Rob Raines is now the last remaining active player from PEBA's Inaugural Draft
Kevin Plant
Baseball News Network
November 25th, 2029
The date was January 2nd, 2007. A new era was about to begin in professional baseball.
Only a few months earlier, the old MLB finally collapsed under it's own corrupt weight. Money and performance-enhancing drugs were rampant in baseball's old league, and fans, broadcasters and sponsors had finally had enough.
For 2007, there was a new show in town. With the need to fill an obvious void, a new league formed to take it's place as America's pastime : PEBA. The league outlawed all previous players and, as the league's promo material stated, 'returned baseball back to the people'.
On that day, January 2nd 2007, PEBA was holding the first segment of it's inaugural draft. The new league was now looking for talent young and old, and the 100-round inaugural draft would create thousands of opportunities for players.
No one knew it at the time, but one player would out-last all the others, and become a star : Rob Raines. Picked on the third day of the draft via telephone, he was the 2104th overall selection, in the 88th round, by the Arlington All-Blacks (weeks later, before the season began, the team would be renamed the 'Bureaucrats').
Raines entered the PEBA minor leagues that year playing Single-A ball in Alexandria, and performed well. Over the next few seasons, he climbed Arlington's minor league system and by 2010 he was touted as one of the team's premium prospects.
Turns out, he had quite a remarkable career in the big show.
His first season for the main club came in 2010, and immediately took over the starting first baseman job from David Teague, who moved elsewhere in the infield. By the end of the season, he had batted a respectable .250, but what really set him apart was his incredible ability to draw walks. In his first season as a 24-year-old, he walked 93 times, to give him an on-base% of .389 . His ability to get on base would become one of his trademarks, as he walked 100 times or more in 14 seasons over his career. Along with his walk totals, however, it also always included a high strikeout rate.
Nevertheless, Raines became part of an exciting core of Bureaucrats in the early-2010s that began making a push for playoff success. The rejuvenated team's first taste of the post-season was in 2012, when they reached the IL Championship, before being swept by Manchester.
In 2013, Raines had perhaps the best season of his career, batting .341, an on-base% of .466, hitting 41 home runs and driving in 113 RBI. The Bureaucrats crushed their division, winning 110 games and capturing the Planetary Extreme Championship! Raines was selected IL Royal Raker Award winner... an award he would win two more times in a row, in 2014 and 2015.
For the rest of the 2010s, Raines became a consistent star in PEBA, becoming a regular participant at the All-Star Game. Interestingly, by this time, he was joined in PEBA by his little brother Royce, Palm Springs' #1 pick in 2018, who is 11 years younger. However, it would take some time before they would ever play each other, as Royce was in the Sovereign League, playing for the Codgers.
Rob's younger brother, Royce Raines
As the 2020s rolled around, he was now in his mid-30s and was still performing at an elite level. Then, at the 2022 All-Star Game, the Raines brothers were finally set to face off against each other for the first time. Rob as IL All-Star, and Royce as SL All-Star. However, it was not to be, as Royce was nursing an injured tricep and was unable to play. The anticipated match up would thus have to wait.
Speaking of injuries, the older Raines brother had largely avoided the injury bug over the course of his career. But, in 2023, a major injury did eventually find him. In June that year he tore his ACL, sidelining him for the rest of the season. By the time he was able to begin his recovery in the 2023-24 off-season, he was now 37 years old. Would he still have what it takes to perform?
His return for the 2024 season removed all doubt about whether he could still perform. He had a 6.6 WAR season as a 38-year-old, batting .278 with 38 home runs and 96 RBI. His Arlington Bureaucrats collected 105 wins that season, and despite Raines having a tough post-season himself, the team made it all the way to the Planetary Extreme Championship Series, losing to Crystal Lake, 4-games-to-1. Raines would stay for a 16th and final season as a Bureaucrat in 2025, before becoming a free agent at the end of the season. In those 16 seasons, he eventually topped nearly all of Arlington's offensive statistical categories, including career on-base%, OPS, WAR, Games played, At-bats, Runs, RBI, Hits, Singles, Doubles, Home Runs ... and of course ... Walks. In fact, his 1884 career walks as a Bureaucrat gives him more than triple the amount of the 2nd-ranked player (Jason Guillen, 506).
Now a free agent at age 40, Raines was looking for a new challenge. He eventually signed with the Crystal Lake Sandgnats for the 2026 season. By this time, Raines was used almost exclusively as a Designated Hitter, and had been since his ACL injury a few years earlier. Despite this, he had another great season, posting a 5.7 WAR and his usual solid numbers. His switch to Crystal Lake also meant that he would finally play against his little brother Royce on a regular basis.
After the season, the incredible durability and consistency continued. At age 41 in 2027, he signed a sizable 2-year contact with Fargo. At first, this raised a lot of eyebrows around PEBA. Would he still be able to perform? was age going to catch up to him? As it turns out, it was a great signing by the Dinos. Although his output did slow some over the two years, he was a veteran presence on the team and was still able to perform when it mattered. In 2028 he was once again selected to the All-Star Game, and helped Fargo's playoff push. This time, he did not disappoint. In 17 post-season games he hit 6 home runs, collected 14 runs and RBI, as Fargo captured their first Planetary Extreme Championship! Raines now had two championship rings. The relationship went so well, in fact, that he stayed for 2029; his 20th season in PEBA.
What will 2030 bring for Raines? We don't know yet. But what is clear is that he has been one of the true superstars of the league for the past 2 decades, and even at age 44, the hunger is still there and he still wants to perform.
It is incredible to think, that of the some 2400 players selected all those years ago in the Inaugural Draft, the kid from Poinciana, Florida is the last of PEBA's "originals".
