Walker A Mile-High Mvp Consistency Earns Him N.L. Award

Coors Field didn’t inflate this number for Larry Walker: No. 1 in voting for the National League Most Valuable Player award.

Walker, who hit .366 with 49 homers and 130 RBIs for the Colorado Rockies, received 22 first-place votes, three seconds and three thirds for 359 points in balloting announced Thursday by the Baseball Writers Association of America.

“Just day after day, I sometimes shocked myself at what I was doing,” Walker said. “I’d go home at night or to the hotel room and say, ‘I did that again? This is fun!”’

Some have said that playing in the mile-high air at Coors Field helped Walker. But he hit .346 on the road with 29 homers and 62 RBIs, up from a .142 average with six homers and 13 RBIs on the road in his injury-shortened 1996 season.

“A big factor in the voting was that away from Coors Field I was able to be consistent and put up decent numbers,” he said. “Eventually, Coors Field is going to lose the rap, just like Wrigley Field lost it or just like Fenway - bouncing all those doubles off the wall. Every park has unique things that are going to work for you or against you. You’ve still got to throw it. You’ve still got to hit it and you’ve still got to catch it. It doesn’t matter where you are.”

Walker, who established career highs in nearly every offensive category, became the first Canadian to win the award. He followed a sweep by Canadian teams in Cy Young voting, with Montreal’s Pedro Martinez winning the N.L. award and Toronto’s Roger Clemens winning the A.L. honor.

“I’ve done something good for me personally, and I’ve done something good for my country,” he said. “I hope a lot of kids in Canada are looking, if I can be any kind of role model and incentive for them not to give up on the dream of playing in the big leagues one day.”

Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Mike Piazza was second in the voting with three firsts, 22 seconds, two thirds and one fourth for 263 points, followed by Houston first baseman Jeff Bagwell - the 1994 winner - with 253 points.

On Wednesday, Seattle’s Ken Griffey Jr. was a unanimous pick as the A.L. MVP.

“It’s such a great feeling,” Walker said after finding out he had won. “I was going up and down the stairs at my house and I don’t think I hit any of the steps. I just kind of glided up the stairs.”

Walker had 409 total bases, the most in the major leagues since Stan Musial in 1948. He also led the N.L. in homers, slugging percentage (.720), extra-base hits (99) and on-base percentage (.452) and won his third consecutive Gold Glove in the outfield.

His batting average was second in the league, six points behind San Diego’s Tony Gwynn. Walker had his average at .400 or higher as late as July 17, his 96th game of the season.

“Tony and I were in that race all year and it’s tough to stay up there the whole season,” Walker said.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: BEST OF THE BEST Leading vote-getters for the N.L. MVP Award, with first-, second- and third-place votes and total points: Player 1st 2nd 3rd Tot Walker, Col 22 3 3 359 Piazza, LA 3 22 2 263 Bagwell, Hou 3 2 15 233 Biggio, Hou 1 3 157 Bonds, SF 1 123 Gwynn, SD 3 113