On August 27, 1982, the Oakland A’s Rickey Henderson set a new single-season record by stealing his 119th base against the Brewers in Milwaukee. After four pickoff throws, Henderson stole second — on a pitchout. He stole three more bags that day, including one from third base.
Henderson finished the season with 130 thefts, an MLB record that still stands today and may stand forever.
Of course, there have been other great base stealers, such as Vince Coleman, Maury Wills, and Ty Cobb. Coleman, who stole more than Robin Hood, swiped 110 bases for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1985, 107 in 1986, and 109 in 1987. Wills stole 104 for the Dodgers in 1962 and 94 in 1965. Cobb had 95 thefts for the Detroit Tigers in 1915. Lou Brock’s 118 in 1974 held the record until Henderson came along.
But that was then. In 2024, the Reds’ Elly De La Cruz led the majors with 67 SBs; the Braves’ Ronald Acuna had 73 in ’23.
Base stealing, like writing thank-you notes, is becoming a lost art today. It’s because teams gauge the risk-reward of the steal. They don’t want to take unnecessary chances in a game where the number of outs is finite. Instead, they are sitting back and waiting for the three-run homer. Even the little guys who could hit .300 draw a lot of walks and swing from their heels, more than willing to strike out frequently in exchange for eventually knocking one over the wall. The data tells teams they are more likely to win that way.
But not everyone agrees. Whit Merrifield stole 45 bases for the Kansas City Royals in 2018 and 40 in 2021 and led the American League both seasons. Here’s what he told Athlon Sports.
Base stealing is a lost art, in my opinion, because of how people view analytics these days. I guess they don’t like stolen bases or don’t value the risk-reward in their algorithm. A lot more goes into stolen bases than being successful or not. Numbers can’t quantify that — a guy being on first base, taking the pitcher’s attention away from the hitter, getting the hitter more fastballs because they’re scared of throwing a slider and bouncing it. There are a lot of things that go into being a threat on the bases that benefit a team. People forget about it. But I haven’t forgotten about it.
Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa said that because of the concentration on the home run, teams are neglecting to practice defending the steal. And a steal can be the difference-maker in a close game. “Stolen bases are more possible with average runners now until teams pay attention to it,” he told Athlon. “It’s a skill. You can teach these things… You should still be interested in adding a run, but if they think the only way to do that is swinging from their [butts], they won’t.”
There is also the risk of injury. The Angels’ Mike Trout stole 24 bases in 26 attempts in 2018 for a 92.3 percent success rate, the best in baseball. But in 2017, he lost six weeks when he tore a ligament in his thumb while sliding on a stolen base attempt. However, he dove headfirst into second base, which isn’t the wisest move if you don’t want to get hurt. Also, it has been demonstrated that you don’t get to the base any faster that way.
Jack Perconte, a middle infielder for a few major league teams in the 1980s, has the fourth-best all-time base-stealing percentage at 85.714. He said on his website: “The final key to successful base stealing is the ability to slide as late as possible, so little speed is lost from the friction of the ground… The pop-up slide seems to be rarely used now for base stealing, but I believe it should be.”
But perhaps we will again see what fans once took for granted. For example, back in the early 1980s, people used to go to the Oakland Coliseum to see Henderson chase stolen base records. There was great excitement in 1980 when “The Man of Steal” became just the third player in baseball history to steal 100 bags in a single season. Jackie Robinson, Coleman, Brock, and Wills used to distract pitchers when they reached base.
Everyone knew they would steal and succeed far more often than not. Even if they didn’t go, sabermetrics can never calculate the threat and its effects on infielder positioning, pitch selection, and the pitcher’s nerves.
The good news is the pendulum seems to be swinging back with the numbers Acuna Jr. and De La Cruz have put up recently, and–in what may be one of the hidden stats of 2024 is that most fans know Shohei Ohtani for his big bat (54 homers in ‘24). How many know he stole 59 bases last season, #2 across the Majors? (Let’s give that a BIG!)
Ty Cobb, as told to the Detroit Free Press, July 31, 1921, the season when Babe Ruth would smash 59 homers: With the sluggers of today, base stealing is a back number. But the hitting will pass. Then, we will return to the pitching and base running cycles. Five years from now, my baserunning marks may be eclipsed by some youngster now in grammar school.
Indeed, maybe somebody playing Little League ball today will be the next Rickey Henderson. At least, we can hope.
Matt Sieger, now retired sports reporter/columnist who worked for New York State and California newspapers, did his undergraduate work at Cornell University and received a master’s in journalism from Syracuse University. He is the author of The God Squad: The Born-Again San Francisco Giants of 1978. This article first appeared in The Vacaville (California) Reporter on August 15, 2019, and was contemporized for publication here.