Longtime sports fans usually have a substantial list of favorite players they have admired over the years. Yet there is a special place reserved in their hearts for players who left indelible memories for them in their youth.
If you’re a sports fan, you know what I mean. Whether they played for the home team, or in a faraway city, you kept tabs on those players in the box scores. You jumped at the chance to watch them live at the stadium. You tried to imitate their signature moves when you were out playing the sport with your buddies.
That was me, and the ballplayer at the top of my chart was Tim Raines, who went on to fashion a spectacular 23-year major league career and was today named named a Class of 2017 inductee into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. I remember he got my attention with his combination of speed and power, and his amazing athleticism in the field. Most fascinating to me were his daring lead-offs and explosive charges to stolen base after stolen base.
As a 12-year-old living in Denver, I was fortunate to watch Raines perform on the diamond before his major league career took off.
Playing second base for the Denver Bears, the Triple-A affiliate of the Montreal Expos, Raines was electric.
“I remember having the best year of my career in Denver,” Raines told me during a phone interview.
“(Denver) was probably the most exciting city (for) a team. We had a great team. I think we were something like almost 50 games over .500 that year.” (The Bears finished the year 48 games above .500 with a 92-44 record).
With today’s announcement of the 2017 Hall of Fame class (Jeff Bagwell and Ivan Rodriguez also were named inducteeds), Raines made it in on his last year of eligibility. Earlier in the day, my interest in the final vote was at a fever pitch.
If I had a ballot, I would have voted for Raines in his first year of eligibility (2008), and not just because of the memories he generated for me during his stint with the Bears, but mostly for his impressive list of achievements that he rung up over a major league career spanning 23 seasons.
Raines was a seven-time All-Star, won one World Series championship, and tallied 1,571 runs, 2,605 hits, 3,771 total bases, 808 stolen bases, and a lifetime batting average of .294.
True to his nickname of “Rock,” Raines was solid.
The native of Sanford, Florida, received strong media attention leading up to the Jan. 18 Hall of Fame announcement, and now it will continue on through to his formal induction. I would like to add to the appreciation of Raines by providing a unique perspective of the early stages of his baseball career.
A fifth-round selection by the Montreal Expos in the 1977 MLB June Amateur Draft, Raines began his ascent to major-league stardom by playing for the Class A West Palm Beach Expos (1978) and the Double-A Memphis Chicks in 1979. His performances with the Chicks earned him his first cup of joe in the majors – a six-game stint with the Expos.
After getting a taste of the big leagues, Raines knew he needed to produce a big season at the Triple-A level in 1980 in order to get back to the majors and stay.
“I knew I had to open some minds because I had a taste of the big leagues the previous year,” Raines said. “I had been called up in the middle of the season for about two weeks. I didn’t fare too well, but it kind of opened my eyes to what I had to do, and I had to go prove myself, prove that I was better than the minor leagues and the next step was the major leagues. I feel like I went back to Denver and did that.”
Denver was in for a treat. The Bears were the Expos’ top minor-league affiliate since 1976, and in their history, had the likes of Tom Lasorda, Billy Martin, Marv Throneberry, Ralph Houk and Andre Dawson in uniform either as a player or a manager.
I remember trips to Denver’s Mile High Stadium during the Bears’ 1980 season and watching one truly entertaining team. In fact, in the Bears’ 1981 game program, columnist Dick Connor of The Denver Post was quoted as saying, “It’s as close to certain anything ever gets that you aren’t ever going to see a minor league club this good again. Ever.”
The club had a terrific balance of power, speed and pitching. Raines was the crown jewel. He led the American Association with a .354 batting average and stole a league record 77 bases.
To me, the number 77 became magical, like Babe Ruth’s 61 or 714. I still recall playing games of Pickle in my front yard and trying to steal bases like “Rock” Raines.
After the Bears claimed the American Association Western Division pennant on Aug. 17, 1980, the team later went on to lose in the league championship to the Springfield Redbirds.
“We had a team that just felt like we could beat anyone and I think down the stretch, we (lost) most of our pitching staff to the major leagues,” Raines said. “(It) just didn’t allow us an opportunity to win it that year. I just felt like we had the best team in all of the minor leagues and we just weren’t able to have enough to win it.”
During that 1980 season, a number of players on the team signed a baseball for me on a team autograph day. I got the signatures of Randy Bass (the future home run king in Japan), Dan Briggs, Tim Wallach, Jerry Manuel, Jamie Easterly, Steve Ratzer, Dave Hostetler, Brad Mills, Rick Ramos, Bob Reece, Dennis Sherow, Bob Pate and Kevin Mendon.
Unfortunately, Raines was not in attendance and so he didn’t sign my ball.
Over the years, I would occasionally take the autographed baseball out of its display case, read the names and remember the fun watching that team. However, each time, I couldn’t help but notice an important player’s signature missing from that baseball.
Similarly, since 2008, I couldn’t help but notice an important player missing from the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Last summer at Major League Baseball’s All-Star FanFest, I met Tim Raines and added his signature to my 1980 Denver Bears baseball.
Today, Raines earned his rightful place among the game’s all-time greats.
The wait is over for both of us.
Congratulations, Rock, and truly, thank you for the memories.