Filed under: Nationals, White Sox, Yankees, MLB Hall of Fame
Tim Raines gets my vote for the Baseball Hall of Fame every December. I wish Christmas shopping was as easy. Conversely, most of my fellow voters leave the box blank next to Raines, who has received, in order, 24.3 percent, 22.6 and 30.4 percent of the vote since first appearing on the ballot.
It's easy to know why nearly 400 voters weren't, and probably still aren't, sold on Raines. Over a career that spanned from 1979 to 2002, he never finished among the top four in MVP voting. Nor did he hit 20 home runs, or win a Gold Glove, or lead his team to World Series glory. His hitting power was nothing special for a left fielder. His throwing arm was average, at best. His best years were spent in Montreal, a hockey town. And he wasn't in in his prime when his teams got to the postseason.
What's more, when I talked to a few baseball contemporaries of Raines, they didn't exactly bowl me over with enthusiasm. My survey was far from comprehensive and may have yielded strong endorsements had I reached others of that era, but if the 1980s field personnel I talked to didn't argue against sending him to Cooperstown, they didn't argue for it, either.
As to why, then, I checked the Raines box this week before sending the precious green envelope to secretary-treasurer Jack O'Connell of the Baseball Writers' Association of America, there are three reasons above all:
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