Colorado Rockies, this is the season to retire Larry Walker’s number

While there are a lot of questions about what will happen with the Colorado Rockies during the 2020 season, there is one thing that should absolutely happen without question. It’s time for the franchise to retire Larry Walker’s number.

As Larry Walker enters into his 10th and final season of eligibility for the Baseball Hall of Fame from the BBWAA (and why has it taken this long for Walker to enter into Cooperstown other than “Coors?” and some injuries during his career), the Colorado Rockies could certainly extend a well-deserved honor to him by retiring #33.

Only one Rockies player has ever had his jersey retired: Todd Helton. While Helton spent his entire career in a Colorado uniform, Walker did not have that luxury, spending 10 of his 17 seasons in the Mountain time zone. That’s often quoted as one of the potential reasons why Walker hasn’t been honored yet by the Rockies. Well, Walker, after spending his first six seasons with the Montreal Expos, is like many of us in Colorado. We haven’t been here all of our lives, but we got to the Centennial State as fast as we could.

Walker knows about those who raise an eyebrow about his career because of his time in Colorado. He talked to us about that during the 2018 season in this article.

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Numbers tell the story of Walker’s greatness (if you need a refresher course on those numbers and accomplishments, here it is) and there is more and more buzz being generated about Walker becoming the first Rockies player to be enshrined into the Baseball Hall of Fame after some big gains last year. The Rockies franchise could add to the buzz in 2020 by announcing that Walker’s number will join Helton’s on the facing over the bullpens at Coors Field.

Thanks to a high payroll and big contracts making up the majority of that, Rockies owner Dick Monfort has stated that ” some great big splash” isn’t likely to happen on the field for his team in 2020. Those words have settled like a cloud over the fanbase since they were uttered in early October. An announcement of Walker’s number being retired would not only be the right thing to do, but also give Rockies fans something new to be excited about in 2020 as the offseason goes along.

Larry Walker has earned the honor. It’s time for the Rockies to give it to him.