Tim Raines

Hall of Fame leadoff hitter and stolen base champion.

Timothy Raines Sr., known as "Rock," is an American professional baseball coach and former left fielder who played in Major League Baseball from 1979 to 2002. He is best known for his 13 seasons with the Montreal Expos and is regarded as one of the greatest leadoff hitters and baserunners in history. A seven-time All-Star, four-time stolen base champion, and National League batting champion, Raines was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2017.

Quick Facts

Position: Left fielder
Bats: Switch
Throws: Right
Born: 16 September 1959
Birthplace: Sanford, Florida, U.S.
Debut league: MLB
Debut date: September 11
Debut year: 1979

Facts from the source article.

Did You Know?

He rushed for 1,000 yards in eight football games and set two school track and field records.
Raines published his autobiography, Rock Solid: My Life in Baseball's Fast Lane, in 2017.

Career

The Montreal Expos selected Raines in the fifth round of the 1977 draft. After appearing in six games as a pinch runner in 1979, he played briefly at second base in 1980 before moving to the outfield. In his strike-shortened 1981 rookie season, he batted .304 and set a major league rookie record with 71 stolen bases, breaking Gene Richards' mark of 56. Raines began his career with a then-record 27 consecutive successful stolen bases before being caught stealing for the first time in 1981.

He finished second in National League Rookie of the Year voting to Fernando Valenzuela. His performance declined in 1982, hitting .277 with a .353 on-base percentage, and at season's end he entered treatment for substance abuse, having spent an estimated $40,000 on cocaine that year. He testified at the Pittsburgh drug trials in September 1985. In 1983, Raines stole a career-high 90 bases, scored a franchise-record 133 runs, and was named Expos Player of the Year, an honor he also received in 1985 and 1986.

He stole at least 70 bases each season from 1981 to 1986. In 1986, he won the National League batting title with a .334 average. Defensively, he led the league with 21 assists in 1983 and tied for the lead in double plays by an outfielder in 1985.

Career statistics

Over 23 seasons, Raines played 2,502 games, collecting 2,605 hits in 8,872 at bats for a .294 batting average, with 170 home runs, 980 runs batted in, a .385 on-base percentage, and a .425 slugging percentage. His career fielding percentage was .987. He led the National League in stolen bases from 1981 to 1984, with a high of 90 in 1983, and stole at least 70 bases in each of his first six full seasons. He led the league in runs scored in 1983 and 1987.

Raines batted over .300 in five full seasons and over .320 from 1985 to 1987. His 808 career stolen bases rank fourth in major league history, behind Rickey Henderson, Lou Brock, and Ty Cobb; some sources also place Billy Hamilton ahead of him, though many of Hamilton's steals occurred before the definition was altered in 1898. Raines' career stolen base percentage of 84.7% is the highest among players with 400 or more attempts. He set an American League record with 40 consecutive successful steals from July 1993 to August 1995, later broken by Ichiro Suzuki.

Among switch hitters, he ranks sixth in hits, fourth in runs, walks, and times on base, and fifth in plate appearances. He held the Expos/Nationals franchise record for runs until May 2021, and still holds franchise records for steals, singles, triples, and walks. He ranks among the top 100 position players in Wins Above Replacement.

Honors and awards

In 1981, The Sporting News named Raines the National League Rookie of the Year. He was elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2013. On January 18, 2017, Raines was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, appearing on 86.0% of ballots, and was formally inducted on July 30; his plaque depicts him in an Expos cap. The baseball complex at Seminole High School was renamed Tim Raines Athletic Park, and his number 22 was retired at the school. He received a key to the city of Sanford in March 2019, and the Sanford Historical Museum dedicated an exhibit to him.

Coaching career

Tim Raines moved into coaching in 2003, taking over as manager of the Class A-Advanced Brevard County Manatees, an Expos farm club. A year later, he joined the big league staff and was on hand for Montreal’s final games as a franchise. He then spent two seasons with the Chicago White Sox, starting as first base coach during their 2005 World Series run and shifting to bench coach in 2006. In 2007, Raines served as hitting coach for the Harrisburg Senators, a minor league team. He became manager of the Newark Bears in 2009, staying with the club as it moved leagues, and in 2012 worked as an assistant coach and Director of Player Development. The Toronto Blue Jays brought him on as a minor league baserunning and outfield coach in 2013.