DENVER – The magnitude of the moment brought Larry Walker to tears.
As the purple shroud was pulled away Sunday morning, “Crazy Train” blared through the speakers and the large crowd outside Coors Field erupted with cheers.
And there it was: A 15-foot, 800-pound bronze statue of the Rockies’ first Hall of Famer. Walker is hoisting his bat to the sky. The statue stands outside the main entrance of the ballpark at 20th and Blake in Lower Downtown Denver.
Walker, 59, glided through his gracious speech, thanking the ballclub, his former teammates and Rockies fans. The man from Maple Ridge, British Columbia, acknowledged the presence of pitcher Ferguson Jenkins, the only other Canadian player inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Walker paid homage to Todd Helton, the Rockies’ other Hall of Famer, who was also in attendance. So was Bob Gebhard, Colorado’s original general manager – the man who brought Walker to Colorado.
But, near the end of his speech, when Walker thanked his father, Larry Sr., who was seated nearby, that’s when the tears trickled.
“A few months ago, I was at my cabin in British Columbia,” Walker said. “I asked my dad to come up and visit for the weekend, but he told me he couldn’t. He had to umpire a game on Thursday, two games on Friday, a game on Saturday and two games on Sunday.
“He’s umping home plate in all these games. He’s umping 13- to 15-year-old kids. He’s 88 years old. So, I think I know where I got my love of baseball from.”
Walker is the first Rockies player to be honored with a statue at Coors. Helton will join him when his statue is unveiled on Sept. 19.
Walker played 17 seasons in the Majors, with Montreal (1989-94), Colorado (1995-2004) and St. Louis (2004-05). He had a career average of .313, hit 383 home runs, drove in 1,311 runs and won three National League batting titles with the Rockies (1998, ‘99 and ‘01). He was NL MVP in 1997.
The statue sums up his career with one iconic moment: Aug. 18, 1999 when Walker hit a three-run, walk-off homer off Braves closer John Rocker at Coors in the Rockies’ 4-1 victory. Walker went 2-for-4 that day, also hitting a first-inning homer off Kevin Millwood. Walker wore the Rockies’ futuristic, silver and black, "Turn Ahead the Clock" promotional jerseys. That’s the uniform captured in bronze.
Of course, he strode to the plate to Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train,” pumping up the crowd.
The statue was crafted by George and Mark Lundeen of Lundeen Sculptures of Loveland, Col.
“Larry didn’t see the statue until today,” Mark Lundeen said. "He didn’t want to see it ahead of time. He told me he really likes it."
Walker first went to Loveland last November and had hundreds of photos taken to make sure the artists got everything just right.
“We had to add a little hair,” Lundeen joked. “It was long back in 1999. He had that Kentucky waterfall thing going on back then. And then we had him pose. We had him pose so long with that bat in the air, his arm started shaking.”
Walker later explained that the bat he posed with was plastic, but laughed and said that, yes, his arm was shaking by the end of his session.
Now, about that pose.
Walker wasn’t prone to showboating. However, in that game, he did. After all, he did hit a walk-off homer. And it did come against Rocker.
“I typically never showed up a pitcher,” he said. “Today, it's a little different. Now they do the ‘Macarena’ [when players hit a homer]. … And John Rocker used to get under your skin, and he was nasty, too. Just to get a hit off him, you’re happy.”
Rockies president Walker Monfort introduced Walker to the crowd, saying, “He helped put Rockies baseball on the map. … This statue is our way of ensuring that future generations, when they walk into Coors Field, will know his story and appreciate what he did for this franchise.”
Walker repeatedly said he was “overwhelmed” to be honored by the Rockies.
“To have a statue outside of this ballpark, that’s an honor that’s pretty tough to put into words,” Walker said. “When I came here, my job was to keep moving — hit the ball, run the bases, chase fly balls in the gap, do anything I could to help us win. And now, here I am, frozen in bronze. I guess that’s a way to slow me down.”