Hall of Fame Poll: Tim Raines

Tim Raines is one of my all time favorite players. The second best leadoff hitter of his generation, not such a bad thing when you played at the same time as the best leadoff hitter ever. In 23 major league seasons he hit .294/.385/.425, scored 1571 runs, 50th all time, and stole 808 bases, 5th all time. He made 7 All-Star teams, led the lead in steal a bunch of time and batting average once. He played 13 years with the Expos, 6 with the White Sox, 3 with the Yankees (no one is perfect) where he got his two World Series rings. Then ran out his career with Oakland, Baltimore and Florida. You can check out his career here.

I've seen a couple of baseball writers that have said they left his name off the ballot because of his cocaine problem. That seems silly to me, I always want to ask if they voted for Paul Molitor or any of the others from that time period that used. Since it wasn't a performance enhancing drug and that he got help quick and didn't miss playing time because of it, I can't see why it would be an issue, unless, I guess, you are holier than thou. Would you leave Mickey Mantle out of the hall because he drank?