Rick Zamperin: Better late than never for Hall of Fame inductee Larry Walker

As the saying goes, good things come to those who wait.

For Canadian Larry Walker, I’m sure the phone call he received Monday was well worth waiting a decade for.

In his 10th and final year of eligibility, the former Colorado Rockies and Montreal Expos star outfielder was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame after collecting votes on 76.6 per cent of the ballots that were cast by the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Seventy-five per cent is required to gain entry into Cooperstown.

Walker becomes a member of baseball’s most prestigious club alongside New York Yankees legend Derek Jeter, who fell one vote shy (99.75 per cent) of becoming just the second player ever to get 100 per cent of the vote.

Jeter’s former teammate, all-time saves leader Mariano Rivera, received a vote on every ballot in 2019.

Walker, from Maple Ridge, B.C., joins Chatham, Ont.’s Ferguson Jenkins as the only Canadians to be elected to the hall.

The Hall of Fame Class of 2020 is made up of four inductees (groundbreaking union leader Marvin Miller and longtime St. Cardinals catcher Ted Simmons were elected by the Modern Era Committee last month) with Jeter’s legacy as one of baseball’s best clutch performers and Walker being a game-breaking five-tool star.

In their eighth year on the ballot, Curt Schilling (70 per cent), Roger Clemens (61 per cent) and Barry Bonds (60.7 per cent) fell short once again.

0:45 Canadian Larry Walker to be inducted into National Baseball Hall of Fame

And with just two more years of eligibility, it appears that Schilling — who fell just 20 votes short this year — may be the only one in that threesome to reach Cooperstown.

After receiving just 54.6 per cent of the vote last year, Walker has finally gotten the call to the hall.

It came 10 years later than he would have liked, but now there is no denying that Larry Walker is a Hall of Famer.