Random Topps Card of the Day: 1996 Topps #272 Tim Raines

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Thursday, September 30, 2010:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1996 Topps #272.
• Player Name, position, team: Tim Raines, outfielder, Chicago White Sox.
• Major League Debut: September 11, 1979.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1995 stats (White Sox): 133 G, 502 AB, 81 R, 143 H, 25 2B, 4 3B, 12 HR, 67 RBI, 13 SB, .422 SLG, 70 BB, 52 SO, .285 AVG.
• Any special information about player: Drafted by the Expos #5th, June 1977. Traded by the Expos to the White Sox 12/24/1990. Bats: both, Throws: right.
• Any special information about this specific card: Raines' eighteenth regular Topps card (total includes regular and traded cards only). The 1996 set was one of the best designed sets of the 1990's. It would have been my set of the decade had it not been for the fact that there were only 440 cards TOTAL in the entire set, leaving out tons and tons of everyday players. Tim Raines was already an seven-time All-Star with the Expos, a seven-time MVP candidate, and the NL's answer to Rickey Henderson (before Vince Coleman showed up). So when the Expos said goodbye to its long-time superstar, Raines, who for a while had Topps cards calling him by his nickname "Rock," found himself with the White Sox, batting leadoff and playing left field. He spent five quality seasons with the Pale Hose, including that team of "what could have been...the 1993 AL West Champion White Sox." In five seasons, Raines hit 50 home runs, and drove in 277 rbi's. But more importantly, he walked 359 times and stole 143 bases...decent numbers for a leadoff hitter in the early 90's. This would be his final season with the White Sox as he traded to the Yankees at the end of the '95 season. If there was a 1996 Topps Traded set, he would have been depicted as a Bronx Bomber. Instead, Yankees fans would have to wait for the 1997 set to see him in his first regular Topps card as a Yankee. He was there just in time too...to be part of his first World Series winning team.
• Beckett value: $0.07-$0.20.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 50 cards.

Tomorrow's card will be: 1994 Topps Traded #93T. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Until tomorrow everybody.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama