Rock Solid My Life in Baseball's Fast Lane

A NATIONAL POST NON-FICTION PICK

For more than a decade, Tim Raines patrolled left field for the Montreal Expos, igniting the powder keg of what would become one of the most innovative and talented teams of the modern era. Alongside superstars such as Andre “Hawk” Dawson and Gary Carter, Raines, nicknamed “Rock,” hit and stole his way into the hearts of the team’s dedicated fan base. The seven-time All-Star tore through the Expos’ record books before moving on to the Chicago White Sox, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, Baltimore Orioles and Florida Marlins, earning three World Series rings (one as a coach). The Expos retired his number (#30), and in January 2017, Raines was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

But it wasn’t always easy being Tim Raines. Raines’s performance dipped in 1982, and at the end of the season, he entered a substance abuse program for cocaine addiction. He used cocaine before games, after games and, on occasion, in the clubhouse between innings. He would ultimately resume his career and once again become one of baseball’s brightest stars, but in 1999, Raines was forced to retire after being diagnosed with lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease. After undergoing treatment, Raines returned at the age of forty-one to where it all began—the Montreal Expos.

TIM RAINES played for the Montreal Expos, Chicago White Sox, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, Baltimore Orioles and Florida Marlins from 1979 to 2002. The seven-time All-Star, National League batting champion and three-time World Series champion (once as a coach) was born and raised in Sanford, Florida. He now works in player development for the Toronto Blue Jays and lives in Arizona. Raines was elected a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown in 2017.

ALAN MAIMON is the author of Shane Victorino: The Flyin’ Hawaiian and co-author of Nine Innings to Success (with Jim Palmer), The Mouth That Roared (with Dallas Green) and If You Love This Game (with Andre Dawson). He started his professional writing career as a news assistant and sportswriter in the Berlin bureau of the New York Times, and as a newspaper reporter, he was a finalist for the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.