Category: Hall of Fame

Roberto Clemente: Hall of Fame Player, Great Person

On New Year’s Eve 1972, the world lost a Hall of Fame baseball player and a great humanitarian.  Thirty-eight-year-old Roberto Clemente, revered as a national hero in Puerto Rico, was leading a relief aid team flying supplies to earthquake-ravaged Nicaragua when the small aircraft exploded and crashed into the ocean shortly after takeoff.  

Clemente’s untimely death occurred just a few months after he recorded his 3,000th career hit and prompted a special election that made the Pittsburgh Pirates great baseball’s first Hispanic Hall of Famer.  At the time, Clemente was just the 11th man in baseball history to achieve 3,000 hits and his lifetime batting average of .317 was the highest among active players.

Clemente used a unique inside-out swing to produce four batting titles, a 1966 National League MVP, and 15 All-Star invitations.  Quick, powerful — almost Hank Aaron-like — wrists allowed Clemente to stand away from the plate and drive the ball with ferocity to all fields.  He also lead t
he Pirates to World Series Championships in 1960 and 1971, when he was named the Series MVP.

He got the most from his 5’-11”, 180-pound frame offensively and defensively.  Most baseball experts and historians still regard Clemente as the best right fielder in baseball history.  He patrolled Pittsburgh’s spacious Forbes Field for most of his career with speed and grace, earning 12 Gold Gloves and comparisons to Willie Mays as a defensive player.  A strong and remarkably accurate arm kept base runners at bay.

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Clemente was recruited by relief organizations to organize relief efforts from Puerto Rico.  He not only organized the efforts, but played a large role in gathering the goods and loading the plane.  He was on aboard the plane because many people thought the relief supplies were falling in the hands of profiteers.  Clemente wanted to ensure that people in need were receiving the goods.  The plane carrying a crew of three and Clemente crashed in heavy seas just under two miles from shore.

Clemente’s professional career started on the West Coast and if the Brooklyn Dodgers weren’t so careless, history may have been different.  The Dodgers originally signed Clemente out of high school with a deal that included a $10,000 bonus.  In 1954, his first season as a professional baseball player, Clemente played for the Dodgers’ minor league affiliate in Montreal.

Per rule of professional baseball at the time, all players signed for more than $4,000 had to be placed on the major league roster after one year of minor league service.  Any player not added to the roster could be signed by any other club for $4,000.  Instead of adding him to the roster, the Dodgers tried to hide Clemente in Montreal by not playing him.  Obviously, a player of Clemente’s talent could not be hidden.  He was scooped up by the Pirates for $4,000, making him one of the best bargains in baseball history.

In 1955, Topps issued the first Roberto Clemente baseball card. The colorful horizontal cards featuring portrait and action photos along with the team logo in the upper right-hand corner are considered one of the best-looking  sets ever produced.  Kudos to Topps for producing a card of a top prospect with no major league experience — a rarity in those days.  The final card featuring Clemente as a player, was featured in the colorful 1972 Topps set.

The Joy Of Collecting 1970s Hostess Baseball Cards

Drab, ordinary, jurassic are terms that come to mind when describing the Hostess Baseball Cards of the the mid-late ‘70s.  The sets were nothing more than marketing ploys to sell more Twinkies, HoHos, Suzy-Q’s and King Dons (Ding Dons if you lived on the West Coast).  Big on errors and small on creativity, the Hostess  sets featured  the game’s biggest stars with simple head shots displayed against uninspired spring training backdrops and white borders.   

Yes, the Hostess sets were dull, almost cheerless, but just about every 40-something to 50-something baseball fan/collector (like the guy I see in the mirror every morning) has fond memories of Hostess’s lame attempt at manufacturing baseball cards.  After all, this is the set that we assembled piece by piece while Mom rummaged through the produce isle at the local grocery store.  This is also the set that got us hooked on The Sporting News, which played a huge role in the development of our baseball fandom.

Back in the day, Topps dominated the baseball card hobby.  If the single Topps set — there were no premium, platinum or chrome releases — didn’t satisfy your collecting needs, the Hostess sets produced from 1975-1979 gave you another option.  Dealers and collectors couldn’t buy Hostess cards directly from the company.  Everyone they had to work and spend to complete these sets.

Beginning in 1975 Hostess cards were produced in three-card panels on  the back of each multi-pack Hostess box.  The best part of this new wave of collecting was seeing what you  were buying, which encouraged set building.  Hostess panels — complete with an offer for a free issue of The Sporting News — kept in tact are more valuable and coveted today that cards cut from the box.  Some cards were printed on not-so-tasty products and are more difficult to find today.  Cards printed on the back of the smaller HoHos multi-pack boxes are often creased at the corners from haozzi_smith_hostess-panelndling.

Proofreading, editing and reading the  daily box scores were not priorities for Hostess baseball card editors.  The initial set was loaded with mistakes.  Slugger Bill Madlock was listed as a pitcher, Rangers catcher Jim Sandberg was named Mike and outfielder George Hendrick became George Hendricks.  Robin Yount, a teenage phenom at the time, is one  of the more popular players in the set.  Unfortunately, Hostess did not include a rookie card of future Hall of Famer George Brett.

Despite the quality-control issues, the debut Hostess set remains popular today with over 3,000 listings, including a handful of graded panels, currently on eBay.  The 1975 panel set is worth  as much as $400 depending on the  condition.  The value of single card sets vary widely because of stain issues — creamy cake fillings sometimes seeped through the packages — and cards being miscut.

Celebratingyaz_hostess the  nation’s bicentennial, the Hostess 1976 set includes red, white and blue stripes surrounding the  player’s name, team and position.  Collectors familiar with the 1976 Topps set will recognize some of the same photos in the Hostess series.  The set is loaded with stars, including Brett, Nolan Ryan, Pete Rose, a Dennis Eckersley rookie and one of Hank Aaron’s final cards.

The 1977 Hostess set includes Hall-of-Famers-to-be Joe Morgan, Reggie Jackson, Carl Yastrzemski, Thurman Munson and Johnny Bench.  By this time, collectors learned to save the cards as complete panels.  The complete panel sets are valued as much as $300 with the single set selling for nearly three times as much due to scarcity.

Although Eddie Murray was considered just another player at the time, his rookie card in the 1978 Hostess sets remains highly coveted.  For the first time, a few action shots were used to liven up the product.  Unfortunately the cost of producing baseball cards out-weighed the marketing advantages.  As a result, the 1979 edition was the final Hostess set.  Hostess went out with a bang, featuring an Ozzie Smith rookie card on  the same panel as Nolan Ryan as well as Willie Montanez.

 

Curt Schilling Belongs In The Hall of Fame

Curt Schilling loves to share  his feelings about everything.  He talks and talks and talks and I’m not sure he always knows what he’s talking about, but he keeps talking.  He has alienated journalists in general and baseball writers specifically — the people responsible for his Hall of Fame fate.  I will never understand why he thinks people care about his views on politics, gender issues or anything else, but he keeps talking.

What I do understand is Curt Schilling was one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history and belongs in the Baseball Hall of Fame.  His social media rants have grown tiresome, but should not block his path to Cooperstown.  He was never suspended, never linked to drugs, gaschillinrcmbling, or anything else harmful to the game.  Not being able to control himself on social media should not keep him out of the Hall of Fame.

Naysayers claim Schilling’s 216 career wins don’t pass muster.  But wins are not the sole measure of a pitcher’s value.  (The Brian Kennys of the world will tell you that wins are no measure of a pitcher’s value, but that’s a topic for another day.)  Schilling proved to be dominant in most essential categories, ranking 15th all-time in strikeouts.  More important in today’s advanced metrics thinking, Schilling ranked third in strikeout-to-walk ratio all-time and 26th in career pitching WAR, tied with first ballot HOFers Bob Gibson and Steve Carlton.  By not giving away bases or  allowing hitters to make consistent contact, Schilling put his teams in position to win as much or more than baseball’s all-time greats.

Doubters are also quick to point out the Cy Young Award missing from the mantle in the Schilling household.  Schilling spent his best years in the shadows of teammates Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez, but he was one of the best and arguably most dominating pitchers of his era, striking out three hundred batters in consecutive seasons (1997 and 1998 with the Phillies).

Schilling was also one of the best money pitchers in baseball history, leading three teams to World Series titles and winning some of the most memorable games in postseason history.  He finished with a 2.23 postseason ERA en route to an 11-2 record when the games counted most — yes, wins mean  everything in October.  Schilling’s playoff heroics started in 1993, when he earned MVP honors in the National League Championship series by throwing a 147-pitch shutout, forcing a Game 6 in Toronto (when Joe Carter hit his memorable World Series walk-off homer).

Schilling was overpowering in the 2001 World Series, giving up just two runs in seven innings before Randy Johnson sealed the deal in the final two innings to end Yankees mini dynasty.  Three years later, he held off the Yankees — bloody sock and all — in Game 6 of the American League Championship, leading the Red Sox to their first World Series title in 86  years. He closed out his career with another ring with the Red Sox in 2007.

It’s unfortunate that Schilling’s political and social rants cost him his job with ESPN.  He was thoughtful and insightful as a color commentator when he stayed on script on the network’s Sunday night showcase. I’ve  heard more than enough of Schilling’s political views and will never vote for him for political office (he has threatened to run for senate), but he gets my Hall of Fame vote.

Schilling’s Topps 2005 World Series Game Worn Jersey card is a favorite among Red Sox fans.You can fine Schilling sporting his Baltimore Orioles uniform in his 1989 Donruss Rookie — a drab looking set with black and purple borders.

Tim Raines’s Last Chance For the Hall of Fame

There are two outs in the bottom of the ninth with the side of righteousness trailing by a run.  The Baseball Writers Association of America has one more chance to right one of the biggest wrongs in the Hall of Fame by electing Tim Raines.

Raines has steadily gained support, but is in his 10th and final year of eligibility. In his first five years on the ballot, the former Expos great, was nominated by 22-49% of the voters, with 75% needed for election.  Last year he jumped from 55% to 69.8%.  This year Raines is looking to become just the fourth  player to be elected in his final year of eligibility, joining Red Ruffing (1967), Joe Medwick (1968), Ralph Kiner (1975), and Jim Rice (2009).

Placed in a historical context, Raines’s resume is HOF worthy.  He was one of the game’s great leadoff hitters, top base stealers, and — believe it or not — an extra-base-hitting-machine during his 23-year major league career.  Raines was often lost in the shadow cast by Rickey Henderson, arguably the greatest leadoff hitter ever. But digging deeper into the numbers, Raines was every bit the player as Henderson and even rivaled the great Ty Cobb, arguably the best hitter in baseball history.

We all know Raines was one of the game’s great base stealers, but his consistency on the base paths was unparalleled.  He ranks fifth on the career stolen base list with 808 and is the career leader in stolen base percentage (84.7) among players with 400 attempts. Raines is the only player in baseball history to steal at least 70 bases in seven consecutive  seasons (1981-1986).  He stole 40 consecutive bases between July 1993 – August 1995, a major league record later broken by Ichiro Suzuki with 45 consecutive swipes.

Like Cobb, Raines will never be considered a home run hitter, but the former speedy outfielder combined extra base hits with stolen bases at an historic rate.  He was the only player in baseball
history with at least 100, triples, 150 homers and 600 stolen bases.  Raines finished his career with 113 triples and 170 homers.

Raines finished with 2,605 career hits — well below the imaginary 3,000-hit Hall of Fame threshold. But looking deeper, only nine of the 27 players with 3,000 hits can match Raines’s .385 career on-base percentage.  Raines reached base more times than three HOFers with 3,000 hits: Tony Gwynn, Lou Brock, and Roberto Clemente as well as the ageless and  still playing Ichiro.

Need more convincing?  Raines was the only player ever with four seasons of 50-plus extra base hits and 70-plus stolen bases.  Henderson and Cobb combined for four such seasons; every other HOFer combined for an additional four.

Raines is seldom mentioned with the all-time greats such as Cobb, but he should be and the evidence is in the numbers:  He is the only player in MLB history with five consecutive seasons with at least 30 doubles and 70 stolen bases, which he did from 1982-1986.  Before 1982, the last player to record 30 doubles
and 70 stolen bases in a season was Cobb in 1915.

For more head-spinning stats, be sure to check out the Ace of MLB Stats Twitter account.  Its creator, Ryan Spaeder, seems to be on a personal crusade to get Raines into the Hall of Fame.  Raines did the work and Spaeder has aligned the numbers in convincing fashion.

Just under 70 percent of the HOF electorate voted for Raines last January.  He’s on course to receive the 75 percent of the vote needed for enshrinement this year. Raines is looking to become the third player to go into the Hall of Fame as a Montreal Expo, joining Gary Carter and Andre Dawson.  Raines won two World Series rings (1996 and 1998) in New York as a role player with the Yankees.  Here’s hoping one of baseball’s great injustices is rectified.

The Raines Topps rookie card is one of the top rookies from the 1981 series.  Issued just before the mass-produced sets of the ‘80s, the Expos “Future Prospect” card also includes Roberto Ramos and Bobby Pate, two “future stars” that never panned out.  Be careful if you’re buying:  The “Future Prospect” cards are notorious for having gum-stained backs.  

Celebrating Nolan Ryan Trade To Angels & 1972 Topps Baseball

On December 10, 1971. one of the worst trades in baseball history was made, prompting one of the most hideous-looking baseball cards ever to be produced.  

On that day, the New York Mets sent 24-year-old fireballer Nolan Ryan along with three prospects to the the California Angels for shortstop Jim Fregosi.  In hindsight, the deal was a disaster for the Mets, but the deal made sense for both clubs at the  time.  

The Angels obtained one of the liveliest — not to mention most erratic — young arms in baseball.  Ryan posted a 29-38 record with an impressive 493 strikeouts, but an alarming 344 walks over five seasons with the Mets.  

The Mets were adding an established big leaguer believed to be in the prime of his career.  Manager Gil Hodges immediately moved  Fregosi  to third base, where 45 players had come and gone in the Mets’ 10 years of existence.  The last of the original Angels of 1961, Fregosi battled numerous physical problems in his one season with the Angels, including a bad bout with the flu, a sore arm, a strained side muscle, and a tumor in his foot.  The six-time All-Star batted just .232 with five homers, and 32 RBI in 101 games for the Mets.

Ryan moved on to a Hall of Fame career that included a major league record seven no hitters, 61 shutouts (seventh all-time), 324 wins, and became all-time strikeout leader with 5,714.  This is just one of many trades of a big-armed, but erratic young pitcher dealt for a proven veteran.  Unfortunately for the Mets it will be remembered as one of the most lopsided deals in baseball history.

In the early ‘70s baseball card sets went to press in late-December or early-January to be ready for distribution by the start of the baseball season.  As a result, Ryan’s head shot for the 1972 Topps set was taken while he played for the New York Mets.  The wrong Angels logo (they went to a capital A in 1972) was poorly airbrushed over Ryan’s Mets cap.  For some unknown reason, the Topps production team failed to airbrush the pinstripes clearly visible from his Mets jersey.

To make matters worse, Ryan’s doctored image was printed inside the grotesque 1972 Topps tombstone design.  Keeping up with the times and looking to change the drab designs of 1970 (gray borders) and 1971 (black borders), the 1972 Topps design features a bright, almost psychedelic color scheme.   

One of the most controversial baseball card sets, the 1972 Topps series draws the ire of  long-time collectors for emphasizing the product and team rather than the player. The team name above the player image is energized with bright, bold lettering that creates a three-dimensional look.  The player name, however, is printed in a simple black font at the bottom of the card.  Going against tradition, there is no mention of the player’s position.

The 1972 Topps set is not without merit.  The series includes the rookie card of Hall of Fame Catcher Carlton Fisk, which he shares with Cecil Cooper (the featured player), and Mike Garman.  The series also features the last regular card issued during Roberto Clemente in addition to late cards of Hall of Famers Willie Mays and Hank Aaron.  Other featured Hall of Famers include Reggie Jackson, Tom Seaver, Steve Carlton, Joe Morgan, Frank Robinson, and Fergie Jenkins.

Happy Birthday To The Great Satchel Paige

Baseball legend Satchel Paige was born on this day in 1906. Forty-five years ago this month, Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn announced that former Negro League players will have a separate wing in the Hall of Fame. Not surprisingly, Kuhn’s separate, but equal Hall of Fame policy did not set well with the American public, particularly baseball players from the pre-segregation era.

Paige and Ted Williams were among the most vocal former players. Paige was famously quoted: “I was just as good as the white boys. I ain’t going in the back door of the Hall of Fame.”

Williams, in his 1966 HOF acceptance speech, urged Major League Baseball and the Hall to open the doors to Negro League stars, referencing Paige, Willie Mays and Josh Gibson among others.

On July 6, 1971 — five months after Kuhn’s backward-thinking-policy was announced — MLB and the HOF succumbed to public pressure and opened the doors to Paige with full HOF membership, which cleared the way other Negro League stars in the years to follow.

Paige’s 2004 Leaf Certified Materials Game Used Jersey cards are some of the most overlooked memorabilia cards ever produced.  He spent 22 seasons dominating the Negro Leagues and six years in the majors before being enshrined in the Hall of Fame in 1971. There were several versions of Paige’s first memorabilia cards issued in Leaf Certified’s “Mirror Materials” parallel set and the tiered “Fabric of the Game” insert set — all limited to a production run of 100 and selling for over $100.

Paige threw a remarkable 55 no-hitters during his Negro League career, becoming the league’s most popular and recognizable player, not to mention its largest gate attraction. He joined the major leagues in 1948, helping the Cleveland Indians win the World Series as a “rookie.”

In 1965, at the age of 59, nearly 12 years since he last pitched in the majors, Paige pitched one game for the Kansas City A’s, pitching three shutout innings. Three years later, he was a coach for the Atlanta Braves, where he wore the jersey Donruss officials used to incorporate into 2004 Leaf Certified Materials.

Known for longevity and age as a major leaguer, Paige was a Negro League legend in his younger days. At a time when African-Americans were barred from the majors, Paige drew huge crowds of black and white baseball fans. He led the Pittsburgh Crawfords to top billing in the Negro Leagues as a fireballer in the early ’30s and did the same for the Kansas City Monarchs in the early ’40s as finesse pitcher.

Barred from the majors, Paige was often tempted to jump from team to team to earn a decent wage. In 1937, he joined a large group of Negro Leaguers traveling to the Dominican Republic to play for a team owned by Dominican president Rafael L. Trujillo. The following season, Paige hurt his arm pitching in the Mexican League, but quickly transformed from a “thrower“ to a “pitcher.” He returned to the states using guile and control in leading the Monarchs to four consecutive pennants before entering the majors.

The first of just a few Paige baseball cards was issued by Topps in 1953 (#220). A headshot captured the 47-year-old reliever in his St. Louis Browns uniform. Unfortunately, the Topps spelling of “Satchell” was incorrect and never corrected. The card was issued following a 12-10 season with a 3.07 ERA. Paige’s ’53 Topps card is selling for $350 online in decent condition.

Red Sox Retire Wade Boggs’ No. 26

Wade Boggs is getting his due. Sixteen years after retiring from baseball, Boggs will have his number 26 placed on the Fenway Park right field facade, alongside the numbers of eight other Red Sox greats and baseball legend Jackie Robinson. The delay likely had something to do with Wade Boggs jumping ship and winning aWorld Series with the Yankees.

The Hall of Fame third baseman was one of the best hitters to ever wear a Red Sox uniform. His .338 Red Sox batting average is second to only Ted Williams. He won five batting titles and six Silver Slugger awards to go along with seven consecutive seasons with 200 or more hits during his 11 years with the Red Sox. His great eye at the plate combined with high batting averages produced remarkable peak seasons. From 1983-1989, Boggs hit .352 with a .446 on-base percentage, leading the AL in OBP in six of those seven years.

A model of consistency at the plate, Boggs produced a slashline of .328/.415/.413 with 3,010 hits in 18 big league seasons. A poor fielder his rookie season, Boggs worked to become one of the game’s better fielding third basemen, earning two Gold Glove Awards. Boggs also made 12 All-Star Game appearances.

Boggs is a key player in the popular 1983 Topps Baseball Card Set. Considered by many collectors to be the top series of the ‘80s, the ‘83 Topps set includes rookie cards of Boggs, Tony Gwynn and Ryne Sandberg as well as the second-year card of . The dual-photo format — an action or posed photo behind a small circular head shot in the lower righthand corner — has been a fan favorite over the years. Borrowed from the 1963 Topps series, the format allowed Topps to feature a wide-array of action photos without neglecting the traditional head shot.

Midway through the 1982 season, Boggs took over third base from reigning AL batting champion Carney Lansford, who landed on the disabled list with an injured ankle. Lansford never regained his job and was eventually traded to the Oakland A’s. Boggs made him expendable by hitting .349 for the season.

After quickly establishing himself as one of baseball’s premier hitters, Boggs — like Gwynn — was somehow excluded from the 1982 Topps Traded Set. Following a brilliant rookie campaign, Boggs was featured prominently in the 1983 Topps, Fleer and Donruss rookie checklists. Boggs’ elite status continued on the field as the second-year rising star lead the AL with a .361 batting average.

Relative newcomers to the world of baseball card collecting in 1983, Fleer and Donruss played second fiddle to Topps in production, marketing and distribution of their baseball card sets. As a result, Boggs’ rather drab-looking Fleer and Donruss rookie cards were not received with the same fanfare as the first-year Topps issue. Decent versions of the Fleer and Donruss rookies are available for $3-$5.

Because Boggs never hit for much power, except for that one season in 1987 — when many observers suspected baseballs had a little extra “bounce” — his rookie cards may have never reached their full potential. Traditionally, the rookie cards of sluggers are more sought after than the rookies of high-average hitters. Gwynn rookie cards may be slightly undervalued for the same reason. Never known for power, Boggs hit 24 homers in 1987 — when home runs were hit at an unprecedented pace — but never collected more than 11 in any other season.

The 1983 Boggs Topps rookie currently sells for $8 in decent condition with highly-graded versions commanding as much as $50. Because of minor production flaws and gum-stained card backs, the highest-graded versions are extremely rare.

Hank Aaron: The Real Home Run King

On April 8, 1974, Hank Aaron smacked an Al Downing fastball over the leap of Dodgers left fielder Bill Buckner for his 715th home run at Atlanta Stadium, breaking the record held by Babe Ruth for over 50 years. The night of April 8, 1974 still hails as one of the most iconic moments in baseball history. The celebration of Aaron’s accomplishment combined with new-found appreciation for home run hitters from a previous, untainted era has increased interest in Aaron baseball cards.

The 1954 Topps Aaron rookie pictures a raw teenager on the verge of greatness. The card design sports two pictures, a large headshot and a small in-action shot in the lower left-hand corner. Hard to find in mint condition due to wear, dullness, blurry lettering and off-centered photos, near-mint PSA-7 versions sell in the $2,400 range.

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The slender 180-lb. outfielder would go on to hit an unblemished 755 home runs over his 23-year career. A right-handed hitter with remarkably powerful wrists and a smoothly crafted swing, Aaron was recognized for home runs, but his legacy included 3,771 hits (third all-time), 2,174 runs (tied for second), 2,297 RBI (first), and a career .305 average. Aaron also displayed outstanding speed and one of the better right-field arms of his time.

Topps, a chewing gum producer new to the trading card business, made a wide array of printing and production gaffes while Aaron was emerging as the game’s top slugger. After just a few years of producing baseball cards, Topps had yet to establish much of a photo library, so pictures were often recycled during the ’50s. The same Aaron head shot was used from 1954-1956.

The 1956 card (#31) also includes an action shot in the lower right-hand corner picturing Willie Mays sliding into home plate wearing a Braves uniform. A Topps artist painted the uniform. The actual photo of Mays appeared in a baseball card publication a year earlier. Near-Mint PSA versions of this hard-to-find relic accidentally picturing two of baseball’s greatest players sells in excess of $2,700.

Topps made an even bigger blunder on Aaron’s card the following year. The production staff accidentally reversed the negative on the 1957 card (#20), which displays baseball’s most prolific right-handed hitter batting left-handed. The card that has no-doubt triggered decades of bar room arguments sells for $100 in excellent condition.

The 1958 Topps “Baseball Thrills” card, picturing Aaron’s classic home run swing, celebrates Aaron’s Game 4 homer that helped propel the Braves over the Yankees to win the 1957 World Series. This Topps set is notorious for being mis-cut and off center. The rare gem is worth up to $125.

The ultra conservative Topps Co. rolled the dice in 1974 by printing “New All-Time Home Run King” on Aaron’s 1974 Topps card (#1) despite Aaron entering the ’74 season one home run shy of tying Ruth’s career mark. Fortunately for Topps, Aaron kept the suspense to a minimum, hitting a homerun on Opening Day. The ’74 Topps card became officially accurate a few days later when Aaron broke the record on a nationally televised Monday Night Baseball game with a homer against the Dodgers.

Aaron has gained popularity with today’s collectors, as baseball card manufacturers continue to combine baseball history with modern day memorabilia cards. His 2014 Topps Tribute “Game-Used Bat” card is a great find for $40.

Tim Raines Belongs in the Hall of Fame

Great to see Tim Raines — one of my all-time favorite non-Red Sox players — throw out the first pitch in tonight’s Red Sox – Blue Jays exhibition game in Montreal.

What’s not to like about Tim Raines? He was one of the game’s great leadoff hitters, top base stealers, and — believe it or not — an extra-base-hitting-machine during his 23-year major league career. Lost in the shadow of Rickey Henderson — though I’m not sure why — Raines has yet to garner enough Hall of Fame votes. But digging deeper into the numbers, Raines was every bit the player as Henderson and even rivaled the great Ty Cobb, arguably the best hitter in baseball history.

We all knowRaines Raines was one of the game’s great base stealers, but his consistency on the base paths was unparalleled. The career leader in stolen base percentage (84.7) among players with 400 attempts, Raines is the only player in baseball history to steal at least 70 bases in seven consecutive seasons (1981-1986). He stole 40 consecutive bases between July 1993 – August 1995, a major league record later broken by Ichiro Suzuki with 45 consecutive swipes.

Like Cobb, Raines will never be considered a home run hitter, but the former Montreal Expos outfielder combined extra base hits with stolen bases at an historic rate. He was the only player in baseball history with at least 100, triples, 150 homers and 600 stolen bases. Raines finished his career with 113 triples, 170 homers, and 808 stolen bases.

Need more convincing? Raines was the only player ever with four seasons of 50-plus extra base hits and 70-plus stolen bases. Henderson and Cobb combined for four such seasons; every other HOFer combined for an additional four.

Raines is seldom mentioned with the all-time greats such as Cobb, but the evidence is in the numbers: Raines is the only player in MLB history with five consecutive seasons with at least 30 doubles and 70 stolen bases, which he did in five consecutive seasons from 1982-1986. Before 1982, the last player to record 30 doubles and 70 stolen bases in a season was Cobb in 1915.

For more head-spinning stats, be sure to check out the Ace of MLB Stats Twitter account. Its creator, Ryan Spaeder, seems to be on a personal crusade to get Raines into the Hall of Fame. Raines did the work and Spaeder has aligned the numbers in convincing fashion.

Just under 70 percent of the HOF electorate voted for Raines in January. He’s on course to receive the 75 percent of the vote needed for enshrinement next year. Here’s hoping one of baseball’s great injustices is rectified.

The Raines Topps rookie card is one of the top rookies from the 1981 series. Issued just before the mass-produced sets of the ‘80s, the Expos “Future Prospect” card also includes Roberto Ramos and Bobby Pate, two “future stars” that never panned out. Be careful if you’re buying: The “Future Prospect” cards are notorious for having gum-stained backs.