Larry Walker's phone did not ring for the ninth straight year.
Walker was not voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday. Instead, Mariano Rivera, Roy Halladay, Mike Mussina and Edgar Martinez are headed to Cooperstown this summer. For his part, Walker took the news in stride and used an epic hashtag, referencing the first -- and thus far, only -- Canadian elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
As I said last year, THANK YOU to all of you that were pulling for me this year!! Pretty awesome jump up to 54.6!! Guess I will watch again next year for the last
— Larry Walker (@Cdnmooselips33) January 23, 2019
time😊. Fingers crossed in joining the great Fergie Jenkins 🇨🇦 #Fergieneedsafriend 😉
Next year will be Walker's last year to be voted into the Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Players only get 10 years on the ballot before having to be selected by the Veterans Committee to make it in.
FAGAN: Surge in support means Larry Walker could reach Cooperstown
If there is a silver lining for Walker, it's that he received his highest vote total yet. He received 54.6 percent of the vote, a significant increase from the 34.1 percent he garnered in 2018.
Still, Walker will not be inducted this summer and that upsets many baseball fans.
As a matter of fact, the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame Twitter account has been in full force the last few weeks. If one of the members of the BBWAA did not include Walker on their ballot, the account replied asking why he wasn't on their ballot.
Joe can you let us know how come no vote Larry vote please. Same great hitter as Edgar and Larry played GG defence and stole bases.
— CDN Baseball HOF (@CDNBaseballHOF) January 18, 2019
We need to chat with Tom Verducci about Larry Walker as he doesn’t vote for him. @MLBNetwork @TracyRingolsby @Rockies
— CDN Baseball HOF (@CDNBaseballHOF) January 16, 2019
Other fans and pundits did what's become accepted in today's society: vent on Twitter.
If Bonds and Clemens get in and not Larry Walker, etc. Then it sets a bad example for fans and future players alike. #TimandSid
— Eric Zubert (@EZDaddy79) January 22, 2019
&
First Harold Baines, and now Edgar Martinez, get picked for the Hall of Fame ahead of Larry Walker. If you get on base less, hit fewer home runs, have inferior slugging %, run much slower and play shoddier defence...it..in the eyes of HOF voters, makes you a better choice.
— Grant McCagg (@grantmccagg) January 23, 2019
WAR is not everything but Larry Walker is *fourth* among outfielders since the mound was lowered 50 years ago.
— Mike Axisa (@mikeaxisa) January 22, 2019
1. Bonds 162.8
2. Rickey 111.2
3. Griffey 83.8
4. Walker 72.7
5. Beltran 69.8
Walker's a Hall of Famer in my book.
(Also, Trout's going to pass him in WAR this year.)
TWO WORDS:
— Matt The Producer🎙⚾️🥅 (@Matt_NSR) January 23, 2019
LARRY
WALKER
Stop messing around @officialBBWAA. Harold Baines is in AND LARRY WALKER RIDES PINE? Smells like favouritism to me.
That is all...#MLB #halloffame2020
#HOF2019 Get out of here with the Coors bias! Larry Walker has a 72.6 career WAR, 7 GOLD GLOVES, 300/400/500 club, .400 on base %, .565 slugging %, 3 NL batting titles, and was the epitome of a 5 tool player! @Rockies tell me I'm right! Get Larry Walker in the hall!
— Chanse (@bigrinder) January 22, 2019
Not all of the reaction to Walker's snub was bad. Some shared their astonishment over the huge jump in voting for Walker, remaining optimistic that next year will be the year.
An hour before the results are announced, Larry Walker is going to be sitting at 66% on public ballots. I cannot tell you how insane that is. Next year is going to be a blast.
— Ryan Thibodaux (@NotMrTibbs) January 22, 2019
Larry Walker's Hall of Fame vote totals the past five years ...
— Ryan Fagan (@ryanfagan) January 22, 2019
2015: 11.8 percent
2016: 15.5 percent
2017: 21.9 percent
2018: 34.1 percent
2019: 54.6 percent
HUGE jump, right? I dive into WHY his support is up and what it means for Walker's HoF chances. https://t.co/s4v6jpHopO pic.twitter.com/QkvmHzjiIh
Larry Walker took an incredible jump this season, going from 34.1 percent of the Hall of Fame vote last year to 54.6 percent this year. He needs almost an exact same leap to reach the 75 percent threshold in his 10th and final year on the ballot in 2020.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 22, 2019
Only 10 RFs had more WAR for their careers than Larry Walker and all 10 are in the Hall of Fame https://t.co/0PuCSRZhZT
— Baseball Reference (@baseball_ref) January 22, 2019
Baseball Hall of Fame guru @jay_jaffe thinks Larry Walker has “a strong chance of election” next year. He had OPS+ of 134 in final two seasons with #STLCards
— Ben Frederickson (@Ben_Fred) January 23, 2019