Raines gets a hero’s welcome: ‘I always loved playing here’
There was a lot of love to go around Friday night as soon-to-be Hall of Famer Tim Raines was honoured prior to Friday night’s Ligue de Pamplemousse game between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Pittsburgh Pirates.
“I always loved this city and when the call came in from the Hall of Fame, there was no question in my mind that I was going in as an Expo,” Raines told the crowd at the Olympic Stadium. “I always loved playing here and I want to thank the fans for inspiring me. I knew that every time I came to the ballpark there would 30,000 to 40,000 fans cheering for us.”
Raines was joined on the field by seven of his teammates — Steve Rogers, David Palmer, Bill Lee, Warren Cromartie, Jeff Reardon, Al (Scoop) Oliver and Dennis Martinez — as well as his wife, Shannon, and their twin daughters. He received an ovation as he was driven around the field on a golf cart and then joined his teammates for a round of hugs. He threw the ceremonial first pitch and was presented with a souvenir bat from the Baseball Hall of Fame, a painting of the Montreal skyline and a base with the number 808 on it, representing his stolen base total.
Raines will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., this summer.
“It’s not easy to get in there but he deserves it,” said Reardon. “He was a great player on a great team. I thought we should have won a World Series or two. I didn’t realize how far the attendance went down (in the late 1990s) because I can remember we’d have 12,000 at a game when I was with the Mets and when I got here, we had 43,000.”
It was a busy few days for Raines. He attended a gathering to pump up support for a major league team at the Sheraton Hotel Thursday and dropped the puck prior to the Canadiens-Panthers game Thursday. On Friday morning, Mayor Denis Coderre presented Raines with the key to the city, an honour previously accorded to actors Al Pacino and William Shatner.