Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak of an upcoming ballot. This is not a matter for the Minister of Democratic Institutions. I am speaking about the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot. Though it may seem unusual to speak about baseball in this frigid week in Ottawa, a player is on the ballot in his final year of eligibility and is worthy of our support: Tim Raines.
Raines was one of the finest baseball players of the 1980s. He was the National League batting champion in 1986. For five years he was measured as the most valuable player in the National League and had an impressive on-base percentage, on par with Tony Gwynn, who is a hall of famer. Raines was one of the greatest leadoff hitters of all time and is fifth in stolen bases. Why is he not in the hall of fame already? The only knock against Raines is that he played his best years for the Montreal Expos.
As an ESPN columnist pointed out, when one googles the phrase “Tim Raines shouldn't be in the hall of fame”, it produces zero results.
I call upon the voters, the members of the Baseball Writers' Association, to right this wrong and vote Tim Raines into the hall of fame.