Top 5 Cards; Tim Raines

The same way that Trevor Hoffman is often overshadowed by Mariano Rivera, I often find that Hall of Famer Tim Raines doesn't get the recognition he deserves due to how fabulous of a player Rickey Henderson was. 

Like Rivera and Hoffman, Henderson and Tim Raines were very similar players who played in the exact same time period. It just so happened that the former, arguably, was a tad better than Raines, and that's all it took for the 7-time All-Star to be outshined.

It took the BBWAA committee 10 years to elect Raines into Cooperstown when truth be told, it should not have taken that long. This Expos legend was a career .294 hitter with 2,600+ hits and nearly 1,000 RBI. 

Better yet, his 808 career stolen bases put him at #5 on the All-Time list, behind Rickey Henderson, Lou Brock, Billy Hamilton, and Ty Cobb.

I think a combination of playing at the same time as Rickey Henderson and playing for the Montreal Expos contributed to the overall lack of recognition surrounding Raines as a Baseball legend. He may not have been a power hitter, but he was extremely efficient in stealing bases and getting clutch hits.

Alongside Vladimir Guerrero, Andre Dawson, and Gary Carter, Tim Raines ranks as one of my most successful Montreal Expos player collections. Though the total number of cards in the Raines PC may not be as impressive as the other 3, I'm content with having 53 total cards of the 2-time World Series Champion.

Given my love for the colorful Montreal Expos jerseys, it was challenging to narrow this list down to only 5 cards, even if my Raines PC isn't the largest of all my player collections. Without any further adieu, however, here are the top 5 that I selected.

#5 2017 Topps High Tek Pattern 4

The surplus of various parallels within Topps High Tek doesn't give me enough motivation to justify paying ~$100 for a hobby box of 40 or so cards. With that being said, I have no qualms about picking these cards up when I stumble upon them in the dime bins or at other parts of the Baseball card show.

Because some collectors choose to focus solely on rookie and prospect cards, often times, you can find the veteran base and retired players' cards for a dime each, even from high-end products like High Tek.

Over the last year or so, I've added a reasonable number of High Tek cards to my collection, all courtesy of the dime bins, including the sole Tim Raines card in my collection, showing him on the New York Yankees.

#4 1981 Topps

Most of the Topps Future or Rookie Stars cards from the 70s and 80s seem to be the kiss of death, for very few of the players featured on these cards end up making it big in the major leagues.

However, one of the few exceptions to this unspoken rule is Tim Raines who was featured on this 1981 Topps Expos Future Stars card above. While I don't believe that Roberto Ramos or Bobby Pate ended up playing in the MLB for all that long, Raines, obviously, went on to have a Hall of Fame career.

I like the style of the '81 Future Stars cards in particular, so it was interesting to see them recreated in 2018 Topps Archives, featuring top tier rookies like Shohei Ohtani and Ronald Acuna Jr.

#3 1985 Fleer

I believe that I've talked about this card on the blog beforehand, but this is the first time that I've actually showcased it. The silver-bordered 1985 Fleer set allows bright and colorful jerseys to stand out more so than they typically would, and Raines' red and powder blue Expos uniform is no exception.

The contrast of the red with the silver, in particular, is what I appreciate most about this card. Albeit, it's a little off-center, but that's not a big deal for me. The card is a beautiful representation of the Montreal Expos franchise, for they were known for their crazy uniforms. 

I just wish Topps would create a card for Raines in a set like Allen & Ginter or Archives, featuring a bright red jersey like that.

#2 2018 Topps Stadium Club

Granted, the set isn't A&G or Archives, but Tim Raines' 2018 Topps Stadium Club card, featuring the same bright red jersey, is absolutely unbelievable. I recall ranking this very card as one of my personal favorites from the entire 2018 Topps Stadium Club set, and it's easy to see why.

The uniform, first and foremost, is reason enough for this card to earn the #2 spot on the countdown. However, all those bright colors combined with the bats that Raines is holding makes for a truly sensational card.

Just how the #3 card on this list embodies what the Expos, as a whole, are like, this Raines card from '18 Stadium Club perfectly represents the caliber of cards that Topps produces with this sensational set.

#1 1987 Fleer Baseball's Best Sluggers

As much as I cherish Raines' 2018 Topps Stadium Club, there's something crazy about this oddball 1987 Fleer Baseball's Best Sluggers card that I absolutely love, and I feel obligated to place it at #1.

The prominent colors, red and blue, match the jerseys that we've seen throughout all of the cards on this post, including the one that Raines is wearing in the card above. However, this is the first card on the countdown to feature the iconic powder blue uniforms, and it's hard to talk about Raines or the Expos without showcasing those jerseys.

The design is fairly simple, but it's also everything that I love about the 80s; it's colorful while also staying true to the time period and the player. 

I definitely surprised myself with this pick, but at the end of the day, there was no choice better than this crazy oddball card, and that's why it earned the #1 spot.