, five All-Star games and seven Gold Gloves. His 162 games average is a batting average of .313, an on base percentage of .400, a slugging percentage of .565, 31 home runs, 107 RBI, 38 doubles, and 19 stolen bases.

I present to you Canada’s next Hall of Famer.

***Note: Based on the "Is Larry Walker a Hall of Famer" poll that was on the page...only 40% of you think he is.***