Walker received 76.6 per cent of the vote by members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America in his 10th and final year on the ballot, narrowly surpassing the 75 per cent required for induction by just six votes.

«I’m on cloud 9 right now,» Walker told CBC’s The National Tuesday night after the result was revealed.

‘The former Colorado Rockies and Montreal Expos slugger is just the second Canadian elected to the Hall. Pitcher Fergie Jenkins of Chatham, Ont., was inducted in 1991.

Walker, the 1997 National League MVP, is joined in this year’s induction class by New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, who amassed 99.7 per cent of the vote. Jeter fell short of a unanimous ballot by just one vote in his first year of eligibility.

The induction ceremony will be held in Cooperstown, N.Y. on July 26.

Named NL MVP in 1997

Walker hit an eye-popping .366 with a league-best 49 homers, 46 doubles and a career-high 130 runs batted in during his MVP season. His .452 on-base percentage that year, as well as his .720 slugging percentage, also topped the NL.

Walker signed with the Expos as an amateur free agent as a 17-year-old in 1984, five years before Canadians were first eligible for the MLB draft.

His shift to baseball came after Walker had been cut from a junior hockey team.

Walker made his MLB debut in 1989 and played six seasons with Montreal before signing a free-agent deal with Colorado. He capped his career with 144 games over parts of two seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals from 2004 to 2005.