Today on the blog, we have my "not so missing" 1980 card for Hall
of Famer Tim Raines, from my "Whole Nine: Series 2" set released a few
months back:
The "four-decade" player made his
Big League debut with six games for the Montreal Expos in 1979, all as a
pinch-runner, giving him three runs scored and two stolen bases without
an official at-bat at the age of only 19.
From there the man
was nothing short of elite, leading the league in steals four straight
seasons from 1981 through 1984, winning a batting title in 1986 when he
led the N.L. with a .334 mark, twice pacing the league in runs scored,
and making seven straight All-Star teams from 1981 to 1987.
The
National League's counterpart to Rickey Henderson, Raines went on to
play 23 seasons in the Majors, including a very nice three year run with
the New York Yankees during their Dynasty from 1996 to 1998, giving him
two Championships, the only two he'd have.
I loved watching
him play, and was especially happy to see him play "live" when he suited
up for the Yanks those three seasons, when I was pretty much at almost
all Yankee home games.
By the time he retired after the 2002
season, Raines finished with 2605 hits over 8872 at-bats, hitting .294
with 1571 runs scored and 808 stolen bases, collecting 113 triples while
striking out only 966 times!
That is an average of only 42 strikeouts a season!
In 2017 he was elected to the Hall of Fame, his place in baseball history cemented for all to appreciate in years to come.
Cheers "Rock" Raines!
