Jul 27, 2014; Cooperstown, NY, USA; Plaques all installed in the museum for viewing after the class of 2014 national baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony at National Baseball Hall of Fame. Mandatory Credit: Gregory J. Fisher-USA TODAY Sports
Former Chicago White Sox Tim Raines fell short of being enshrined into the National Baseball Hall of Fame for the Class of 2015.
Raines received 55 percent of the vote, as inductees need at least 75 percent of the vote to become inducted into the Hall. He moved up nine percent on the ballot this vote.
The former White Sox finished seventh on the ballot with 302 votes. This was his eighth year on the ballot.
For the first time in 60 years, four players were elected to the Hall on Tuesday, in pitchers Randy Johnson, John Smoltz and Pedro Martinez and second baseman/outfielder Craig Biggio.
Raines played from 1991-95 with the White Sox but played a majority of his career with the Montreal Expos from 1979-90 and ’01. He also played for the New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, Baltimore Orioles and Florida Marlins.
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In his five seasons with the White Sox (648 games) Raines batted .283 with a .375 on-base percentage and .407 slugging percentage. The leftfielder combined for 277 RBIs, 50 home runs and 440 runs in his tenure with the White Sox.
My thoughts on Raines is he’ll have a better chance of becoming a Hall of Famer in 2016, as the pool of “locks” will be down compared to the past couple seasons. I believe all that Raines did his entire career was good enough to eventually be enshrined and selected to the Hall.
Maybe Raines will continue to improve on the ballot next season or possibly earn induction. Raines’ numbers speak for themselves, and hopefully one day he’ll earn a spot in the Hall, where I believe he belongs.
Raines will continue to be on the ballot as long as he receives 5 percent of the vote each year, as players get a total of 10 years on the ballot, leaving two more chances for Raines. The previous rule was players had 15 years on the ballot with 5 percent of the vote.
Here is a review of the new rule from an article by Buster Olney on his ESPN Insider column in July:
"Under the terms of the new rules, players will now appear on the Hall of Fame ballot for 10 years, rather than 15, a switch that also accelerates the time frame in which the issue of past PED use can marinate in the minds of voters."
As we look to next year’s ballot, the only lock is Ken Griffey Jr., who played a couple months with the White Sox in 2008.
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In one of his best seasons, Raines had a .306 average in 115 games in 1993.
The last player for the White Sox to be enshrined into the National Baseball Hall of Fame was Frank Thomas last year.
Jermaine Dye received zero percent of the Hall of Fame vote. Dye was a member of the 2005 World Series champion White Sox team and was the World Series MVP in ’05. Another former White Sox, Sammy Sosa (who had a majority of his success with the Chicago Cubs), received 36 votes (6.6 percent of the vote).
Seven players on the ballot received no votes.