With the 2016 Hall of Fame ballot newly released, ‘tis the season to debate players’ cases for enshrinement in the hallowed halls of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. New players on the ballot this year include Ken Griffey, Jr. and Trevor Hoffman, but there are plenty of holdovers from previous years still hoping for their turn as well. Those players include Barry Bonds, Mike Piazza, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, Mike Mussina, Jeff Bagwell, and Curt Schilling, among many others who have not been elected by the writers for one reason or another. Some haven’t made the cut because of real or perceived connections to steroids, and others haven’t been elected for reasons that are less clear. That second category most conspicuously features the curious case of Tim Raines.

Tim Raines broke into the Major Leagues with the Montreal Expos in 1979 and retired as a Florida Marlin in 2002 as one of just twenty-nine players to play in four different decades. He became a full-time player in 1981 and remained with the Expos until 1990. In that period, he stole 627 bases and recorded a .302 batting average. He won the 1986 NL batting title and made the All-Star team for seven consecutive years. He also received MVP votes (though never won the award) in seven of those ten seasons. It was in this era that he made his reputation as baseball’s best-ever leadoff hitter not named Rickey Henderson.

He has long been caught in Rickey’s speedy and powerful shadow, but his numbers from his time with the Expos are not markedly different from Rickey’s in that same time span.

From 1981-1990 (which includes Rickey’s monstrous 1990 MVP-winning year)-

Player Batting Avg Steals 2B 3B OPS OBP HR RBI

Tim Raines .302 627 273 81 .830 .391 96 552

Rickey Henderson .293 803 259 43 .859 .405 156 543

Granted, Rickey had more power and a much longer peak, and obviously had more steals. But in the 1980’s these players were closer than you might think.

Raines moved on to the White Sox in 1990, where he started out just a shade from his Expos self, but steadily declined to a full-blown shadow. By 1996 he had moved on to the Yankees as a part-time player and mentor to younger players. He won his (only) two World Series rings in 1996 and 1998 with the boys in the Bronx before hanging around for a few more years in his spare part/mentor role. He played a season in Oakland, then missed a year due to lupus before returning to Montreal and finishing up in Baltimore (where he got to play in the outfield with his son). He retired after playing with the Florida Marlins in 2002.

There are many routes to the Hall of Fame, including, but not limited to, high peaks, longevity, milestones, playoff prowess, and championships. Raines has the longevity, though you could argue that his final four seasons might have hurt his legacy and given him a reputation for hanging on as a Hall of Fame stats compiler. His 808 steals – fifth all time – are the most for any player not in the Hall of Fame. He did not reach any key milestones for hitters apart from steals, but his 2,605 hits and 1,571 runs scored are not exactly statistical slouches. It’s worth noting that he could easily have had another thirty to forty hits and fifteen steals had he not missed spring training and a full month in 1986 – when he was at his absolute peak – due to the owners’ salary collusion.

His 1980’s peak might not have been quite long enough to satisfy some quarters, though a seven-year peak is longer than that of many players who have made the Hall of Fame. He was not a key part of championship teams, as the Expos never made the playoffs in his prime years and he was a spare part by the time he won with the Yankees, but his two rings are still more than many Hall of Famers possess. He was undoubtedly hurt by comparisons to Rickey Henderson throughout his career, which would not be fair for any player. In the 1980’s, he had a well-publicized cocaine addiction and admitted to keeping vials in his pocket and sliding headfirst so as not to break them. Thirty-plus years later, that might still carry negative weight for some Hall of Fame voters as well.

Raines played his best years far from the spotlight for a team that no longer exists, and that might (unfairly) also count against him in some voters’ minds, though it didn’t really hurt his longtime teammate Andre Dawson (the other Expo in the Hall is Gary Carter, whose 1986 World Series ring with the Mets is a defining part of his legacy). He holds ten Expos batting records and oh, by the way, he did all of it as a switch hitter. He was one of the very best historically to ever play the game, dominated his peers for the better part of a decade, and played for twenty-three seasons. In terms of longevity and achievement, it’s hard to say that Tim Raines does not belong in the Hall of Fame.

Raines first became eligible for the Hall in 2008 and netted just twenty-four percent of the vote, missing the necessary seventy-five percent by a mile-long spill of poutine. His vote totals have mostly inched upward, and last year he reached fifty-five percent. When the Hall reduced candidates’ eligibility windows from fifteen to ten years a few years ago, Raines’s chances took a big hit since he’s now got just two years of eligibility left instead of the seven he would have had to hopefully see his votes climb. Last year’s entry of four inductees lessened the logjam a bit, but there are still a ton of qualified candidates who might siphon votes that he would otherwise get. Tim Raines may yet get to the Hall of Fame before his eligibility window closes, and here’s to hoping he does. Few people in the history of the game have ever been more qualified.

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