When baseball's most discerning fans meet in Cooperstown, N.Y., on Sunday to cheer the newest inductees into the Hall of Fame, Canadians will have a strong rooting interest – not for Ken Griffey and Mike Piazza, the only two players selected this year, but for Tim Raines and Larry Walker, two stars with Canadian connections who have once again been snubbed.
Getting into the Hall of Fame should be hard. But by excluding the two former Montreal Expos, whose paltry vote totals over the years have equalled their outsized achievements on the field, Cooperstown risks losing touch with the truth of the game it's meant to honour.
Tim Raines was a legendary speedster with a gift for getting on base and a reserve of power unusual in one who could run so brilliantly – 808 stolen bases with an 85-per-cent success rate. The Montreal-born writer, Jonah Keri, drawing more on raw numbers than patriotic partisanship, named him the best player in the National League from 1981 to 1990 – the equal of Tony Gwynn, who was easily elected to the Hall in his first year of eligibility. But Expocentric arguments don't sway the gatekeepers of Cooperstown: Mr. Raines was named on only 69.8 per cent of this year's ballots, falling short of the needed 75 per cent. If his impressive statistics don't convince more voters in 2017, his 10th and last year of eligibility, he will disappear from the ballot.
Larry Walker is not only an ex-Expo, he's also a Canadian – a two-strike count, perhaps, in America's game. He was the quintessential all-round player, combining power, a discerning batting eye, crafty base-running skills and a strong, accurate arm in a sport where traditionalist Hall voters still overvalue brute force and hit totals achieved through longevity. He was a five-time All-Star, and in 1997 was named National League MVP, the first Canadian to win the honour. Injuries, due in part to his fearless play, limited his career and his overall numbers with his best seasons coming in Colorado's Coors Field, a hitter's paradise. Sophisticated statisticians compensate for that variable and still credit him with a Hall-worthy career – yet he was named on only 15.5 per cent of this year's ballots, an under-the-radar total that defies belief.
Both players deserve more respect, and the great honour that should go with it.