On Tuesday night, MLB Network revealed which players gained enshrinement into the 2020 Baseball Hall of Fame through the BBWAA process, joining Marvin Miller and Ted Simmons to be inducted this July. The first announcement from Cooperstown president Tim Mead was that of Larry Walker.

Larry Walker is 10 years overdue, and in his final ballot, garnered 76.6% of the vote, making it by a mere 6 votes. Walker was a 5-tool player who had a higher career WAR than Derek Jeter, who will come up later. Walker was one of the best defensive outfielders in the history of baseball, an elite baserunner and hit .313 lifetime with 383 HR. He is one of only 4 players with at least 300 HR, a .300 lifetime average and 200 stolen bases. The others: Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and George Brett. People mark off Walker because he spent 10 years in Coors Field, but he hit better on the road than he did at Coors Field in his 1997 MVP season. They also haven’t taken into account the fact that he spent a lot of time at Olympic Stadium with the Expos, which does the exact inverse to your numbers. He is top 15 all-time in OPS, and his road OPS is higher than that of players like Ken Griffey Jr., Tony Gwynn, Dave Winfield, Rickey Henderson, Jim Rice, Harold Baines, Andre Dawson and other outfielders to be enshrined in large part to their offensive acumen. Jim Leyland, who managed Barry Bonds in Pittsburgh, called Larry Walker the best player he’s ever seen. To say that he is, offensively, a product of Coors Field, is far from the truth. This is also interesting for a few reasons:
He is the first player to ever play as a home player at Coors Field and enter the Hall of Fame. How will this affect the perception of Todd Helton in the future?
He is the final Expo to enter, although recent inductions have seen players such as Vladimir Guerrero, Tim Raines and Pedro Martinez enshrined.
He is the first player in BBWAA history to ever gain 60% in a 4 year span to be inducted.
And just look at this Hall of Fame press conference. He’s in a SpongeBob jacket with a dog in his lap. How can you not love this guy?

As for the rest of the class, it’s relatively short, but just as dramatic. Last year I penned the argument for and against unanimous selection of Derek Jeter just a year after long-time teammate Mariano Rivera became the first to ever do so.

He joined Rivera (100%), Ken Griffey Jr. (99.32%), Tom Seaver (98.84%) and Nolan Ryan (98.79%) amongst the top 5 highest vote percentages in Cooperstown history. But, at 99.7%, he did not receive unanimous. He missed it by one vote. The writer who didn’t vote for Derek Jeter, one of baseball premiere crossover superstars, as well as a winning player who totaled 3,000 hits is currently unknown. You can see the rest of the voting total below:

For those curious on other storylines:

Curt Schilling gained 10% more this year, and is in prime position for enshrinement next year when there’s no clear-cut newcomer hitting the ballot for the first time.

Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens also gained, but not by much. They have 2 years remaining.

Scott Rolen had a major gain. Omar Vizquel gained 10% and with a lot of years left, seems like a lock in the later ballots.

You can see Walker, Jeter, Miller and Simmons inducted on July 27th on MLB Network.

Follow me on Twitter: @TheJameus

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