If Andre Dawson and Tim Raines don't receive at least five-percent of the votes on ballots sent out tomorrow to the members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America(BWAA), then the only hope the two have of being elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame is an induction by the Veteran's Committee, who had their ability to do so restored in 2001, after a short time in which players who received less than five-percent were considered officially turned down.

     If either Dawson or Raines happens to receive seventy-five percent of the votes cast by the BWAA, they will earn induction in the Baseball Hall of Fame. The writers will be choosing from the following list of eligible players:

• Brady Anderson
  
• Harold Baines
  
• Rod Beck
  
• Bert Blyleven
  
• Dave Concepcion
  
• Andre Dawson
  
• Shawon Dunston
  
• Chuck Finley
  
• Travis Fryman
  
• Rich Gossage
  
• Tommy John
  
• David Justice
  
• Chuck Knoblauch
  
• Don Mattingly
  
• Mark McGwire
  
• Jack Morris
  
• Dale Murphy
  
• Robb Nen
  
• Dave Parker
  
• Tim Raines
  
• Jim Rice
  
• Jose Rijo
  
• Lee Smith
  
• Todd Stottlemyre
  
• Alan Trammell

      Dawson appears on the ballot for the seventh time, Dawson's teammate on the Expos from 1979, when Timothy "Rock" Raines debuted as a nineteen-year old with the Expos on September 11, 1979, until Dawson left Montreal for Chicago after the 1986 season, appears on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time.  

     Tim Raines played in 23 Major League seasons, nine of which took place in Montreal, before Raines joined the White Sox in Chicago, the New York Yankees for a time, the Oakland Athletics, the Expos again, the Baltimore Orioles for four games, and the Florida Marlins for 98 games in 2002 at the age of forty-two, after which Raines retired.

     A .294 lifetime batting average, 2,605 hits, 430 doubles, 113 triples, 170 HR's, 980 RBI's, 808 stolen bases, which ranks Raines fifth all-time amongst base-stealers, including a league-leading and career-high 90 stolen bases for the Expos in the 1983 season. Raines lead the NL in stolen bases for four straight seasons from 1981-84 with totals of 71, 78, 90, and 75, respectively.

     Raines hit .270 in his Postseason career, going to the NLCS with Montreal, along with Dawson and the 1981 Expos, who advanced to the Championship Series in the Strike-shortened season, before losing to the eventual World Series-winning Los Angeles Dodgers, and appearing in the World Series once with the '96 Yankees.

     If either Dawson or Raines is elected, which I unfortunately believe unlikely, they would join Gary Carter as the only players inducted under the Montreal Expos pinwheel cap, and possibly the last Expos' players to be given consideration...(I can't think of any others off the top o' my pinwheel-cap adorned head?)...

      What do any of the DC fans think of the franchise's Expos past? Any interest? Do either Raines or Dawson deserve election to the H.o.F.? Can anyone think of any other Expos who might come up for consideration?

*Andre Dawson and Tim Raines Hall of Fame Links*

Andre Dawson's career stats at baseball-reference.com:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/d/dawsoan01.shtml

Tim Raines' career stats at baseball-reference.com:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/r/raineti01.shtml

mlb.com's Jack O'Connell's article, "Hall ballot welcomes 11 newcomers":

http://washington.nationals.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071125&content_id=2307150&vkey=ne ws_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

Montreal "Franchise" Hall of Famers at wikipedia.org:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal_Expos#Baseball_Hall_of_Famers

Complete Rules for Election to Hall of Fame at web.baseballhalloffame.org:

http://web.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers/bbwaa.jsp

Baseball Almanac's list of MLB Career stolen base leaders:

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/hitting/hisb1.shtml