The 1987 Topps baseball card #170 features all-star outfielder Tim Raines of the Montreal Expos. By 1987, Raines had cemented himself as one of baseball’s premier leadoff hitters and base stealers. He had just come off his second straight season being named an all-star while batting .334 with 12 home runs, 76 RBI and 90 stolen bases, securing his second batting title.
The card captures Raines in mid-swing from the left side of the plate. He has a compact, balanced stance with his hands held high and back. His face shows intense focus and determination as he drives through the ball. In the background, the sportswriter is seen jotting down notes, no doubt impressed by another exciting at-bat from the dynamic Raines.
The text on the front mentions some of Raines’ eye-popping stats from 1986 including his .334 batting average and 90 steals. It touts him as “one of baseball’s premier leadoff hitters and base stealers.” On the back, career stats through 1986 are shown. He had hit .307 in 6 MLB seasons with 72 home runs, 387 RBI and 379 stolen bases. Further details described his MLB debut season of 1981 and selection to the MLB All-Star team in 1985 and 1986.
1987 would be another stellar campaign for Raines. He batted .294 with 20 home runs, 84 RBI and 90 stolen bases, topping 80 steals for the third straight year. While he fell just short of a third batting title, Raines was selected to the all-star team for the third consecutive season. He finished seventh in NL MVP voting, cementing his place among the game’s elite players.
Despite these accomplishments, some writers felt Raines was still underappreciated. His smooth, low-key style didn’t always get the attention of more flashy sluggers. Raines went about his business focusing solely on helping his team win with his bat, legs and glove. “Hitting is instinct, not power,” he said. “I don’t try to hit homers. I try to hit line drives, hit ’em where they ain’t.”
Throughout his career, Raines was an on-base machine with exceptional speed. He consistently posted high batting averages and OBPs while swiping bases at an amazing 85% success rate. Modern metrics illuminated just how valuable Raines was – he ranks among the all-time leaders in bWAR for left fielders. Yet he fell just short of the Hall of Fame in his early ballots, perhaps due to biased comparisons to Rickey Henderson.
In Montreal, Raines was the rock of the lineup during the team’s late-70s/80s heyday. As the franchise began to decline, he was traded to division rival Chicago White Sox before the 1991 season. The move helped push the White Sox to the AL West title that year as Raines posted a .325 average in 113 games for them. He later signed with the New York Yankees as a free agent and was a key veteran presence on their World Series teams of 1996 and 1998.
In 2002, his last season in the majors at age 41, Raines returned to Montreal for an encore with the Expos. His .338 average that year helped the struggling franchise, showing he could still swing it despite nearing his 43rd birthday. When he finally retired, Raines had amassed 2,605 hits, 1,571 runs scored and 808 stolen bases in 23 MLB seasons.
Tim Raines was finally elected to the Hall of Fame in 2017 by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, his 10th and final year of eligibility. The 1987 Topps card serves as a reminder of the electric player he was in his prime – a true artist on the basepaths who didn’t always get his due but made dazzling plays look effortless. His career .294 average, .385 on-base percentage and tremendous production as a leadoff hitter leave no doubt that “Rock” Raines belongs in Cooperstown amongst baseball’s all-time greats.
