Harold Baines Hall of Fame Moments

This afternoon, Harold Baines was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Baines, as most readers know, was a controversial decision by the Eras Committee (what we used to call the Veterans Committee). Many experts and fans felt that he wasn’t worthy of a plaque in Cooperstown and Baines himself was taken by surprise at the news. None of that matters now. This piece will chronicle the Harold Baines Hall of Fame moments that defined his 22-year career.

If you’d like to see the arguments in favor of Baines’ selection (as well as the arguments against), I invite you to take a look at this piece posted shortly after his election by the committee.

A recap of the “Hall of Fame moments” ground rules that I set for each of these pieces. I made subjective decisions about which moments to include but decided not to rank them in order. The great moments of each player’s career are presented in chronological order. Baines is now 60 years old, having made his MLB debut in 1980. As a result, it was more difficult to find video of some of Baines’ moments than it was for players who spent their entire careers in the 1990’s or 21st century. Therefore some of the underlined links in this piece are to articles about the games involved, not actual video.

I’ve highlighted 10 “Hall of Fame moments” but will share a few other bonus moments as well. Anyway, let’s now take a look at the top highlights in the career of Harold Douglas Baines.

(cover photo: Kevin Larkin/Associated Press)

Harold Baines’ Early Career

Harold Baines, the #1 overall draft pick in the 1977 draft, made his MLB debut in on April 10th, 1980 shortly after his 21st birthday. His first plate appearance came against future Hall of Famer Jim Palmer, who retired him on a fly ball to center field. Baines went 0-for-4 in the game, a part of a very slow start to his hitting career.

Baines was hitless in his 21 plate appearances before managing a double in his fourth plate appearance of a game on April 17th at Comiskey Park against the New York Yankees. Unless you already know the answer, if I gave you 100 guesses you probably couldn’t come up with the name of the pitcher against whom Baines got that first MLB hit. The answer is 283-game winner Jim Kaat, who pitched briefly out of the bullpen for the Yankees in 1979 and the first few weeks of 1980.

Bonus Moment: April 19, 1980 (White Sox v Orioles)

Baines hit the first of his 384 career home runs 2 days later in Baltimore, off Palmer. It was actually a key blow. The Chisox were trailing 4-1 in the top of the 7th inning. 2nd baseman Jim Morrison took Palmer deep for a solo tater and Baines followed it up with the second hit of his young career, a home run down the right field line. Baines’ blast sent Palmer to the showers.

The back-to-back homers cut the score to 4-3. In the top of the 9th, Baines hit a one-out single off reliever Tim Stoddard, later scoring the tying run, helping the White Sox win 5-4 in 12 innings.

Baines hit two more homers in his rookie season against future Hall of Famers. He took the Texas Rangers’ Gaylord Perry deep for a go-ahead solo home run on July 17th, followed up by an even bigger moment 9 days later.

Harold Baines Hall of Fame Moment #1: July 26, 1980 (Rangers v White Sox)

On this date, the rookie Baines hit the first walk-off home run of his career. In the first game of a twilight double header at Comiskey, the White Sox and Rangers were tied at 3 going into the bottom of the 9th inning. Baines took another future Hall Famer (Fergie Jenkins) deep for his 8th career long ball and the first of 10 that would give his team a walk-off victory.

In his career, Baines hit 15 home runs off against 10 Hall of Fame hurlers (Palmer, Perry, Fergie Jenkins, Don Sutton, Phil Niekro, Bert Blyleven, Nolan Ryan, Jack Morris, Dennis Eckersley and Roy Halladay). As we’ll see later, he hit an additional homer off Morris in the postseason.

Harold Baines Hall of Fame Moment #2: July 7, 1982 (Tigers v White Sox)

On this night in Chicago, Baines was a one-man wrecking crew against the Detroit Tigers, hitting home runs on 3 consecutive at bats. Baines hit solo taters off Jerry Udjur in the bottom of the 5th and 7th to give the White Sox a 2-0 lead. Then, in the bottom of the 8th, Baines hit a grand slam off reliever Elias Sosa to give the Chisox a 7-0 lead and seal the victory. SABR has a nice write-up of Baines three-homer effort.

It was the first of 13 career grand slams for Baines. He hit his second one just 4 days after the first, in Toronto against Jerry Garvin.

Two years later, on September 17, 1984, Baines would become the first White Sox player to hit 3 home runs in a game twice.

Bonus Moments: 3 walk-offs in September 1983

The Chicago White blew away the competition in the American League West in 1983, winning the division by 20 games with 99 wins. It would be the White Sox’ first playoff appearance since the 1959 World Series and only the franchise’s second trip to postseason ball since the 1919 Black Sox scandal.

During the regular season, Baines contributed 20 home runs and 99 RBI, which included back to back walk-off hits in early September. He hit his second career walk-off homer on September 10th (against the Angels’ Steve Brown) and followed that up with a walk-off single the next night against Ken Forsch. The White Sox right fielder had another walk-off (this time on a bases loaded sacrifice fly) just 6 days later against the Mariners’ Ed Vande Berg.

The playoffs, unfortunately, did not go well for the Chisox or Baines. Chicago was defeated by the Baltimore Orioles 3 Games to 1. For Baines, his first playoff opportunity was rooted in total frustration. He did not manage to reach base in his first 14 plate appearances before a walk and two singles in a losing effort in Game 4.

Harold Baines Hall of Fame Moment #3: May 9, 1984 (Brewers v White Sox)

On May 8, 1984, the White Sox hosted the Milwaukee Brewers. The score was tied at 1 after 8 innings; both squads scored twice in the 9th to send the game into extra innings, with the Chisox scoring their two runs off future Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers.

In extra frames, neither team was able to score for inning after inning. In the bottom of the 17th, Baines came up with the winning run on second base but lefty Rick Waits induced him to ground out to 2nd base to end the inning. When the teams had completed those 17 innings, a curfew rule that the American League had at the time forced the game to be suspended.

The game resumed the next night before the teams’ regularly scheduled game. In the top of the 21st inning, Ben Oglivie hit a 3-run homer off Ron Reed to give the Brew Crew a 6-3 edge. Miraculously, the White Sox matched those three runs thanks to a Carlton Fisk single and Tom Paciorek two-run base hit off Brewers’ reliever Chuck Porter. The game continued with neither team scoring in the next 3 frames.

By the time the teams had finished 23 innings, White Sox manager Tony La Russa had used 6 pitchers, which is routine in today’s game but a huge amount in the early 1980’s. In the top of 23rd, La Russa called upon starter Floyd Bannister (who had thrown 7 innings 2 nights earlier). In the top of the 25th, La Russa turned to future Hall of Famer Tom Seaver, who was supposed to start the regularly scheduled game.

For the 39-year old Seaver, it was just the 7th relief appearance of his career and his first in 8 years. After giving up a leadoff single to Bill Schroeder, Tom Terrific got Robin Yount to hit into a double play and then got a fly out to left field from Cecil Cooper.

The game proceeded to the bottom of the 25th inning. With one out, facing the Brewers’ Chuck Porter for the fourth time of the evening, Baines finally ended the players’ misery by swatting a solo home run over the center field fence, giving Seaver the 275th win of his career. It was the 753rd pitch of the game.

As he noted in his Hall of Fame acceptance speech, when a sportswriter mentioned after the game “Harold, you really got all of that one,” Baines’ understated response was “evidently.” As Fisk noted in the video he narrated about Baines’ career, ever since then his teammates called Harold “Mr. Evidently.”

“I was just glad it was over. I think every player is excited to hit a home run for your team to win. I wish I did it in the ninth instead of the 25th.”

— Harold Baines (as told to the New York Times in 2014)

This classic game featured 6 Hall of Famers: Baines, Seaver, Fisk, Yount, Fingers and Don Sutton, who started the game for the Brew Crew and tossed 8 innings of 1-run ball.

One more note: despite the relief outing, Seaver started the regularly scheduled tilt, going 8.1 innings for career win #276.

Baines would hit his fourth walk-off bomb less than two months later (against Seattle’s Ed Nunez); he had two more in 1985 (against Oakland’s Keith Atherton and Cleveland’s Bryan Clark).

Bonus Moment: June 7, 1984 (Angels v White Sox)

29 days later, the California Angels got off to a 7-0 lead against the White Sox with Tommy John (an eventual 288-game winner) on the mound. The Chisox mounted a rally with 5 hits from the first 7 batters in the 3th inning. The 8th batter (Baines) hit a three-run HR off John to cut the score to 7-6. In the bottom of the 5th, Baines hit another 3-run blast (off Frank Lacorte) to put the White Sox ahead 9-7. The Chisox would go on to win 11-10.

Bonus Moment: April 26, 1986 (White Sox v Tigers)

This is the first Harold Baines moment for which I was able to find video. In the bottom of the 6th inning, with the White Sox trailing 1-0, Baines and designated hitter Ron Kittle hit back-to-back home runs off the Tigers’ Walt Terrell. Baines’ home run hit the facing of the roof at Tiger Stadium. Bob Costas and Tony Kubek were on the call for a NBC Saturday game (which is why we have video).

If you want to re-watch this or any other clip after it’s finished, hit the re-fresh button at the bottom of the frame.

Harold Baines Hall of Fame Moment #4: Oct. 19, 1990: World Series Game 3 (Reds v A’s)

We fast forward in Harold Baines’ career to 1990. In 1989, Baines was traded to the Texas Rangers. 13 months later, he was reunited with La Russa after a trade to the Oakland Athletics. With Oakland, a super-team during these years, Baines would get another chance to shine in postseason baseball. After a miserable ALCS in ’83, Baines was superb in 1990. Facing the Boston Red Sox, the A’s DH hit .357 while driving in 3 runs.

As a designated hitter, Baines was only able to start games in Oakland during the World Series. In Game 3, he hit his first postseason home run, a two-run blast off Cincinnati’s Tom Browning to give the A’s a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the 2nd inning.

Overall, this wasn’t the finest outing for the A’s: they were swept in 4 games by the Reds.

Harold Baines Hall of Fame Moment #5: May 7, 1991 (Orioles v A’s)

In his first full season with the Oakland A’s, Harold Baines got off to a slow start in 1991, hitting just .240 with a .624 OPS and no home runs in his first 20 games. On May 4th, a game the A’s would lose to Cleveland by a 20-6 score, Baines hit his first homer of the season.

He hit his next three in the Athletics’ next game, on May 7th against Baltimore.

Baines went deep in three of his first four at bats, hitting a 2-run blast off Ben McDonald in the bottom of the 1st, a 3-run shot off Dave Johnson in the 4th and a solo job off Jeff Robinson in the 6th. For good measure, Baines also contributed a RBI double in the 3rd, giving him seven RBI for the game, setting a career high, a total he matched the following year.

Harold Baines Hall of Fame Moment #6: August 8, 1992 (Royals v A’s)

On a Sunday afternoon in Oakland, the A’s had a 2-1 lead against Kansas City heading to the top of the 9th inning. These were the years in which Dennis Eckersley was re-defining the role of a closer. Eck was nearly automatic in the early 1990’s but the Royals managed 3 hits against him in the 9th to score two runs and take a 3-2 lead.

In the bottom of the frame, Royals manager Hal McRae turned to his excellent closer, Jeff Montgomery. On this night, Montgomery was wild. With one out, he walked two consecutive batters, bringing Baines to the plate. The A’s DH responded by hitting the first pitch deep down the right field line for a walk-off three-run homer. It was the 7th walk-off long ball of Baines’ career, his first since 1985 and the second in which he helped his team snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

Harold Baines Hall of Fame Moment #8: Oct. 7, 1992: ALCS Game 1 (A’s v Blue Jays)

The A’s missed the 1991 playoffs; the team had an off year, winning just 84 games while the Minnesota Twins sailed to the division title and, ultimately, the World Championship. The A’s returned to October baseball in 1992, matching up against the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Game 1 pitching matchup featured Dave Stewart for the A’s and Jack Morris for the Jays. Morris, of course, was an October hero, thanks to the ten shutout innings he tossed in Game 7 of the ’91 Fall Classic. Morris won 21 games for the Jays in ’92, albeit with a 4.06 ERA.

Anyway, Jays’ manager Cito Gaston gave Morris the ball for Game 1. The A’s scored three runs in the second inning off the mustachioed right-hander and took a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the 5th. The Jays pecked back with three runs in the next four innings to tie the score at 3. In the top of the 9th, with Morris still on the hill, Baines swatted a 1-0 pitch deep to right field for a solo homer. Eckersley would close out Toronto in the bottom of the frame to give Oakland a 1-0 series lead.

For the ALCS as a whole, Baines hit .440 with a 1.080 OPS but the Jays prevailed in 6 games regardless.

Bonus Moment: August 12, 1996: Yankees v White Sox

We fast-forward now to 1996. After three years with the Baltimore Orioles, Harold Baines returned to the Chicago White Sox for the 1996 campaign. In this game, matched up against the eventual World Champion New York Yankees, Baines hit a solo home run off John Wetteland to left-center field in the 10th inning, giving the White Sox a walk-off win.

It was the second time in the season that Baines victimized the Yankees and Wetteland, who would be the World Series MVP less than 11 weeks later. Baines’ first walk-off against Wetteland was on May 11th. It was a two-run shot that broke a 5-5 tie in the bottom of the 9th inning. These were the 8th and 9th walk-off taters of Baines’ career.

Harold Baines Hall of Fame Moment #9: May 4, 1999 (White Sox v Orioles)

Baines returned to Baltimore for the 1997-99 campaigns. Early in ’99, he hit the 10th and final walk-off home run of his long career, this time making a loser of the White Sox and David Lundquist. This tater was also Baines’ 13th and final grand slam, the first time one of his signature walk-offs was with the bases juiced.

Baines 10 walk-off home runs are tied for the 11th most in the history of baseball. The only players with more? Jim Thome, Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial, Frank Robinson, Albert Pujols, Tony Perez, David Ortiz and Ryan Zimmerman. All of those players (with the exception of Zimmerman) are in the Hall of Fame or will be someday.

Harold Baines Hall of Fame Moment #10: October 7, 1999: ALDS Game 2 (Red Sox v Indians)

The 1999 Orioles were not a contending team and thus, in late August, the now 40-year old Baines was dealt to the mighty Cleveland Indians. Orioles General Manager Frank Wren was frank: “Harold Baines is not only having a great year, but he is one of the finest people in baseball. This trade gives Harold an opportunity to play in the postseason again.”

The Indians were A.L. Central champions for the fifth straight season. In ’99, they would face the Boston Red Sox in the A.L. Division Series. After the Indians won Game 1 by a 3-2 margin, they faced Bret Saberhagen in he second game. The veteran right-hander didn’t have his best stuff this afternoon. In the bottom of the 3rd inning, with two outs and runners on the corner, Baines blasted a three-run homer to give the Indians a 6-1 lead and send Saberhagen to the showers.

The Tribe would go on to win Game 2 by a 11-1 score but were subsequently swept by the Red Sox, failing to advance to the LCS.

Baines would have one more postseason opportunity before the end of his career. For the 2000 season, the now 41-year old DH was re-signed by Baltimore. The Orioles, however, were once again a non-contender. Once again, he was traded to a team heading to the playoffs, his original Chicago White Sox. Alas, the Chisox were swept by the Seattle Mariners in the ALDS. In his final postseason game, Baines went 1 for 3 with a 2nd inning double and run scored.

Remember that the sweet-swinging left-handed hitter had gone hitless in his first 14 postseason at bats way back in 1983? Well, in the next 99 plate appearances (spanning 17 years), Baines hit .375. Sadly, his hitting prowess was never rewarded with a World Series ring.

Bonus Moment: June 14, 2001 (Reds v White Sox)

In this regular season game at the new Comiskey Park, Baines hit a one-out single to left field off the Reds’ Jim Brower. It would be the last of the 2,866 hits collected over his 22-year MLB career.

Sadly, in that same game, Baines strained his left hip flexor. He was lifted for a pinch hitter in the 7th and was placed on the disabled list a couple of days later. Now 42 years old, Baines returned 3 months later for one final at bat (a strikeout). After 11,092 plate appearances and 2,866 hits, the career of Harold Baines was over.

The Hall of Fame Calls

As has been well documented, it was a surprise to everyone in baseball (including Baines himself) when it was announced last December that he had gotten the necessary 12 out of 16 votes to be elected to the Hall of Fame by the Modern Baseball Eras Committee. Many columns followed blasting the decision of the committee, columns that said that he was unworthy of the honor.

All of that is now irrelevant. Today, the soft-spoken Baines gave a speech accepting the honor of becoming a Hall of Famer.

There will be a plaque with the visage of Harold Baines permanently placed in the great hall of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. As we’ve seen throughout this piece, evidently, Baines had an excellent career. Congratulations Harold.

Thanks for reading.

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