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odd Walker’s baseball career
was nearly derailed between
his junior and senior years at
Airline High in Bossier City, La.
He shredded the rotator cuff in his right
shoulder while spiking a volleyball.
Doctors said Walker’s rotator cuff
looked like cotton in water. This was
1990, long before repairing such an inju-
ry became commonplace. The same doc-
tors told Walker his chances of throwing
a baseball again were 50-50.
Following surgery, Walker moved from
shortstop to second base, and his draft
stock plummeted. He was drafted by the
Rangers in the 51st round in 1991.
The injury, it would turn out, might
have been the best thing to happen to
Walker’s baseball career.
Instead of turning pro, Walker
embarked on a stellar career at Louisiana
State, then to a big league career mostly
with the Twins and Cubs. Today, he can
be heard 15-20 games a season as a color
commentator on the SEC Network.
“I just was very blessed to get the
opportunity to play in the big leagues
for 12 years,” said Walker, 46. “That’s
something, clearly, that you don’t forget
and carry with you forever. I’ve gottenA freak injury paid off in the
long run for Todd Walker
a job that I have now because of it, and I
get to do what I love to do, and that’s be
around the game and talk baseball.”
Coming out of high school, Walker
turned down a $60,000 bonus offer.
Three years later, following an All-
America career at LSU, Walker was the
eighth overall pick by Minnesota and
signed for $815,000.
“Had I been picked in the second
round (out of high school), I could have
taken the bonus and skipped those years
I had in Baton Rouge,” Walker said.
“It’s something I tell the kids today: I’m
certainly a strong believer in going to
college.”
Walker led LSU to the 1993 national
championship and was named Most
Outstanding Player at the College World
Series that year. Enshrined in the halls of
fame for both LSU and college baseball,
he had his No. 12 retired by LSU in 2017.
In his third season in the big leagues,
1998, Walker hit .316 with 12 home runs
for the Twins in a career year.
Baseball got real for Walker when the
Reds traded him to the Red Sox prior to
the 2003 season. “I felt a lot of pres-
sure,” Walker said. “I felt like I had to
really perform in Boston.”
After batting .313 with three home
runs in Boston’s five-game American
League Division Series win against the
Athletics, Walker hit .370 with two hom-
ers in the seven-game AL Championship
Series loss to the Yankees.
Walker retired following the 2007 sea-
son with Oakland. He compiled 1,316 hits
in his career and batted .289/.348/.435.
He coached high school baseball for
three years in Shreveport, La., where
he lives with his wife, Katie, and four
children. Katie is an actress who has
appeared in films such as “8 Days” and
“Scrape.”
“She raised the kids while I was
working and now it’s kind of reversed,”
Walker said. “That’s fine with me. She
spent a lot of time doing what we need-
ed to have done, and now I’m kind of
repaying the favor.” nISSUE
Jan. 5, 1997RUNDOWN
“Walker is a pure hitter.
He will be as good and play
as long as his bat allows.
He uses all fields and has
the power to hit the ball out
of the park either way,”
Tracy Ringolsby wrote of
Twins No. 1 prospect
Todd WalkerFROM OUR ARCHIVEThe Twins drafted Todd Walker eighth
overall in 1994 out of Louisiana State.
He ranked as the system’s No. 1
prospect in 1996 and ’97.MATTHEW STOCKMAN /ALLSPORT VIA GETTY IMAGES