Larry Walker to be emergency backup goalie for Colorado Avalanche
By Ant Barberio
Baseball Hall of Famer Larry Walker will be the Colorado Avalanche’s emergency backup goalie. Growing up in Canada, Walker originally wanted to be an NHL player.
Larry Walker, a former player for the Colorado Rockies, was recently elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame. If he chooses to be enshrined in Cooperstown with a Colorado hat on his plaque, he’ll be the team’s first Hall of Famer. While retired from baseball, Walker is ready for some more professional sports action, this time with the Colorado Avalanche.
The team announced that Walker will serve as an emergency backup for the team’s game Sunday against the Vegas Golden Knights. Maybe he won’t be the “official” emergency backup since ESPN’s release said he will be the “honorary” emergency backup.
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Walker has many ties to hockey, wanting to be a hockey player growing up in Canada before pursuing a baseball career.
He even joked that being from Canada meant he was born with a stick in his hand in his MLB Network interview after he received the news he was voted in. Walker even named New York Islanders goalie Billy Smith as his idol growing up.
Even if the title is only honorary, Walker won’t be the first professional athlete to find success both in ice hockey and baseball. James Riley won the 1917 Stanley Cup with the Seattle Metropolitans before going on an over 10-year professional major league baseball career a few years later.
More recently there was major league pitcher Tom Glavine. Although Glavine never played hockey professionally, he was chosen by the Los Angeles Kings in the 1984 NHL draft ahead of Luc Robitaille
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For a kid growing up wanting to be a hockey player, Sunday night should see a career go full circle for Walker. It may be a marketing stunt, but it’s one with a lot of heart. No word yet on if fellow newly minted Hall of Famer Derek Jeter will suit up for a New York hockey team.