Tim Raines fell short of the Hall of Fame again on Wednesday.
Why? I have no idea. In my mind, the man who stole 808 bases in his career (fifth all-time) and reached first base more times than Tony Gwynn (just two of the many, many reasons) should have been enshrined years ago.
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But Raines needed 330 votes to get to the necessary 75 percent threshold this time around. He received 307, which comes to 69.8 percent.
Raines has just one more year on the ballot. Next year will be his 10th and final time, thanks to an implemented-in-2014 Hall of Fame rule that cut the number of years a player is eligible to remain on the ballot from 15 to 10.
Raines get at least one vote closer next time around. I know that for a fact.
He’ll get my vote. I'll cast my first Hall of Fame ballot next year (I joined the BBWAA in 2007, so I'll hit the 10-year-mark this season). It's a huge honor and a huge responsibility. And I'll vote for Raines without a moment's hesitation.
And I won’t be alone. Another healthy crop of first-time Hall of Fame voters will cast a ballot toward the end of the 2016 calendar year.
There’s reason to hope Raines will finally get his deserving Hall recognition.
Look at his bump this year. He received 69.8 percent of the vote, after 55.0 percent last year. That’s really encouraging, if you fall in the pro-Raines camp.
Here are his vote percentage totals, working backward from 2014: 46.1 percent, 52.2 percent, 48.7 percent, 37.5 percent, 30.4 percent, 22.6 percent, 24.3 percent.
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And then, consider the “last-year” bump that’s not uncommon.
This was Alan Trammell’s 15th and final year on the ballot (he was grandfathered in). He received just 25.1 percent of the vote in 2015, but jumped up to 40.9 percent this year. It wasn't enough for Detroit's legendary shortstop, but if Raines gets anything close to a similar bump, he’ll get in.
And I'll be glad to know my vote helped it happen.
