HALL WELCOMES RAINES:
Ex-Yankee joins Pudge & Co. in Hall
COOPERSTOWN — Tim Raines became a superstar in Montreal, but he had to go to the Bronx to become a champion.
Raines, who won a pair of rings with the Yankees in 1996 and ’98, went into the Baseball Hall of Fame Sunday along with Pudge Rodriguez and Jeff Bagwell. Former commissioner Bud Selig and front-office guru John Schuerholz also were enshrined on a picture-perfect summer day in front of over 27,000 fans.
The 57-year-old Raines was greeted by scores of fans from Canada, many of whom came aboard several buses. He thanked his mom and dad, who were seated in the front row and later focused on Hall of Famer Andre Dawson, his teammate with the Montreal Expos when he first broke into the major leagues in the early 1980s. “Without Andre Dawson there’s no telling where I’d be,” Raines, who fought cocaine problems early in his career, said of Dawson, “I wanted to kind of be like you and he finally accepted and I followed. Thank you so much for making me the player I became.”
Raines, a switch-hitter, batted .294 and had a .385 on-base percentage in his 23-year career, finishing with 2,605 hits, 1,571 runs and 808 stolen bases. His stolen base total is the fifth-highest in major league history and included 70 or more steals in each season from 1981-86, a streak that stands alone in baseball history. And his 84.7 percent success rate tops the list among players with at least 400 steal attempts.
The Yankees acquired Raines from the White Sox in December 1995 for minor-league pitcher Blaise Kozeniewski. While Raines’ Yankee years were plagued by injuries, he did provide some big hits in addition to becoming a favorite of his teammates.
In Game 3 of the 1996 World Series, Raines set the tone for the Yankees’ stunning turnaround. The
Yankees had been dominated by the defending champion Braves in the first two games in the Bronx, and many expected more of the same in Atlanta. But Raines led off Game 3 with a walk, took second on Derek Jeter’s sac bunt and scored on Bernie Williams’ ground single to center field off Tom Glavine for the Bombers’ first lead of the entire Series. David Cone went on to pitch the Yanks to a pivotal 5-2 victory.
Raines also started the Yankees’ winning two-run rally in their victory in the nowlegendary Game 4 with a two-out walk in the 10th inning. Jeter singled and Williams was walked intentionally before Wade Boggs brought in Raines as the go-ahead run with a walk of his own. The drama wasn’t over because in the bottom of the 10th John Wetteland allowed a one-out single to Andruw Jones and one out later, Terry Pendleton lined a rocket to left. As Raines retreated, he stumbled on the warning track but somehow stayed on his feet and clutched the final out. In the 1997 division series against the Indians, Raines played a key role as the Yankees rallied from a five-run deficit for a playoff-opening 8-6 victory at the Stadium. Raines hit a sacrifice fly to pull the Yankees within 6-2 in the fourth inning, then jump-started a five-run outburst in the sixth with a two-run home run. Jeter and Paul O’Neill followed with homers to make it backto-back-to-back blasts off ex-Yankee Eric Plunk. Rodriguez was briefly a Yankee in 2008, hitting .219 in 33 games. The 45-year-old Rodriguez holds major league records for games caught (2,427) and putouts by a catcher (12,376). He hit 311 homers and batted .296 in his career. He’s also only the second catcher elected on the first ballot, following in the footsteps of his childhood idol, Johnny Bench, who was seated on the dais behind him. After speaking in Spanish, Rodriguez went back and repeated in English, concentrating on a message to youth. “You have the right to dream,” he said. “Everything in life is possible. I speak from experience.” “This is such an incredible honor for me,” Rodriguez said. “A little kid from Puerto Rico with a big dream. Never let them take your dream away from you.” Bagwell, who spent his entire 15-year career with the Astros, hit 449 home runs and from 19962001 had at least 30 home runs, 100 runs scored and 100 RBI per season, only the sixth player in major league history to reach those marks in at least six straight years. Bagwell is the only first baseman in history with 400 career home runs and 200 stolen bases. “I tried to do everything well,” he said. “I wanted to score for my team and for my other players. I enjoy the stolen bases more than anything else. For a little guy with not much speed, I truly appreciate that. I could help us win in different ways.”