Tim Raines should be in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Tom Cheek will get there this summer. But both have been inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.
The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame also welcomed in long-time Toronto slugger and American League MVP Award winner George Bell and Canadian-born former MLB outfielder Rob Ducey.
While Raines played in four different decades for six teams, his time in Montréal is most memorable. Raines won a batting title (1986) and All-Star Game MVP Award (1987) in an Expos uniform, and led the team to the 1981 playoffs.
Raines recounted the reception he got at the 2001 home opener when he returned the team late in his career. "The home opener in 2001 was special," Raines said. "I made the club out of Spring Training and got the loudest and longest standing ovation of my career. The pitcher was so rattled that he walked me on four pitches." "Montreal is definitely a baseball city," he added. "They always showed me that they were true baseball fans."
Raines has current Canadian ties, serving as a roving minor league instructor with the Blue Jays and by being married to a Canadian.
Previous coverage:
Toronto Blue Jays broadcaster Tom Cheek makes the Hall of Fame
Bell won the 1987 Most Valuable Player award with a league-leading 134 RBIs. "This is a very special honour for me. I never got to win a World Series with the Blue Jays, but I am a Blue Jay inside and out, and I consider myself Canadian," explained Bell, a Dominican Republic native.
Ducey — from Cambridge, Ontario — is one of four Canadians to play for both the Toronto Blue Jays and the Montréal Expos; the list also includes Matt Stairs, Denis Boucher, and Shawn Hill. Ducey came up with the Blue Jays in 1987 and played in Toronto until 1992. He also spent almost two weeks in Toronto in 2000 and finished up with the Expos in 2001. Ducey hit .242 with 31 home runs in 703 games.
He also played for the California Angels, Texas Rangers, Seattle Mariners, and the Philadelphia Phillies.
For more on Tom Cheek's legacy, check out our look back when we found out Cheek was going into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame is in St. Mary's, Ontario. St. Mary's is just northeast of London and west of Kitchener/Waterloo, not too far from Stratford in southern Ontario.
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