Tim Raines
VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)
Combined Graph record U-07692 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-6820.
Timothy Raines Sr. (born September 16, 1959, in Sanford, Florida), nicknamed “Rock,” was an American baseball left fielder celebrated as one of the greatest leadoff hitters and most efficient base stealers in major league history. This record covers Raines Sr. only, not his son Tim Raines Jr. A fifth-round draft pick of the Montreal Expos in 1977, Raines became a regular in 1981, led the National League in stolen bases four straight seasons, won the 1986 NL batting title, and was selected to seven consecutive All-Star teams with Montreal. In December 1990 the Expos traded him to the Chicago White Sox, where, the National Baseball Hall of Fame notes, he scored 102 runs in both 1991 and 1992 and helped Chicago win the 1993 American League West title during five productive South Side seasons. He later won World Series titles with the New York Yankees in 1996 and 1998. According to the Hall of Fame (accessed 2026-11-03), Raines retired after 2002 with 2,605 hits, a .294 average and 808 stolen bases, succeeding on 84.7 percent of attempts — the best rate in history among players with at least 400 steals. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2017.
Answer summary · this record in brief, from its own record text
Timothy Raines Sr. (born September 16, 1959, in Sanford, Florida), nicknamed “Rock,” was an American baseball left fielder celebrated as one of the greatest leadoff hitters and most efficient base stealers in major league history. This record covers Raines Sr. only, not his son Tim Raines Jr.
The record
- Also known as: Timothy Raines Sr., Tim Raines Sr., Rock
Notes
Sports Encyclopedia roster CTL-SPE-0285. Identity note: Tim Raines Sr. only; Tim Raines Jr. is a separate person and is not covered by this record (a Commons photograph of Raines Jr. was rejected during photo research for exactly this reason). Curator's Judgment (DRAFT): Raines is CTL's case study in how analytics revised a reputation — the most efficient high-volume base stealer ever, elected only on his tenth and final ballot; his five White Sox seasons deserve telling as a second prime, not a decline. Career statistics in this record are attributed to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, accessed 2026-11-03. STAGED record — not merged into any live store.
Relationships
- Chicago White Sox — played for
National Baseball Hall of Fame lists Chicago White Sox (1991–1995) among Raines's teams and documents his Dec. 1990 trade to Chicago and five seasons there.
Sources
- National Baseball Hall of Fame. “Tim Raines Sr.” (Hall of Famers profile, Sanford taxonomy page). Accessed 2026-11-03. https://baseballhall.org/taxonomy/term/764 (primary source · build store)
- National Baseball Hall of Fame. “Raines begins career rebirth with White Sox.” Accessed 2026-11-03. https://baseballhall.org/discover/inside-pitch/trade-to-white-sox-launches-career-surge-for-raines (build store)
- Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. “Tim Raines.” Accessed 2026-11-03. https://baseballhalloffame.ca/hall-of-famer/tim-raines/ (build store)
- Baseball-Reference. “Tim Raines Sr.” BR Bullpen. Accessed 2026-11-03. https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Tim_Raines_Sr. (build store)
Photograph · rights-cleared record, CultureTechLens Photo Rights Log
Chicago White Sox outfielder Tim Raines, 1995
Chicago White Sox outfielder Tim Raines, 1995 — clare_and_ben, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Source: CultureTechLens · view at source
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Record CTL-E-6820 · Combined Graph record U-07692 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 4 sources · 1 mapped relationship.
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Researched and maintained by the CultureTechLens research program · CultureTechLens Combined Graph, Release 2026-11-04. Corrections are public: the corrections log.
Cite this record
Chicago: CultureTechLens. “Tim Raines (CTL-E-6820).” CultureTechLens Combined Graph. Chicago, IL: CultureTechLens, 2026. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-6820/
APA: CultureTechLens. (2026). Tim Raines (CTL-E-6820) [Entity record]. CultureTechLens Combined Graph. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-6820/
MLA: CultureTechLens. “Tim Raines (CTL-E-6820).” CultureTechLens Combined Graph, 2026, https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-6820/
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