Tim Raines days

It’s Tim Raines days until Opening Day.

 

In the bottom of the first inning of a May 2, 1981 game against the Dodgers, Tim Raines, as he often did, slapped the ball to center for a single. Then Raines, as he often did, stole second. The batter walked and joined Raines on the bases. With the next batter up, Raines took off for third. Mike Scioscia (yes, that Mike Scioscia) fired the ball to third and Raines was tagged out. That was unusual. That was the first time Raines was thrown out stealing a base. He started his career with 27 straight successful base thefts, which is a record.

Tim Raines was good at not getting caught. He once held the record for bases stolen in a row without being caught (40), since broken by Ichiro (45). He has the highest career stolen base percentage (84.7%) of any player who has 300 or more career stolen bases -- and Raines had 808, fourth all-time.

He lead the league in steals four years in a row. His lowest total of the four years was 71 bases, and that was in 88 games in the strike-shortened 1981 season. He stole 70 or more in six consecutive years.

Raines is one of 23 players ever to finish his career with over 1,500 runs and 100 triples.