ANALYSIS
Leadoff Hitters
Tim Raines performed above the level of Hall of Famers, and at a similar level to Hall-worthy players. Take a big part of Rickey Henderson and Pete Rose, add a good size part of Lou Brock, Paul Molitor, and Craig Biggio, and stir in some Ichiro Suzuki, Wade Boggs, Joe Morgan, Derek Jeter, and Barry Bonds, and you get a composite that is a shade inferior to Tim Raines. If you have a group of players worthy of the Hall, and an individual player compares very favorably to that group, you have a Hall-worthy player by definition. That is what Tim Raines is: the definition of a Hall of Famer.
#3 Hitters
Raines, compared to the non-Power Hitters, scored 27 more runs, and drove in 18 less runs. Compared to the Power Hitters, Raines scored 19 more, and drove in 33 fewer runs. Based on Runs and RBIs, Tim Raines is clearly between the two groups. He's above the group led by Clemente, Puckett, and Gwynn, while being below the more "traditional" #3 hitters. Being smack in the middle of #3 Hall of Fame hitters makes you, well, a great hitter.
Contemporary Hall of Famers
The difference between comparing to groups, as opposed to one-on-one, is that we are no longer fascinated by milestones like 3000 hits, or .300 batting average. Immortality is not about achieving some arbitrary rounded-number milestone. This is especially true in this case, since baseball is not about getting hits, but about generating runs. It's runs that leads to wins, not hits. Hits is just one component of runs. Extra base hits, walks, and steals are the other main components. While individually, Raines is unlike his peers, overall, it's hard to distinguish them.
Courtesy of Andrea Lavoie
