Larry Walker Forum

I saw this meme on facebook, It has hundreds of comments, and I made the mistake of commenting.

My comment was:  Larry Walker was great, BUT, Coors Field inflated his numbers, and there are other guys that would have these numbers, if they played 10 years with Coors as their home field.

I got attacked by the Larry Walker defenders.

A lot of comments were similar to mine, and a lot attacked the notion of coming up with a set of numbers, and writing: this is the only guy that did this.

Since the meme attracted so many comments on facebook, I think it must be a fun thread for TCDb

having trouble inking the memo so here is what it said:

                  Larry Walker the only player in MLB history with

                    .300 career batting average

                    .400 career on base

                     350 career Home Runs

                     200 Career Steals

Whether Coors inflated his numbers or not is immaterial, he wasn't the only one on the field during his games.  Denver, Colorado was selected by MLB as a site for one of the (then) 28 MLB franchises.  Therefore all of the stats that occur in games played in Denver, Colorado count toward career milestones.  Any idea that someone else COULD have done it is complete conjecture and impossible to prove.  The point is that while others COULD have done it, Larry Walker actually DID it.  And he was the best of the guys on the field more often than not. 

They are not perfect but there are lots of field neutralizing stats out there and Walker's number are still sky high whereas guys like Dante Bichette and Vinny Castilla put up big traditional numbers in COL but neutralized numbers really get pulled back to earth.  So certainly Walker's traditional stats should be taken with a grain of salt but I have no doubt he would have been a superstar anywhere.

That's a great stat. I'm a Walker fan and do not object to his HOF status.  That stated....

I checked his career splits and he hit .348 at home and .278 on the road.  Slugging .637 vs .495.

The disparity is huge, but he obviously could rake at Coors.  Not too many guys are putting up. 348 seasons, let alone careers...

Well, Mike Trout’s current career stat line - .303/.415/350/204

Funny cause Bonds was the first player I thought of and went to compare when this was posted. I forgot his last few seasons dragged his BA below the .300 mark. 

CollectingAfterDeath wrote:

Larry Walker the only player in MLB history with

          .300 career batting average

          .400 career on base

           350 career Home Runs

           200 Career Steals

Barry Bonds the only player to come close to Larry Walker's career bench marks?

           .298 career batting average

           .444 career on base

            762 career home runs

            514 career steals