In a closely contested election that sparked much sharp discussion — even lapping over into a whole separate thread — Larry Walker ultimately prevailed (in his 11th appearance on a COG ballot).  Larry becomes the 13th player inducted into the Circle of Greats. The voting also concluded in startling fashion as last-hour voting pushed two holdovers and one newcomer off future ballots by the slimmest possible margin. More on the former Montreal Expo Walker, and the voting, apres le saut

It’s hard to find anything to say about Larry Walker’s career and his Colorado stats that hasn’t already been said around here recently, so let’s stick to the Montreal years.

Most Wins Above Replacement (Baseball-Reference Version) Produced For Canada-Based MLB Teams, By a Player Born in Canada:
Larry Walker 22.0 WAR
Paul Quantrill 11.3 WAR
Brett Lawrie 7.9 WAR
Rheal Cormier 2.1 WAR
Matt Stairs 1.7 WAR
Paul Spoljaric 1.6 WAR
Corie Koskie 1.4 WAR
Denis Boucher 1.0 WAR
Bill Atkinson 0.8 WAR
Rod Ducey 0.7 WAR
Vince Horsman 0.2 WAR
Steve Sinclair 0.1 WAR

Stairs, Boucher and Ducey all played for both the Expos and the Blue Jays — the WAR above represents their combined WAR playing for both teams. Shawn Hill also played for both Canadian teams and produced 0.6 WAR for the Jays, but back in 2004 his WAR for the Expos before they moved to Washington was negative, -0.8, so his net Canada WAR is below zero and he falls short of the above list (he’s been trying to make the Tigers’ 25-man roster this spring, but was demoted to AAA a few days ago).

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The voting at the top of this ballot was closer than most COG elections, but ultimately Walker won with a bit of room to spare, appearing on 32 of 81 ballots, despite sometimes passionate opposition. Walker’s 32 votes was just one more than he received in the 1961 voting round when he finished third behind Mike Mussina and Curt Schilling.

The group just behind Walker in this round of voting was tightly bunched: Gwynn appeared on 26 ballots, Glavine on 25, and Larkin, Trammell and Whitaker on 23 each. How appropriate that Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker, forever a pair in the minds of baseball fans, received the exact same level of support (13 ballots included both of them, but each appeared on 10 ballots that did not include the other one).

Although the debate about Walker was colorful and often illuminating, the most exciting part of the vote-counting process itself took place on the back end of the count. Until the last qualifying vote was cast just before the deadline, Edgar Martinez, Kenny Lofton and Dave Stieb had all appeared on exactly 10% of the 80 ballots cast, the precise minimum needed for each of them to survive to the next ballot. But an 81st and last vote that included none of those guys knocked them all below 10% by the slimmest possible margin, so they will now all have to wait for future redemption rounds. With Kevin Brown also falling short of 10%, the holdover count now drops dramatically. Lou Whitaker joins the holdovers but with Walker inducted and Edgar, Lofton and Brown dropping off (Stieb was a newcomer to the ballot), the holdover total falls from 13 players this round to 10 next round.

As usual, you can check out the complete voting record for this past round at Google Docs. The link is here: 1957 COG Vote Tally

If you would like to review the history of the COG voting, a spreadsheet summary of the voting is here: COG Vote Summary , with a summary of the raw vote totals on Sheet 1 and a summary of the percentage totals on Sheet 2.

The Circle of Greats membership thus far:
Jeff Bagwell
Wade Boggs
Barry Bonds
Roger Clemens
Rickey Henderson
Randy Johnson
Greg Maddux
Mike Mussina
Mike Piazza
Cal Ripken, Jr.
Curt Schilling
Frank Thomas
Larry Walker