The Futility Infielder

When It Raines

It's not quite the Griffeys hitting back-to-back home runs for the Mariners, but Tim Raines and his son set a milestone of sorts on Tuesday: the first time in modern baseball history a father and son have faced each other during a professional regular-season contest.

Raines the elder (a.k.a. "Rock"), on a rehab assignment to the Ottawa Lynx (Expos affiliate), went 1-for-3 with a double and a run scored in the first game of a doubleheader against the Rochester Red Wings (Orioles affiliate). Tim Raines Jr., "Little Rock," also went 1-for-3, but came out on the losing end of things. Junior got the better of his father in the nightcap, going 1-for-4 with a double in the Red Wings victory, while Senior went hitless.

The two had faced each other during the exhibition season, but this regular-season meeting required a few twists of fate. The senior Raines, 41, began the season with the Montreal Expos but tore a biceps tendon. Once again, it looked as if the great fork had finally stuck in Raines to tell him he was done. But Raines is no stranger to comebacks. He struggled during the 1999 season with Oakland and was diagnosed with lupus, an autoimmune disease. After regaining his health, he went to spring training with the Yankees last year and nearly made the club. Rather than accepting a trip to the minors, he retired. Still, he worked out all summmer and eventually tried out for the U.S. Olympic team, nearly making Tommy Lasorda's squad and rekindling a desire to continue his baseball career.

He went to camp with the Expos, the team he broke in with back in 1979 and starred for during the '80s, and made the club as a reserve. He was hitting .265/.405 OBP/.328 SLG in 42 plate appearances when he went down. He had arthroscopic surgery on May 31; Tuesday's game was the first of his rehab assignment.

The junior Raines, 21, was a sixth round draft choice by the Orioles in 1998. He struggled during his first three seasons in the minors, hitting no higher than .248. He began this season where he ended the last one, with the Class A Frederick Keys. But he got off to a fast start, literally--stealing 14 bases and scoring 15 runs in 23 games, earning a promotion to the AA Bowie Bay Sox. After hitting well there (.291/.402/.380, with 29 steals in 65 games), he climbed the ladder again. So far at Rochester, his numbers are similar (.273/.398/.326, 6 steals in 26 games). He's a chip off the ol' Rock--powerful, compact build, lots of speed and a good eye, but not much power.

The difference is that at this age the elder Raines was already starring for the Expos, stealing 71 bases in 88 games after earning Minor League Player of the Year honors in Denver the year before. But the younger Raines has clearly made some great progress this season, and suddenly their hopes for playing in the majors simultaneously don't seem nearly as farfetched as they did at the season's outset.

Given what they've been through, it would be nice to see that happen. Tim Raines was one of the most electrifying players I've ever seen, and though his star has faded, he's become one of the game's great elder statesmen--Hall of Fame caliber as a player and as a person. The game would do well to have as many chips off the ol' Rock as possible.