Harold Baines is a Hall of Famer. Harold Baines. Seriously. He has 38.4 career fWAR and exactly one season where he surpassed 3.0 fWAR. He was a DH with a 119 wRC+ who played in the homeruningest era and never hit 30 in a season. He didn't reach any of the counting stat milestones associated with the Hall of Fame.
The Hall of Fame has been a joke for a long time, but they've really stepped it up with this one.
So Harold Baines can get in, but not Larry frigging Walker.
To wit:
GP
Baines: 2,830 (11,092 PA)
Walker: 1,988 (8,030 PA)
Hits
Baines: 2,866
Walker: 2,160
HR
Baines: 384
Walker: 383
RBI
Baines: 1,628
Walker: 1,355
Slash Line (BA/OBP/SLG/OPS)
Baines: .289/.356/.465/.820
Walker: .313/.400/.565/.965
SB
Baines: 34 (50% success rate)
Walker: 230 (75% success rate)
Career fWAR
Baines: 38.4
Walker: 68.7
Seasons with fWAR:
Negative: Baines (3), Walker (1)
0-1: Baines (3), Walker (0)
1-3: Baines (14), Walker (3)
3-5: Baines (2), Walker (7)
5-7: Baines (0), Walker (4)
7-9: Baines (0), Walker (1)
>9: Biaines (0), Walker (1)
Trophy case
Baines: 6x All-Star, 1x WS, 1x Silver Slugger
Walker: 5x All-Star, 1x NL MVP, 7x Gold Glove, 3x Silver Slugger, 3x MLB Batting Title, 1x NL HR title
Baines counting stat leads are entirely down to longevity in large part because he spent so much of his career as a DH. But the fact that Walker played almost 1,000 fewer games in his career and yet was only behind him by 700 hits, 300 RBI and 1 HR makes Walker's career marks all the more impressive.
Larry Walker was, for a time, one of the very best players in baseball and was one of the most complete players in baseball. Harold Baines was a very good DH who had some pretty OK seasons for a fairly long stretch of a lengthy career and who, it must be stressed, was still just primarily a DH because he was a tire fire in the field.
Herpa derp derp HOF!