Wednesday, October 3 Updated: October 4, 3:27 PM ET Tim Raines Sr. joins son on Orioles Associated Press |
||||||||||
BALTIMORE -- Tim Raines Sr. was set to go shopping. Instead, he starting packing for one of the sweetest airplane trips of his life.
Raines is closing the season playing on the same team as his son, joining Tim Raines Jr. with the Baltimore Orioles after being traded from the Montreal Expos on Wednesday for a player to be named.
The outfielders join Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr. as the only father-son teammates in major league history. The Griffeys played with the Seattle Mariners during parts of the 1990 and '91 seasons.
The 42-year-old Raines Sr. was in Florida with the Expos when the deal was made. He arrived in time to don jersey No. 11 and join the Orioles for the first inning of their game against Toronto on Wednesday night.
"I found out at 12 o'clock this afternoon," Raines Sr. said. "I was going to go shopping, then turned around and started packing."
Raines Sr. went 0-for-1 with a ninth-inning sacrifice fly and Raines Jr. went 2-for-4 with a walk, scoring three runs and stealing a base in his second major league start.
The younger Raines, whose minor league contract was purchased by the Orioles on Monday, was in a shopping mall when his father called to tell him about the trade.
"He was like, 'I got some crazy news. I'm on my way to Baltimore, I'm going to pick up my stuff now. I guess we're going to be playing together for the next couple days,' " Raines Jr. said. "I couldn't believe it. I thought he was just joking."
It's already been an incredible week for the 22-year-old rookie. With his father watching in the box seats at Camden Yards, Raines Jr. made his major league debut Monday night as a defensive replacement.
Raines Sr. returned to the Expos on Tuesday and served as a pinch hitter. His son started that night against Toronto and got his first major league hit, a ninth-inning double, before scoring the winning run on a bases-loaded walk to Brady Anderson.
"This whole week has just been so weird to me, I don't even know what's going on anymore," Raines Jr. said.
"This is certainly something special," Raines Sr. said. "I don't think in my wildest dreams that we could play together. To do it is very special."
The Orioles insisted the trade was made out of necessity, not as a novelty. After all, there's already enough going on at Camden Yards this week, with Cal Ripken -- whose father, Cal Sr., once managed him with the Orioles -- playing the final week of a Hall of Fame career.
"We have people injured, and we felt it made sense to bring (Raines Sr.) in to give us a hand," Baltimore manager Mike Hargrove said. "He's a veteran player who knows how to play the game. And also I think it's a nice touch that his son's here, and they get a chance to play together. I think that's a tremendous thing."
Now in his 22nd big league season, Raines Sr. ranks fifth on the career list with 808 stolen bases. The seven-time All-Star returned to the majors this year after missing the 2000 season recovering from lupus.
He was united with his son on several occasions this year, beginning in spring training when they played opposite each other in an exhibition game between the Orioles and Expos on March 6.
Then, while Raines Sr. was serving time on the disabled list in August, he played for Triple-A Ottawa against Rochester and Tim Jr., marking the first time that a father and son played against each other in a regular season game at the professional level, according to the Orioles.
Now, father and son are together again.
"I haven't played with him since I was 7 or 8 years old, on the same field or whatever," Raines Jr. said. "So this will definitely bring me back to when I was about 7 or 8 in Montreal, to one of those father-son games."
To make room for Raines Sr. on the 40-man roster, the Orioles placed third baseman Mike Kinkade (wrist injury) on the 60-day disabled list. |
|