A card show trip recap - feat. Tim Raines

Went to a card show and it was sort of a blur with all the foot traffic and commerce going on - I nearly had an anxiety attack because the room was packed and it was getting stuffy, especially spending too much time at one table trying to conjure up the right combination of cheap-o cards making up the bulk my '3 for $1' and '6 for $1' finds.

I stumbled upon one last table with some boxes of various odds and ends [autos / relics / otherwise 'hit' cards] - maybe a couple of other collectors were going through the other [non-baseball] boxes and giving the seller cards they had flagged.

The seller was literally pricing cards out and telling them to come back in an hour [to presumably finish their purchase] - maybe I'd stop at a table, grab the cards I wanted and see about paying for them right there and then.

Though it may be standard operating procedure, I find the concept of stacking cards for later somewhat odd - maybe I need to actually get to know the seller first before having a relationship where I can pull cards to reserve them.

The seller was looking on dealing for a handful of cards from this one guy [$500-$600 range] and I don't even know if I would be interested in anything - I found a Tim Raines certified autograph for $20 sticker and while Raines isn't quite that popular Hall of Fame legend, it maybe a no brainer picking up a HOF auto on a acetate card printed to be a little more unique.

Besides finishing his big deal, the seller was looking briefly at other cards that some flippers were showing him - he also finished up another deal where he was looked up a card on eBay and charged another collector $3 for a random card pulled from one of the boxes.

When I finally showed the Raines to the seller, he might have looked at for a moment and asked $15 for it - I relented to dig out the required cash out of my wallet and pay up, being able to take this card home for less than a blaster.

2017 Hall of Fame inductees

Jeff Bagwell - regardless of the era Bagwell played in and the innuendo and actual drugs [Andro] he might have taken to be a dominant player or just to be able to play through a MLB season, Bagwell's election to the Hall of Fame validates his accomplishments as a major leaguer.

I still have the key cards from the 1991 Fleer Ultra Update boxed set I bought when it was first released - featuring a rookie card of Bagwell, a rookie card of pitching phenom Juan Guzman, a key second-year card of Juan Gonzalez, a Mike Mussina rookie card and a rookie card of 19-year old catcher who came up with the Texas Rangers and possessed a rocket arm.

Ivan Rodriguez - of course the rocket armed kid from the 1991 Fleer Ultra Update set was Pudge and while there was always novelty in his ability to throw out runners, it was when he started to mature with the bat, did he really emerge as an impact player.

Maybe Mike Piazza was the better catcher from the 1990s through the 2000s because of his gaudy hitting totals - but Rodriguez was a force behind the plate as a catcher and also when he stepped up to the plate.

Tim Raines - I picked this 1981 Topps multi-player rookie card up for about $0.23 at a card show last year and with news he is going to Cooperstown, I'm glad to have it now.

It seems like a lot has changed with the number crunchers since the last time I mentioned Raines - the re-evaluation of his numbers pushed him into the Hall in his last year of eligibility.

Featured autograph - Tim Raines

Tim Raines - I got this autograph in-person as he signed a couple of cards for me as a Chicago White Sox coach back in 2005.

I don't think he is getting into the Hall of Fame anytime within the next few years but he's getting more support from the numbers guys and for Raines - it means he is getting another opportunity for baseball pundits to evaluate his playing career in a positive light and expose the similarities between his contemporaries [already in the Hall of Fame] like Rickey Henderson and to a certain extent, Tony Gwynn.

Considering the Hall candidates - Tim Raines

Tim Raines

Pro - he might have been the best lead-off hitter of his generation, if Rickey Henderson wasn't running away with all the headlines.

On the basepaths, Raines stole 808 bases in his career, including six seasons of 70 or more steals - he also scored 1571 runs. 

At the plate, Raines got on-base via the walk 1330 times and collected 2605 hits - he was in the Top 10 in on-base percentage seven times during the 1980s and his lifetime on-base percentage was .385. 

Raines won the 1986 batting title with a .334 mark - his career batting average was .294.

An apparent cocaine addiction didn't stop Raines as his career peaked in the mid 1980s - through the decade, he was a seven-time All-Star and was the 1987 All-Star MVP. 

Con - Raines was an exciting player, but was overshadowed by Henderson, particularly when Raines was playing in Montreal. 

Oakland wasn't Montreal and more importantly, that time around the early 1980s - the A's had gained some notoriety with "Billy Ball," with Henderson to focal point of an upstart team in the Bay Area.

Raines played on World Series championship teams with the New York Yankees in 1996 and 1998 but in comparison to Henderson, who won the 1989 ALCS MVP - Raines was never the lone dominant player in one postseason series.

Yes/No - I'd lean towards 'no.'

Would it be a reasonable thought that hanging around for four or five more seasons until he was 42 hurt his Hall of Fame chances just a little bit - Raines was a pretty good player for a long time, but his star seemed to shine the most in the 1980s and by the mid 1990s, had faded into relative baseball obscurity as a part-time bench player.