In the early 1980s, Warren handed over his NL APBA to me, as his AL
team (the Quebec Avenue Separatistes-"the Seps") kept him too busy.
Terry Kennedy, Jason Thompson, Juan Bonilla, Dave Concepcion, Bill
Madlock, Rick Monday and Mario Soto were the fixtures on my club, the
Annex Anarchists, that went to two APBA World Series, losing both
times, but the best club belonged to Rick with Tim Raines, Jose Cruz
Sr. and Dale Murphy leading the way. Raines was the star in APBA, and
Rick developed a special, slightly obscene, way of shaking the dice
when Raines came to bat. It seemed to work, as Raines was a tremendous hitter, particularly in the clutch, in APBA.
Later on, in about 1984, Warren and I
made a bet. He said that Rickey Henderson would develop more power, and
I put my proverbial nickel on Tim Raines. I guess that Warren won that
bet. But then, I wasn't exactly an unbiased observer (full disclosure statement).
Tim Raines was drafted by the Expos out of high school in the 5th round
in 1977. He reported to Rookie League, and immediately established
himself as a nice leadoff hitting prospect, by hitting .280 with
excellent plate discipline and speed, at age 17. He had no power at
that point. The Expos were obviously impressed and started him off in
the high A Florida State League in 1978, where he repeated his
performance numbers. Raines moved up to double A and was your basic
Grade A prospect in 1979- hitting .290 with 90 walks and 51 strikeouts
and 59 stolen bases at age 19. He even added a little pop with 10
triples and 5 homers. He earned a cup of coffee as a pinch-runner with
the big-club in September. The 'Spos decided to give him a year of
triple A ball in 1980 in Denver. Unsurprisingly, he put up a
.354/.437/.501 line in the high air, with his usual excellent plate
discipline and great speed. And then came Raines' first major league
season in 1981.
It was a strike year, that led to an unusual
split season. Raines continued to play as he always had in the minors,
hitting .300 with excellent plate discipline and stealing 71 very
efficient bases. Raines joined Gary Carter, Andre Dawson, and Steve
Rogers at the core of a wonderful Expos club. They held off the Cards
to win the second half title, and then defeated first-half NL East
winner Philly (with Raines on the shelf due to injury) to face the NL
West winner LA for the pennant. The Dodgers and 'Spos split the first
four games. In Game 5, on Monday October 19, 1981 (25 years ago
yesterday), Ray Burris started for Montreal against Rookie of the Year
Fernando Valenzuela. Raines led off the game with a double and scored
the game's first run. But, that was all the Expos could muster as
Valenzuela held them in check until Rick Monday worked his magic.
Raines took a step back in 1982, as he battled cocaine addiction. He
conquered it, and went on to have 5 great seasons in a row. During that
time, 1983-87, he was arguably the best player in the National League
(with Mike Schmidt and Dale Murphy as the other contenders). The Expos
had a couple of good seasons in there, but with Gary Carter moving on
to the Mets and Andre Dawson unable to sustain his excellence into his
early 30s, the team did not make it back to the post-season. Raines
became a free agent at the end of 1986, but due to the collusion of the
owners was unable to sign a contract with a new club. He re-signed with
the Expos on May 1. Notwithstanding his late start, he went on to have
his best statistical season in the hitter's year of 1987, hitting .330
with 18 homers. He was 27.
Raines performed well enough in his
late 20s and early 30s, but nowhere near his peak. He moved on the the
White Sox in 1991, and gave them two excellent seasons in 1992 and
1993, including banging out 12 hits in 6 games in a losing effort
against the Blue Jays in the 1993 ALDS. In 1996, he moved on to the
Yankees, where he was a part-time leadoff hitter (sharing the role with
a young Derek Jeter), and a mighty effective one. He stayed with the
Yanks for 3 seasons and earned two rings in the process, and then
finished out his career with brief stints in Oakland, Montreal,
Baltimore and Florida.
Raines started out his career as a
second baseman, and was moved to the outfield in the minor leagues. As
a left-fielder, he had excellent range and an average arm. He was a
brilliant baserunner, always alert and cat-quick.
So, who are his comparables? First, we will repeat our chart of the post-war lead-off hitters from last week's Leadoff Hitters- Standards and Tools for Evaluation piece:
Here is how the great lead-off hitters of the post-war era have fared over their careers:
| Player | PAs | LADOPS | Lg. LADOPS | Index | SB Success % | SB/game |
| Bobby Bonds | 8090 | .784 | .696 | 113 | .73 | .21 |
| Ashburn | 9736 | .783 | .723 | 108 | .66 | .11 |
| Brock | 11235 | .731 | .700 | 104 | .75 | .36 |
| Henderson | 13346 | .814 | .703 | 116 | .80 | .46 |
| Raines | 10389 | .797 | .707 | 113 | .84 | .32 |
| Boggs | 10740 | .848 | .725 | 117 | .41 | .01 |
| Molitor | 12160 | .791 | .713 | 111 | .79 | .19 |
| Biggio | 11948 | .780 | .725 | 108 | .77 | .15 |
| Player | AB | H | BB | K | HR | AVG. | OBP | SLUG | SB | CS | OPS+ |
| Raines | 8872 | 2605 |
1330 |
966 |
170 |
.294 | .385 |
.425 |
808 | 146 |
123 |
| Brock | 10332 | 3023 | 761 | 1730 |
148 |
.293 |
.343 |
.410 |
938 |
307 |
109 |
| Carey |
9363 |
2665 |
1040 |
695 |
70 |
.285 |
.361 |
.386 |
738 |
190 |
107 |
| Davis |
9174 |
2561 |
418 |
977 |
182 |
.279 |
.311 |
.412 |
398 | 131 |
105 |
| Clarke |
8568 |
2672 |
874 |
567 | 67 |
.312 |
.386 |
.429 |
505 |
|
132 |
| Slaughter | 7946 |
2383 |
1018 |
538 |
169 |
.300 |
.382 |
.453 |
71 |
41 |
123 |
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