WEST PALM BEACH, FLA. -- Tim Raines has started practicing his Hall of Fame speech even though he hasn't written anything down and probably won't. He's never been one to read off a page, but perhaps he'll write down a few names. That will be enough to jog his memory.
But sometimes after he returns home from Blue Jays camp during Spring Training, he will stand in front of his mirror and start talking.
"Each time I do, I kind of expand," Raines said Thursday from the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches. "I'm up to like about 15 minutes, I'm not sure the guys are going to like that."
Raines was in attendance in West Palm Beach to throw out the first pitch and watch the Nationals' 1-0 victory over the Mets. It had been about two months since he was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, something he had spent the past years considering a strong possibility after his vote total steadily increased since 2014. Still, he struggled to find words to describe the feeling.
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"I thought as a player when you win a world championship, you've kind of reached the pinnacle," Raines said. "But when that phone rings, it really surpassed that. Sure you're going to be remembered as a world champion, but everybody don't know all the players that played on those teams.
"When you're inducted to the Hall of Fame, you're forever going to be remembered as one of the greatest to ever play the game."
Raines, who is currently a Minor League baserunning instructor with the Blue Jays, spent 13 years with the Montreal Expos and will wear their cap on his plaque in Cooperstown. He was in West Palm Beach as part of his duties with a joint supplements company he endorses.
The Expos eventually relocated and became the Nationals, but even though Raines does not get to spend much time around his former franchise, he has kept an eye on one of their key young players -- Trea Turner.
"He's the kind of guy that I liked working with because he kind of reminds me a little bit of myself," Raines said. "Probably has a little more power than me, but [he does] so much of what I used to do as a player. I enjoy watching that as well as trying to teach it. He definitely caught my eye."