*This was originally written back in 2010… so forgive me if the writing isn’t as witty as you have come to expect from the Oracle.

 

Long considered the best leadoff man in the National League during his career, Tim Raines had the misfortune of being the second best leadoff hitter in the game when he played. Mind you, there is no reason to hang one's head when you are No. 2 behind the man widely considered to be the best ever to fill the roll in Rickey Henderson, but clearly Raines falls behind Henderson in almost every way you can possible think of. Here are each man’s career bests in the 5x5 categories.

 


Raines: .334-18-68-133-90
Henderson:.325-28-74-146-130

 

Mind you the numbers are pretty close, but when we move to the realm of their career totals, the gap does widen.

Raines: .294-170-980-1,571-808
Henderson: .279-297-1,115-2,295-1,406

By the way, Henderson scored more runs and stole more bases than any man who ever lived.

Still, like I said at the start, the decision to vote for Raines shouldn’t be about Raines vs. Henderson, it should be about how Raines staked up against the competition. In this respect, he did very well.

Raines was named to seven straight All-Star teams (1981-87).

Raines finished in the top 10 in AVG four times (led league at .334 in 1986).

Raines was top 10 in runs scored eight times (led league twice – 1983, 1987).


Raines led the NL in steals four straight years (1981-84). He also finished in the top 10 seven other times.

Raines finished in the top 10 in hits six times.

Raines finished in the top 10 in triples nine times.

Raines finished in the top 10 in OBP seven times (led league in 1986 at .413).

Raines finished in the top 10 in OPS four times.

 

Obviously, Raines was one of the most effective players in the game for the majority of a decade as he enjoyed some tremendous success with the Expos. All told, that success led to some marks that clearly place him amongst the all-time greats that the game has ever seen.

Raines scored 1,571 runs, the 54th-best total ever.
Raines produced 2,605 hits, the 79th-best total ever.
Raines stole 808 bases, the fifth-best total ever.
Rained produced 69.1 WAR, 71st amongst all position players (Baseball Reference).

 

Yes, Mr. Raines was one hell of a player.

So why has he failed to break even 25 percent in the HOF vote in his first two go rounds in the voting process (Raines received 55.0 percent of the vote last season)? My guess is that Raines fails in the most basic of comparisons – he simply wasn’t the best at what he did during his career, failing to live up to the impossibly high standards of Henderson. Is that fair? Certainly not. There are a plethora of players enshrined in the Hall who may not have been “the best” when they were playing, just think of the comparison of Yankee teammates Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. Should Gehrig have been denied admittance to the Hall since he wasn’t even the best player on his team? Of course not.

In the end, I have no idea why Raines has gotten such little respect for what he accomplished as he was clearly the best leadoff man in the National League in the 1980’s. It might take a while for Raines to get his due but I certainly hold out hope that one of these years he will be recognized for what he was, and that was one of the best players ever to hit atop of a major league lineup.