Larry Walker Career Biography and Statistics

Bio:
Larry Walker was born on December 1, 1966, in Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada. He was signed in 1984 by the Montreal Expos to a free agent deal and spent the first five years of his career with the club. After appearing in only 20 games in 1989, Walker became a regular in right field with Montreal in 1990. He struggled during his first season and batted only .241, but he played very well his last four seasons with the team. Walker appeared poised for a breakout season in 1994, but his progress was cut short due to the players’ strike; he finished the year batting .322 with 19 home runs and 86 RBIs in only 103 games. The breakout season did come, just not with the Expos.

Prior to the 1995 campaign, Walker was traded to the Colorado Rockies and his career took off. In his first season with the Rockies, Walker batted .306 with 36 home runs and 101 RBIs. After missing most of the 1996 season, he returned in 1997 to win the NL MVP on the strength of the best year of his career: .366 batting average, 49 home runs, 130 RBIs, 208 hits, and 143 runs scored. Walker continued this trend of combining hitting for power with hitting for average throughout the rest of his career. When he retired following the 2005 season with the St. Louis Cardinals, Walker had batted over .350 four times during his career, over .300 nine times, and he had hit over 30 home runs four times and over 20 home runs eight times. A five-time All-Star and seven-time Gold Glover, Walker led the NL in batting three times during his career and was a career .313 hitter. He has career totals of 383 home runs, 2,160 hits, 1,311 RBIs, 1,355 runs scored, 471 doubles, and 230 stolen bases.