Colorado Rockies: Remembering Larry Walker trade to St. Louis Cardinals

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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JANUARY 22: Larry Walker puts on his Hall of Fame jersey after being elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame class of 2020 on January 22, 2020 at the St. Regis Hotel in New York City. The National Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be held on Sunday, July 26, 2020 in Cooperstown, NY. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images) /

Today would have been a tremendous day. It was the day the Colorado Rockies were going to retire the legendary number 33 that means so much in the Denver sports world. The number is retired over at the Pepsi Center for Patrick Roy, and it’s long past due to retire it at 20th & Blake for Larry Walker.

It seems fitting that the weekend’s festivities would end with his number retired in front of the franchise (the Colorado Rockies) that he will represent in the Hall of Fame and the team he ended his career with in the St. Louis Cardinals. Since we can’t be at Coors Field right now, we are going to go back in time and reminisce how one of the greatest to ever play the game finished his illustrious career.

For those who aren’t familiar, Walker grew up in British Columbia, Canada, with dreams of being a goaltender in the NHL. Before games were postponed, Larry Walker was supposed to live out his dream as an honorary emergency goalie for the Colorado Avalanche. While his brother Carey was drafted by the Montreal Canadiens, Larry caught a Montreal Expos scout and he was signed for $1,500. Even in the minor leagues, Walker didn’t know the rules very well. He had spent most of his adolescence on the ice. He once ran back directly over the pitchers mound from third to first on a pop fly. After beating the ball to the bag, had no idea why he was called out. The only off-speed pitch he was familiar with was a “spinner.”

To say the very least, Walker figured it out. After starting in the minors in 1985, he made his debut for the Expos in 1989 and played with the club until 1994 in the infamous lockout-shortened season. That Expos team had 94 wins with Pedro Martinez, Moises Alou, and Walker as a heart of the team that had a great chance of winning the World Series. While no one won that World Series, the Expos’ general manager, Kevin Malone, was ordered to cut payroll, even though the club had the second-lowest payroll in all of baseball. The rookies were traded and Walker was not offered arbitration in the offseason, therefore granting the Walker his first crack at free agency.

Walker would join the Rockies in 1995 where he would make the playoffs for the first time in his career. He’d have his most successful seasons in Denver. He is the only MVP candidate in Rockies history to win the award, earning it in 1997. He is tied with Todd Helton for the most home runs in a season in franchise history with 49. Walker ranks first in franchise history in batting average (.334), on-base percentage (.426), and slugging percentage (.618). In total, he hit 258 home runs and totaled 848 RBI and 126 stolen bases with the Rockies. Arguably the most Hall of Fame-worthy accomplishment on Walker’s resume is wearing a SpongeBob Squarepants shirt as he discussed being elected into Cooperstown.

But how did Walker end up in St. Louis? Let’s take a look.

25 May 1997: Outfielder Larry Walker of the Colorado Rockies hits the ball during a game against the Houston Astros at Coors Field in Denver, Colorado. The Rockies won the game, 8-5. Mandatory Credit: Brian Bahr /Allsport /

So what happened? Why did he leave a place where he ultimately had the most success in his career and led him to the Hall? Believe it or not, it had more to do with the Rockies’ inability to make the playoffs since his first year in town. Let’s take it back to 2003.

That season, Walker turned 36 and dealt with nearly every injury you can imagine. Remarkably, he played in 143 games. He didn’t have his typical numbers, but he still was hitting well above average and the Rockies still had a great outfield with Preston Wilson, Jay Payton and Walker.

The next season was a different story. Walker would play the fewest games of his career with 82 while he missed 68 games with a groin strain. He didn’t play his first game until well into June. By the end of that month, the Rockies were 20 games under .500 and 15 games back in the division in a season where they would win 68 games and somehow didn’t finish last in the division (thanks to the 51-111 D’Backs).

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The Rockies were going nowhere fast and Walker was nearing the end of his career. His intention was to finish his career with a contender. Marlon Brando would have been proud as he was traded to the best contender at the time. You know how this ends so more on that later. However, before Walker was traded to the Cardinals, the Rockies were exploring trades with the Texas Rangers and Florida Marlins.

Even though the Marlins cast off most of their team for the second time after winning the World Series in 2003, imagine the prospects that team had. The Dodgers and Marlins made a trade at the deadline. The Dodgers got Brad Penny and Hee Seop Choi for essentially Juan Encarnacion and Paul Lo Duca. Advantage once again, Dodgers.

Certainly the Rockies could have received more for a Hall of Famer. The rumored trade was Encarnacion and a Double-A hitter Jason Stokes. Walker had a no-trade clause and rejected a trade to the Rangers. He even turned down a trade to the Diamondbacks before the 2003 season for Matt Williams. Seeing Walker in the same division would have been too much to stomach.

The potential trade with the Rangers may be a harder pill to swallow for Rockies fans. The Rangers agreed to trade for Walker for two prospects. One was righty Erik Thompson. The other was Ian Kinsler. Having Kinsler across from Troy Tulowitzki would have been the best middle infield in baseball for the better part of a decade. Neither of those teams were contenders though. Both teams were just okay in 2004 as the Marlins finished 83-79 and the Rangers went 89-73. This trade for Walker and the Rockies front office was doing the best by, at that point, the greatest player in Rockies history. They delivered in spades but probably to the detriment to the team.

BOSTON – OCTOBER 23: Larry Walker of the St. Louis Cardinals bats during game one of the 2004 World Series against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on October 23, 2004 in Boston, Massachusetts. The Red Sox defeated the Cardinals 11-9. (Photo by Ron Vesely/MLB Photos via Getty Images) /

The Cardinals were the best regular season team in 2004 winning 105 games. Walker couldn’t have landed in a better spot to get back to the postseason. His trade vetoes to other teams paid off and he landed in St. Louis on August 6. On that day, the Cardinals were 32 games above .500. Instead of batting in his traditional third spot in the lineup, he batted second. He was sandwiched in between Tony Womack and Jim Edmonds while Albert Pujols and Scott Rolen batted fourth and fifth, respectively.

The only reason this team didn’t win the World Series is because the baseball gods said it was finally time for the Curse of the Bambino to be broken. The 2004 Boston Red Sox impossibly came back from a 0-3 deficit in the ALCS against the Yankees, the first time any team had done that in the Championship Series. The Red Sox were a team of destiny and the Cardinals were swept in the World Series.

Walker did well for the rest of the season, batting .280 in 44 regular season games and had a line of .293 in the playoffs. He hit two homers every round for a combined six dingers, a franchise record for lefties … and that’s saying something with the Cardinals’ rich playoff history. The Cardinals would make it to the NLCS in 2005 but lost to the Houston Astros. Walker was plagued by injuries much of the season and he announced he would retire after the season, even though he a team option for 2006. Even though he didn’t reach his ultimate goal of earning a ring, it was much better ending that he more than earned and deserved.

The Rockies side of the deal, however, wasn’t as rosy.

DENVER – APRIL 17: Matt Holliday #5 of the Colorado Rockies prepares for a pitch from the San Francisco Giants on April 17, 2007 at Coors Field in Denver, Colorado. The Rockies won 5-3. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images) /

At the time, trading Walker felt like an end of an era. It was sad. All of the Blake Street Bombers were gone. The team hadn’t really contended for a decade. As fans, we wanted the best for Walker but we didn’t want him to go either. No matter who the front office traded for, the team felt worse off without Walker. Somehow the park wouldn’t feel the same without Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train” blaring through the loud speakers as number 33 came to bat.

It never helped when Rockies fans heard what they’d be getting in return for their beloved right-fielder. The Rockies received three prospects in return. At the announcement of the trade, the Rockies were sent minor league pitcher Jason Burch and two players to be named. At that point, it felt like there was no point in it all. At the time of the trade, it didn’t seem like there’d be any silver lining for Rockies fans. It mostly stayed that way as the years went on. The two players to be named became lefty Chris Narveson and Luis Martinez. Rockies fans may have a hard time remembering them as all three never played a day in Rockies uniform.

The best thing to come out of the Walker trade was that it gave Matt Holliday an everyday chance to develop for the 2005 and 2006 campaigns to where he became an MVP-caliber piece to Rocktober in 2007. At least the Rockies didn’t get swindled again when he also played for the Cardinals.

Next. Looking at the history on and off the field between the Rockies and Cardinals. dark

In retrospect, this deal seems to only have taken place to give a legend the fitting sendoff he so rightly deserved. That’s what his number retirement ceremony would have been today at Coors Field in front of both of his former teams. But that’s okay. Why? Because we will be together once again at the ballpark in the eternal optimism that is the beginning of a new season. Whenever that comes again, it will only be that much sweeter to forever see Walker’s number at Coors Field and his plaque in Cooperstown. That’s the ending that matters most.

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