Walker MVP by a Country Mile

Larry Walker won the National League most-valuable-player award Thursday to become the first Canadian in either league to win the honor.

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 by the Baseball Writers Assn. of America.

“I’ve done something good for me personally, and I’ve done something good for my country,” Walker said. “Maybe kids will look up to me and it will push them to reach for their goals.”

Dodger catcher Mike Piazza (.362 batting average with 40 homers and 124 RBIs) was second with three firsts and 263 points, followed by Houston first baseman Jeff Bagwell (.286 batting average with 43 homers with 135 RBIs) with three firsts and 233 points.

“It’s such a great feeling,” Walker said. “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 NL 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. He also was second in runs (143) and hits (208), and his RBI total was No. 3 in the league.

Some will say that playing in the mile-high air at Coors Field helped Walker. But he batted .346 on the road with 29 homers and 62 RBIs.

Walker earned a $200,000 bonus for winning the MVP award, and teammate Andres Galarraga got a $100,000 bonus for finishing seventh.

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Seattle decided not to offer Randy Johnson a contract extension this off-season, and the Mariners say they will field trade offers for their ace.

“It was a very difficult decision,” Mariner President Chuck Armstrong said. “But in view of what Randy wanted in the way of a extension, we just didn’t think it was a wise investment.”

Johnson, the 1995 AL Cy Young Award winner, is 75-20 since 1993, going 20-4 with a 2.28 ERA and 291 strikeouts last season.

Seattle is to pay him $6 million next season and is worried that Johnson’s next deal will approach Greg Maddux’s $57.5-million, five-year contract with Atlanta--the highest average salary in baseball.

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In a stunning and possibly final defeat to a stadium proposal for the Twins, the Minnesota House rejected a plan to build a new ballpark, putting the team’s future in the state in doubt. . . . The Arizona Diamondback won the toss with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and elected to take the second, third and fifth picks in Tuesday’s expansion draft. . . . The NL has fined Cincinnati Red owner Marge Schott $10,000 for talking with reporters about a new baseball stadium without first getting baseball’s permission to do the interview. . . . Hideki Irabu, 5-4 with a 7.09 ERA in his rookie season with the New York Yankees, vowed to earn a place in the rotation next season.

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NL MVP

The top 10 in voting for the National League most valuable player with player’s name, team, total points and first-place votes in parentheses:

* 1. Larry Walker, Colorado: 359 (22)

* 2. Mike Piazza, Dodgers: 263 (3)

* 3. Jeff Bagwell, Houston: 233 (3)

* 4. Craig Biggio, Houston: 157

* 5. Barry Bonds, San Francisco: 123

* 6. Tony Gwynn, San Diego: 113

* 7. Andres Galarraga, Colorado: 85

* 8. Jeff Kent, San Francisco: 80

* 9. Chipper Jones, Atlanta: 70

*10. Moises Alou, Florida: 60