The wait has finally ended for Tim Raines while other former Orioles will wait at least another year for the invitation to Cooperstown.
In his 10th and final year on the ballot, the seven-time All-Star outfielder was voted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame by garnering 86.0 percent of the vote, comfortably more than the required 75 percent. First baseman Jeff Bagwell and catcher Ivan Rodriguez will also be part of the 2017 Hall of Fame induction class.
The sabermetrics era has helped Raines’ Hall of Fame cause as his .385 career on-base percentage and sensational 84.7 percent stolen-base percentage in his career were just two accomplishments that were underappreciated as he was overshadowed by Rickey Henderson, the greatest leadoff hitter in baseball history. His 69.1 wins above replacement rank 108th on Baseball Reference’s all-time list.
A 42-year-old Raines was only an Oriole for four games as Baltimore made a trade to allow him to play with his son, Tim Raines Jr., at the end of the 2001 season. Though understandably overshadowed by the final days of Cal Ripken’s brilliant Hall of Fame career, the two became the second father-son duo in major league history to play in the same game on Oct. 3, 2001.
The older Raines went 3-for-11 with a home run and five RBIs in 12 plate appearances with the Orioles while his son posted a career .213 average in parts of three major league seasons with Baltimore.
Former Orioles stating pitcher Mike Mussina again fell short of Cooperstown in his fourth year on the ballot, but he received 51.8 percent of the vote after earning 43.0 percent in 2016, an encouraging trend for his potential induction down the road.
Though he never won a Cy Young Award and won 20 games only once in his 18-year career, the five-time All-Star selection and seven-time Gold Glove winner ranks 58th on the Baseball Reference all-time WAR list. Despite playing his entire career in the American League East, Mussina finished sixth or better in Cy Young voting nine times and ranks 33rd on the all-time wins list with 270.
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Despite playing the final eight years of his career with the New York Yankees, Mussina was inducted into the Orioles Hall of Fame in 2012.
A designated hitter for the Orioles in the final year of his major league career in 2011, Vladimir Guerrero was not elected in his first year of eligibility despite being named to nine All-Star teams, winning the 2004 AL Most Valuable Player Award, hitting 449 home runs, and holding a career .318 batting average. Having received 71.7 percent of the vote this year, Guerrero is a virtual lock to make it next year.
Lee Smith, an All-Star closer in his only season with the Orioles in 1994, received 34.2 percent of the vote in his final year on the ballot. He was once baseball’s all-time saves leader with 478 before both Mariano Rivera (652) and Trevor Hoffman (601) shattered his mark.
Part of the Orioles’ infamous trade for Glenn Davis in 1991, right-handed pitcher Curt Schilling dropped from 52.3 percent to 45.0 percent in his fifth year of eligibility, likely a product of his controversial views and criticism for the media.
An Oriole in 2005, Sammy Sosa received only 8.6 percent of the vote.
Three other former Orioles — Melvin Mora, Arthur Rhodes, and Derrek Lee — did not receive a single vote in their first year of eligibility and will now fall off the ballot. Mora was elected to the Orioles Hall of Fame in 2015, but he was never expected to receive consideration for Cooperstown.
