Former Rockies left-hander Jeff Francis never played alongside Larry Walker, but you’d never know it from Francis’ intense interest in Walker’s bid for the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Canadian baseball players are a tight fraternity.
“What’s the vibe like down there?” Francis asked from his home in Ontario. “I see a lot of stuff on social media … people pushing for Larry to make it. I’ve been following his campaign pretty closely.”
Francis, 38, was born in Vancouver. He went 64-62 with a 4.96 ERA in eight seasons with Colorado. He helped pitch the Rockies to the 2007 World Series.
Walker, 53, was born in Maple Ridge, British Columbia. In nine-plus seasons with the Rockies, he hit .334 with a 1.044 OPS with 258 home runs. He also played for the Montreal Expos and St. Louis Cardinals and finished his career with a .313 average, .965 OPS and 383 home runs.
“I really want Walker to get in,” Francis said. “Not only as the first Rockie to make it, but he would be just the second Canadian in the Hall of Fame. He was a great player and he deserves it. I look at all of the analytics for him and it seems pretty clear he belongs.
The only Canadian in the Baseball Hall of Fame is pitcher Ferguson Jenkins.
Walker is in his 10th and final year on the ballot. He received 54.6% of the votes cast last year by eligible members of the Baseball Writers Association of America, making a huge leap from his vote total of 34.1% in 2018. Still, Walker must gain another 20.4 percentage points to make the magic number of 75%.
