Timothy Raines Sr. (born September 16, 1959)….who was nicknamed “Rock”…. is an American former professional baseball player…..who played as a left fielder in Major League Baseball for six different teams from 1979 to 2002….and was best known for his 13 seasons with the Montreal Expos…..as seen in this video herewith. He is regarded as one of the best lead-off hitters and base runners in baseball history. Raines is the 1986 NL batting champion….a seven-time All-Star….and four-time stolen base champion….who was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2017.
In a 23-year career, Raines played in 2,502 games….while accumulating 2,605 hits in 8,872 at bats for a .294 career batting average….along with 170 home runs….980 runs batted in….a .385 on-base percentage….and a .425 slugging percentage….who ended his career with a .987 fielding percentage. Raines stole at least 70 bases in each of his first six full seasons from 1981 to 1986….after leading the National League in stolen bases each season from 1981 to 1984…. with a career high of 90 steals in 1983. Tim Raines also led the National League in runs scored twice in 1983 and 1987….after batting over .300 in five full seasons….and over .320 from 1985 to 1987….while winning the 1986 National League batting title with a .334 average. He also had six full seasons with an on-base percentage above .390.
With 808 steals in his career….Tim Raines has the 4th highest total in major league history….behind Rickey Henderson, Lou Brock and Ty Cobb. Until 2008, his career stolen base percentage of 84.7% was the highest in major league history for players with 300 or more attempts….and he was successful on 40 consecutive steal attempts between July 1993 and August 1995….which set an American League record at the time (the record was broken by Ichiro Suzuki)….and in May 2007, when he completed 45 consecutive steals.
Among switch hitters, Raines ranks sixth in career hits (2,605)….fourth in runs (1,571), walks (1,330) and times on base (3,977)….while being fifth in plate appearances (10,359)….seventh in singles (1,892), doubles (430), total bases (3,771) and at bats (8,872)….eighth in triples (113)….and tenth in extra base hits (713). He holds Expos/Washington Nationals franchise records for career runs (947), steals (635), singles (1,163), triples (82) and walks (793)….and was the seventh player whose career began after 1945 to retire with over 1,500 runs and 100 triples. His 1,966 games in left field ranked seventh in major league history when he retired.
