It’s another Tim Raines piece from the SI Vault (the SI Vault is the best sports invention since…television? The ball?), this one from 1987. The subject? Raines’ first game back from the collusion that wrecked the previous off-season.
Rock went 4-for-5 that day. His line: 5 3 4 4. The first pitch he saw, he whacked for a triple. In the 10th inning, he launched a game-winning grand slam off Jesse Orosco, giving the Expos an 11-7 win.
Like the Fimrite article, there are tons of pullquote-worthy sections. This might be my favorite, though:
Raines is also defending a batting title (.334), but this spring he didn’t know where the defense would take place. A free agent, he had rejected the Expos’ three-year, $4.8 million offer last January and waited. “I was a phone call away from San ‘Diego,” he says, “but they called back and said they were going with younger players.” Younger players? Raines, a six-year veteran, is all of 27. Why would no team make a serious bid for the only player to have stolen at least 70 bases every year of his career, a .305 lifetime hitter, a leader who was so miffed at losing a baseball Superstars competition in 1986 that he underwent special training for this year’s event and blew away the likes of Bo Jackson, Mike Schmidt and Eric Davis? Why didn’t anyone want a piece of the Rock? The reason begins with a “c” and rhymes with confusion.
To repeat, Tim Raines was so upset about losing the Superstars competition that he trained like a maniac to come back and win it the next season. And he beat, among others, freaking Bo Jackson.
If all that’s not enough, there’s this: The author of the article is my (co-)book editor, the esteemed Steve Wulf!
Read this, it’s a gem.
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How About One More?
It’s another Tim Raines piece from the SI Vault (the SI Vault is the best sports invention since…television? The ball?), this one from 1987. The subject? Raines’ first game back from the collusion that wrecked the previous off-season.
Rock went 4-for-5 that day. His line: 5 3 4 4. The first pitch he saw, he whacked for a triple. In the 10th inning, he launched a game-winning grand slam off Jesse Orosco, giving the Expos an 11-7 win.
Like the Fimrite article, there are tons of pullquote-worthy sections. This might be my favorite, though:
To repeat, Tim Raines was so upset about losing the Superstars competition that he trained like a maniac to come back and win it the next season. And he beat, among others, freaking Bo Jackson.
If all that’s not enough, there’s this: The author of the article is my (co-)book editor, the esteemed Steve Wulf!
Read this, it’s a gem.
Like this: