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Is Tim Raines a Hall of Famer?

Recently the Baseball Hall of Fame announced that 11 new players have been added to this year's ballot of Hall of Fame candidates, bringing the total number eligible candidates to 25.

The 2008 Hall of Fame Candidates are as follows:

Brady Anderson
Harold Baines
Rod Beck
Bert Blyleven
Dave Concepcion
Andre Dawson
Shawon Dunston
Chuck Finley

Travis Fryman
Rich Gossage
Tommy John
David Justice
Chuck Knoblauch
Don Mattingly
Mark McGwire
Jack Morris
Dale Murphy
Robb Nen
Dave Parker
Tim Raines
Jim Rice
Jose Rijo
Lee Smith
Todd Stottlemyre
Alan Trammell

One of these candidates is none other than Tim Raines.

As a long time baseball and expos fan, I had the privileged to see Raines play day in and day out in Montreal's Olympic Stadium before he got traded to the Chicago White Sox at the end of 1990 season.

At a all-sports radio show here in Montreal recently, the host of the show, Mitch Melnick, a bigger expos fan than I, insisted that Raines should be in the Hall of Fame.

His Reasoning?

Back in the 1980's, Tim Raines was the Rickey Henderson in the National League. Now, if Rickey, who isn't eligible until next season and has better numbers than Raines, makes it to the Hall of Fame, why not Tim Raines.

While Tim Raines overall baseball numbers are pretty good, the one stat that really sticks out is the 808 career stolen bases, placing him 5th overall in the all-time list.

In his 23 year career, Raines, also known by his nickname "the Rock" spend 12 seasons with Montreal where he turn in some of his best numbers, which included:

6 straight years, 70+ stolen bases
4 years straight was stolen base leader(81-84)
5 times over .300 average (3 other times in '93,'97,'01)
1986 NL Batting Champion(.334)
7 straight years All-Star(81-87)
1987 All-Star MVP in Oakland

Next to his friend and teammate Andre Dawson, he was perhaps the Montreal Expos Most Player and Leader in the club house, even though some times you wouldn't of know it because of Raines humor, and practical joke personality.

One of Raines finest games as a Expo came on May 1st , 1987 against the NY Mets. He went 4-for-5, including a grand slam in the 10th inning to win the game for Montreal. Ironically, this was the first game back for Raines after a re-signing with Montreal as a free agent.

The remaining 11 seasons that Raines played, including one last time in Montreal in 2001, was anything but average. He stole 51 and 45 bases, respectly, in 1991 and 1992 with The white sox and in his only world series appearances with the Yankees in 1996, proved to bring home a world series championship.

Is Tim Raines a Hall of Famer?

To the Montreal Expos organization that was, the answer is, definitely YES.

To the baseball hall of fame? Refering to some of the rules that the Hall of Fame has, specifically rule 6c, Tim Raines was a prominent player in MLB. His accomplishments in Montreal was a powerful influence later on both in Chicago and in New York helping the Yankees win a Championship.

The Result?

Tim Raines definitely has a place in baseball history and even in Cooperstown, NY for his baseball stolen base record. He will always remain forever in the hearts of many Montreal Expos fans like myself.

As far as being elected in the Hall? Only the Baseball Writers can determine that, but if I had a vote, I'd say, put him in.

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