Delino DeShields: “Tim Raines is a Hall of Famer”
The 2016 Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony takes place on Sunday, July 24. Center fielder Ken Griffey Jr., who received a record 99.3% of the vote, and catcher Mike Piazza, make up the 2016 class that will be enshrined in Cooperstown, New York.
However, there are many people around baseball: fans, former players, sportswriters on social media, or anyone who has been on this player’s Baseball-Reference/FanGraphs page, who will tell you there’s someone missing from the 2016 Hall of Fame class, and that’s former outfielder Tim “Rock” Raines.
He played 23 seasons from 1979–2002, stealing bases in four different decades. In the 2016 Hall of Fame vote, he received 69.8% of the vote by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, falling 27 votes short of the 75% mark that would get him enshrined into Cooperstown.
Raines was a teammate of current Louisville Bats manager and a great player in his own right, Delino DeShields, with the 1990 Montreal Expos.
“He [Raines] was a dominant player for more than a decade,” says DeShields. “It was Rickey Henderson in the American League and it was Tim ‘Rock’ Raines in the National League.”
In the 1980s, that was definitely the case. Henderson totaled 838 stolen bases in the decade, while Raines stole 583, with no other player eclipsing the 500-mark in the ‘80s.
“I was very blessed to come into the game as a young player and learn from guys like Raines, Otis Nixon, and a coach like Tommy Harper,” says DeShields.
DeShields stole 42 bases as a rookie in 1990, the 13th-highest total for a first-year player in the MLB since 1913. He was part of a team with Raines, who stole 49 bases that season, and Nixon, who led the club with 50 steals. 26 years later, they’re still the last three teammates to each steal 40+ bases in the same season.
“Those kind of [stolen base] numbers don’t happen today,” says DeShields. “I had a lot of tutelage as a young player and it really helped me a lot.”
When it comes to the Hall of Fame, DeShields, like many others close to the game of baseball, doesn’t hesitate to call Tim Raines a Hall of Famer.
“Tim Raines should be in the Hall of Fame, he’s a Hall of Famer to me and a lot of other people, and I hope he gets in,” says DeShields. When asked about which of his former teammates are deserving of the Hall of Fame, DeShields says Raines is at the top of the list.
Raines will appear on the Hall of Fame ballot for the final time in 2017, his 10th year on the ballot. If he doesn’t garner 75% of the vote needed for induction, he’ll move to the Era Committee system where he’d be eligible for induction through a Baseball Veteran’s Committee.
Some Tim Raines statistics, collected via Baseball-Reference:
Raines had 978 stolen bases and home runs combined, which ranks eighth all-time. The seven ahead of him: five players in the Baseball Hall of Fame, Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez.
Raines is the only player in MLB history to have at least 100 career triples, 150 home runs, and 600 stolen bases.
For the 1983 Expos, Raines stole a career-high 90 bases (was only caught 14 times) and had 51 extra-base hits. He’s the only player since 1901 with a 90 stolen base, 50 extra-base hit season.
Raines collected 69.1 career Wins Above Replacement, more than Hall of Famers like Tony Gwynn (68.8), Ryne Sandberg (67.5), Willie Stargell (57.5), and many more.
Raines stole 808 bases (5th all-time) and was only caught 146 times. His 84.7% stolen base success rate ranks is the highest rate all-time for players who had at least 400 stolen bases.
