ryr8828
08-18-2004, 06:21 PM
Escape from the RockiesJohn Donovan, SI.com (http://us.rd.yahoo.com/sports/cnnsi/SIG=10jq1r0oi/*http://www.si.com)
http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/sp/cn/headshots/john_donovan.jpghttp://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/sp/p/si_lo_70x24_1.gif (http://us.rd.yahoo.com/sports/cnnsi/mlb/article/SIG=10mug73mg/*http%3A//www.si.com/)Larry Walker (http://bigleaguers.yahoo.com/mlbpa/players/4181/) peered over at Jim Edmonds (http://bigleaguers.yahoo.com/mlbpa/players/5151/) on a muggy South Florida evening, not even a week after his deliverance from the mile-high mortuary in Denver, with the wide eyes and crooked grin of somebody who had just drawn two cards to an inside straight. Edmonds, patrolling center field at Pro Player Stadium, saw the look coming. He was waiting for it.
And right there on the field, with a hundred feet or so of outfield grass between them, all the two men could do was laugh out loud and shake their heads.
Welcome to the Cardinals, big fella. You've just hit the jackpot.
These are giddy days for Walker, the Cardinals' new right fielder. He has made an unexpected jump from one of the worst teams in baseball to the best. He's gone from one of the most difficult places to play in the league to one of the easiest. He has moved from a team that couldn't wait to be rid of him to one that not only wanted him, but also was willing to take on his hefty contract to acquire him. And Walker simply can't get a handle on all his sudden good fortune.
If he's not exactly rejuvenated by the move from the woeful Rockies -- at 38 with nine operations behind him, Walker is a little past the baseball rebirth stage -- he is, at the least, recharged. Since his move to the team that Atlanta's Chipper Jones (http://bigleaguers.yahoo.com/mlbpa/players/5164/) calls "the Yankees of the Midwest," the three-time batting champ is hitting .304 with two homers and seven RBIs in his first eight games, with a 1.109 OPS. (He's hitting .321 on the season with a 1.097 OPS.) Walker even has stolen four bases for the Cards, including two in one game.
"I don't know what that's all about," he says with a grin.
The most laughable part of the situation is that Walker would have been OK staying put in Denver. It seemed for a while, in fact, that he didn't want to play anywhere else. He had been with the Rockies since signing with them as a free agent in '95. His wife and children like living in Denver. He turned down a trade to the Diamondbacks in 2002 and the Rangers late last month.
The likeable Walker caught flak for invoking his no-trade clause to turn down Texas -- notably from Rangers general manager John Hart -- but going to a young team with obvious holes in a new league didn't appeal to him, even if it did mean a chance a to reach the postseason for the first time since '95.
But then, after the July 31 trade deadline, the chance to go to the Cards through a waiver-wire deal arose. It was, he says, an easy decision, finalized in a 15-minute phone call with his wife.
By that time, he finally had come to grips with the fact that the Rockies didn't want him ("Somebody in the building didn't like me," he says) and were willing to do almost anything to get rid of Walker, even if it meant paying at least $7.5 million of the almost $18 million remaining on his contract
Plus, this is the Cardinals, a team with tenfold the tradition of the D'backs and Rangers combined. In St. Louis, Walker has an All-Star cast of teammates that includes Edmonds, Scott Rolen (http://bigleaguers.yahoo.com/mlbpa/players/5668/) and Albert Pujols (http://bigleaguers.yahoo.com/mlbpa/players/6619/). Walker doesn't have to play leader every night. He doesn't have to feel like he has to carry the Cards.
"It's easy here," he says. "I can have a terrible day, I can go 0-for-4, and we can still win the game."
It is, Walker's finding out, a lot easier than he could have imagined, and it's not just because of the talent around him. He feels stronger now that he doesn't have to make the constant adjustment of going into and coming out of the altitude of the Mile High City. He doesn't have to run around the obscenely spacious outfield of Coors Field, either, for 81 games. Games go more quickly because Cardinals pitchers throw strike after strike without the constant fear of having a seemingly harmless fly ball leave the park.
And then there's that talent. The Cardinals have an embarrassment of the stuff. Walker recalls the game last Tuesday in Florida, three games into his new career, when All-Star third baseman Rolen made two outstanding plays in one inning, bare-handing a bouncing ball behind the bag to throw out the Marlins' Miguel Cabrera (http://bigleaguers.yahoo.com/mlbpa/players/7163/) and backhanding a line drive from Juan Encarnacion (http://bigleaguers.yahoo.com/mlbpa/players/5904/) for another out.
It was then that Walker looked over to center and Edmonds caught him grinning.
"It's something we see all the time," Edmonds says, "but it's fun to see somebody like Larry seeing it up close."
Walker, a seven-time Gold Glover and the '97 National League MVP, has had a nearly seamless transition to his new team, fitting into right field and stepping easily into the second spot in the lineup (his career on-base percentage of .400 helps). His wife and kids have made the move, too, setting up a home in St. Louis maybe 20 minutes from the ballpark.
As hassle-free as it's all proven to be, though, it hasn't been completely seamless.
"I'm still getting used to looking down and seeing all this red stuff on me," he says. "That's a little weird."
So far, it seems to fit Walker just fine.
Updated on Wednesday, Aug 18, 2004 2:16 pm EDT
http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/sp/cn/headshots/john_donovan.jpghttp://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/sp/p/si_lo_70x24_1.gif (http://us.rd.yahoo.com/sports/cnnsi/mlb/article/SIG=10mug73mg/*http%3A//www.si.com/)Larry Walker (http://bigleaguers.yahoo.com/mlbpa/players/4181/) peered over at Jim Edmonds (http://bigleaguers.yahoo.com/mlbpa/players/5151/) on a muggy South Florida evening, not even a week after his deliverance from the mile-high mortuary in Denver, with the wide eyes and crooked grin of somebody who had just drawn two cards to an inside straight. Edmonds, patrolling center field at Pro Player Stadium, saw the look coming. He was waiting for it.
And right there on the field, with a hundred feet or so of outfield grass between them, all the two men could do was laugh out loud and shake their heads.
Welcome to the Cardinals, big fella. You've just hit the jackpot.
These are giddy days for Walker, the Cardinals' new right fielder. He has made an unexpected jump from one of the worst teams in baseball to the best. He's gone from one of the most difficult places to play in the league to one of the easiest. He has moved from a team that couldn't wait to be rid of him to one that not only wanted him, but also was willing to take on his hefty contract to acquire him. And Walker simply can't get a handle on all his sudden good fortune.
If he's not exactly rejuvenated by the move from the woeful Rockies -- at 38 with nine operations behind him, Walker is a little past the baseball rebirth stage -- he is, at the least, recharged. Since his move to the team that Atlanta's Chipper Jones (http://bigleaguers.yahoo.com/mlbpa/players/5164/) calls "the Yankees of the Midwest," the three-time batting champ is hitting .304 with two homers and seven RBIs in his first eight games, with a 1.109 OPS. (He's hitting .321 on the season with a 1.097 OPS.) Walker even has stolen four bases for the Cards, including two in one game.
"I don't know what that's all about," he says with a grin.
The most laughable part of the situation is that Walker would have been OK staying put in Denver. It seemed for a while, in fact, that he didn't want to play anywhere else. He had been with the Rockies since signing with them as a free agent in '95. His wife and children like living in Denver. He turned down a trade to the Diamondbacks in 2002 and the Rangers late last month.
The likeable Walker caught flak for invoking his no-trade clause to turn down Texas -- notably from Rangers general manager John Hart -- but going to a young team with obvious holes in a new league didn't appeal to him, even if it did mean a chance a to reach the postseason for the first time since '95.
But then, after the July 31 trade deadline, the chance to go to the Cards through a waiver-wire deal arose. It was, he says, an easy decision, finalized in a 15-minute phone call with his wife.
By that time, he finally had come to grips with the fact that the Rockies didn't want him ("Somebody in the building didn't like me," he says) and were willing to do almost anything to get rid of Walker, even if it meant paying at least $7.5 million of the almost $18 million remaining on his contract
Plus, this is the Cardinals, a team with tenfold the tradition of the D'backs and Rangers combined. In St. Louis, Walker has an All-Star cast of teammates that includes Edmonds, Scott Rolen (http://bigleaguers.yahoo.com/mlbpa/players/5668/) and Albert Pujols (http://bigleaguers.yahoo.com/mlbpa/players/6619/). Walker doesn't have to play leader every night. He doesn't have to feel like he has to carry the Cards.
"It's easy here," he says. "I can have a terrible day, I can go 0-for-4, and we can still win the game."
It is, Walker's finding out, a lot easier than he could have imagined, and it's not just because of the talent around him. He feels stronger now that he doesn't have to make the constant adjustment of going into and coming out of the altitude of the Mile High City. He doesn't have to run around the obscenely spacious outfield of Coors Field, either, for 81 games. Games go more quickly because Cardinals pitchers throw strike after strike without the constant fear of having a seemingly harmless fly ball leave the park.
And then there's that talent. The Cardinals have an embarrassment of the stuff. Walker recalls the game last Tuesday in Florida, three games into his new career, when All-Star third baseman Rolen made two outstanding plays in one inning, bare-handing a bouncing ball behind the bag to throw out the Marlins' Miguel Cabrera (http://bigleaguers.yahoo.com/mlbpa/players/7163/) and backhanding a line drive from Juan Encarnacion (http://bigleaguers.yahoo.com/mlbpa/players/5904/) for another out.
It was then that Walker looked over to center and Edmonds caught him grinning.
"It's something we see all the time," Edmonds says, "but it's fun to see somebody like Larry seeing it up close."
Walker, a seven-time Gold Glover and the '97 National League MVP, has had a nearly seamless transition to his new team, fitting into right field and stepping easily into the second spot in the lineup (his career on-base percentage of .400 helps). His wife and kids have made the move, too, setting up a home in St. Louis maybe 20 minutes from the ballpark.
As hassle-free as it's all proven to be, though, it hasn't been completely seamless.
"I'm still getting used to looking down and seeing all this red stuff on me," he says. "That's a little weird."
So far, it seems to fit Walker just fine.
Updated on Wednesday, Aug 18, 2004 2:16 pm EDT