Considering that each prior era emphasized either home runs or stolen bases, but never both to this degree, it is important to understand the complementary factors which explain why this period in the 1970s broke with convention and ushered in a new style of play. Practically the only left-handed starter the Blue Jays had during the 1980s, Key was arguably as untouchable as Roger Clemens. Gwynn shunned the homer but registered the NLs highest average in 40 years. The circumstantial evidence linking Wills, in particular, to a change in contemporary managerial philosophy is strong. THE 1950s: THE NADIR OF STOLEN BASES. Davis topped out at 50 stolen bases in 2010, though . Tigers' all-time leaders: No one will catch Cobb in stolen bases - mlive Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. For the first time since the early 1900s, most teams fielded lineups where the majority of players were capable ofand encouraged tosteal bases. For LF, CF, RF fielding stats, we The New York Yankees teams of the 1950s surely were slow-footed, but that power-laden team also rarely attempted to steal bases (Billy Martin, for example, was the only player on the 1953 Yankees who attempted as many as 13 stolen bases, stealing only six that season). Key Numbers:.287 average, 90 runs, 178 hits, 49 home runs, 137 RBIs, 11 stolen bases. Hunter made his major league debut for the Astros on June 27, 1994, against the Cincinnati Reds. Do you have a blog? It is reasonable to infer that the individual philosophies of stolen-base-minded managers in the 1950s, such as Paul Richards and Charlie Dressen, led to their respective teams making more stolen base attempts than others. actual value and not the value used to rank them, therefore some During the first few weeks of a season a few years ago, the umpires did enforce the rule and chaos resulted. Such examples, though, were exceptions to the rule. For pitcher fielding the Melvin Durslag noted in 1977 that basestealers were vexed by opposing management trying to water the infield to slow runners up; pitchers stretching the rules to hold runners on; shortstops leaning towards second base to thwart basestealing attempts; and first basemen relentlessly chatting with baserunners in order to break the latters concentration. If it is true that baseball trends run in cycles, the Deadball Era was when the stolen base was paramount; the 1920s was a time of transition, when home runs gained on stolen bases before overtaking them by the end of the decade; the 1930s and 1940s were decades of relative stability between home runs and steals; the 1950s were the low point in major league history for stolen bases; and the 1960s brought a renewed use of the stolen base, culminating in the extremely high totals of the 1970s and beyond. Yearly League Leaders & Records for Stolen Bases - Baseball-Reference.com Billy Evans, then a retired umpire, suggested also that umpires refusal to enforce recently-enacted rules requiring pitchers to hold the set position for a full second was another reason why stolen bases fell so substantially in the 1950s. As Koppett noted in 1986: Before Wills, only two players in 40 years had reached 60 stolen bases in a season; once each. [2] Key Numbers: .323 average, 105 runs, 207 hits, 33 doubles, 8 triples, 15 home runs, 83 RBIs, 12 stolen bases. Keep scrolling down for answers and more stats . [/fn], It is not that players of prior years did not study pitchers tendencies when electing when to steal; as Dick Kaegel notes: The brainy Cobb was the first of the modern players to study and mentally catalogue the movements of pitchers, searching for that one little flaw that would give him the edge.[fn]Kaegel, Fiery Cobb, Cool Brock Got Same Results.[/fn]Rather, it was an emphasis on studying combined with modern techniques that made stealing bases profitable: Years later, Kaegel continued, Brock was doing the same thing, adding such refinements as filming pitchers and clocking their motions with a stopwatch.[fn]Ibid.[/fn]. [6], List of Major League Baseball career stolen bases leaders, List of Major League Baseball annual stolen base leaders, "Listach to return as Tacoma Rainiers manager, team will have two new coaches", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Brian_Hunter_(outfielder)&oldid=1157480992, Career statistics and player information from, This page was last edited on 28 May 2023, at 22:27. The Mexico-born southpaw continued to impress in Milwaukee, furnishing the longest streak of consecutive scoreless innings (33.1) in Brewers history. I wanted all the suspense of the playoff and home run races. Jorge Mateo. Did you know that the National League rookie with the most stolen bases in a single season is Vince Coleman who had one-hundred ten (110) steals with St. Louis in one-hundred fifty-one (151) games played during the 1985 season? Contact us at This Great Game. 1987 National League Batting Leaders Previous Season Next Season Other Leagues: Major Leagues, AL Pennant Winner: St. Louis Cardinals NL Most Valuable Player: Andre Dawson NL Cy Young: Steve Bedrosian NL Rookie of the Year: Benito Santiago Become a Stathead & surf this site ad-free. I wanted those 162 games. By the end of the Deadball Era in 1919, stolen base totals had fallen by nearly 40 percent from their peak roughly a decade earlier. . . In June, future Hall of Fame outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. was selected with the number one overall pick in the Major League Baseball draft, by the Seattle . And the response has been renewed interest in the value of stealing a base.[fn] Koppett, New Era for Base Burglars.[/fn]The urgency of taking steps to advance runners, Koppett implies, required a shift in approach: And as batting averages have dropped, the chance of getting two singles with a man on first has become less, so it has become that much moreimportant to get your man to second so that one single can score him.[fn] Ibid. Making up for a lost previous year that followed up his breakout Cy Young Award campaign of 1985, Saberhagen got back on trackthough he stalled after a 14-2 start. Rank: Name: Team: Stats: 1: Noah Syndergaard: LAD: 20: 2t : Patrick Corbin: Was: 13: 2t : Steven Matz only have reliable data since 1901, so all leaders are since 1901. A ** by the stat's value Subscribe to Stathead Baseball: Get your first month FREEYour All-Access Ticket to the Baseball Reference Database. Since 1965, in addition to Wills, 11 other players have done it a total of 24 times (including Lou Brocks record 118 in 1974).[fn]Koppett, Wills Prompted Running Revolution.[/fn]It is no coincidence that many of the most successful teams of the 1970s included players who stole bases with the dedication and determination of both Wills and Brock. Career SB Leaders:1.Rickey Henderson+/1406/13346, 2.Lou Brock+/938/11240, 3.Billy Hamilton+/914/7609, 4.Ty Cobb+/897/13103, 5.Tim Raines+/808/10359, 6.Vince Coleman/752/5970, 7.Arlie Latham/742/7524, 8.Eddie Collins+/741/12087, 9.Max Carey+/738/10772, 10.Honus Wagner+ Sports Reference Baseball Football(college) Basketball(college) Hockey Futebol With the exception of 1900 through 1903, this three-year period from 1974 through 1976 represented the largest yearby-year increase in stolen bases in major league history. Many thanks to him. In the National League alone, Joe Morgan, Larry Bowa, Dave Concepcion, Davey Lopes, Frank Taveras, and Omar Moreno were only a few of the players other than Lou Brock in the 1970s who contributed significantly to the lofty aggregate stolen base totals. League Baseball (MLB) World Series As a batter, Hunter set the Tigers all-time record for outs with 525, which still stands today. Jose Cruz of the Houston Astros had his number twenty-five retired on October 3, 1992, and became the first Major League player with that particular retired number. [/fn]Mentioning Billy Southworth as a proponent of this approach, Drebinger said: Though modern managers are still loathe (sic) to risk signaling for a stolen base, unless gifted with one of those modern rarities like George Case, Pete Reiser, or George Stirnweiss, several have stressed the value of alert, heads-up base running where players are instructed to keep on their toes, take advantage of every slip and at all times be prepared to grab that extra base on a hit.[fn]Ibid. Become a Stathead Statistic Description: Stolen Bases the official stats partner of the NBA, NHL and MLB. . 3. For the second straight year, Jackson easily had the worst run support per start in the AL; the Royals averaged 3.35 runs every time he took the mound. [/fn] A consistent turn towards more frequent basestealing had already become evident on the field, as teams collectively stole over 1,000 more bases in 1976 than they did only three years earlier. 0.67 Gm and Chances/Team Game (fielding), (The Cubs wrote in $500,000.). [fn]Year-by-year data on stolen bases and home runs used in this article is courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com. [/fn], Further, a May 1948 article titled Is Base-Stealing Becoming a Lost Art? offered a perspective on why both stolen bases and home runs were higher in the American League than in the National League during this period: Alogical explanation seems to be that the outstanding basestealers, such as (Ben) Chapman and (Bill) Werber, are in the American League and the tendency always is for teammates and Leaguemates to emulate such examples. A sign of natural ability combined with raw speed is what you can determine with a player's total number of stolen bases especially those that scored high numbers in a single season. With so much offense in 1987, undeserving .500 pitcher Hershiser had to wonder where all of his support was. players as of August 1976 had stolen 68.2 percent of the bases they attempted and that many teams were stealing bases at a better than 70 percent success rate. Bold type in brick red indicates league leader. Get the latest MLB live scoring leaders on Jun 24, 2023. From 1965 through 1972, batting averages were generally lower than they were during the late 1940s and 1950s. Explanation of While teams had generally enjoyed batting averages in the .260s between 1945 and 1955 and in the .250s between 1955 and 1964, the decline in batting average from the mid-1960s into the 70s obviously made scoring runs more difficult. Though it was in the direction of home runs rather than stolen bases, it is reasonable to say that the 1950s offered as single-minded a style of play as did the Deadball Era. document.write(update); An American League press release issued on August 2, 1976, noted that thirtyeight players have already stolen ten bases, a statistic which comports with most fans impressions of the style of play in the 1970s. copyright=new Date(); New York Mets: 15 Most Deadly Base-Stealers in Franchise History After his numbers softened in 1986, Murphy firmly rebounded and set personal bests in home runs and walks; he suffered an instant downturn a year later and hit only .234 for the remainder of his career. The National League's Top 10 Hitters, 1987 Bold type in brick red indicates league leader. . Of course, stolen base strategists had to stay one step ahead of the competition. Question, Comment, Feedback, or Correction? Much of the play-by-play, game results, and transaction information both shown and used to create certain data sets was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by RetroSheet. Henderson, NY-Oak, Brian numbers may appear out of order. Key Numbers: 131 games, .286 average, 93 runs, 35 home runs, 106 RBIs, 136 walks, 139 strikeouts, .459 on-base percentage, .597 slugging percentage. Jon Berti (Marlins) had the most stolen bases by a player (41). In a year where home runs trumped ace pitchers, Boggs rode the slugging frenzy to smack a career-high 24; he never hit more than 11 in any other season. Key Numbers:.293 average, 88 runs, 28 doubles, 35 home runs, 113 RBIs, 83 walks. Major League Baseball (MLB) Awards When comparing stolen base totals between eras, the differing rules about what a stolen base was at the time obviously impact data comparisons. Career Leaders & Records for Stolen Bases - Baseball-Reference.com the official stats partner of the NBA, NHL and MLB. All rights reserved. Major League Baseball Stolen Base Leaders, Additional Major League Baseball (MLB) pages on Rauzulu' Street: THE 1920S: HOME RUNS OVERTAKE STOLEN BASES, The plunge in stolen bases during the next decade is made evident by two statistics: after 1920, no player in the major leagues stole as many as 60 bases during the rest of the decade, and only twice in either league from 1921 through 1929 (the National League in 1921 and 1923) did teams collectively average more than 100 stolen bases. A few astonishing facts about Molitors memorable (39-game hit streak) and painful (40 games lost to injury) season: He hit an insane .444 with runners in scoring position, and despite missing all that time, still led the AL in runs and doubles. CS. . The stats will tell and Baseball Almanac is pleased to present the top one-hundred theft filled National League seasons. [/fn]With these impediments, both teams and defenses were strategizing constantly about stolen basesand how to prevent them. The National League single season record for stolen bases was set in 1974 by Lou Brock of the St. Louis Cardinals. Key Numbers: 3.36 ERA, 18 wins, 10 losses, 33 starts, 15 shutouts, 257 innings, 53 walks. Most Stolen Bases, Career (minimum 100) 1: 170: Matt Figgie, Gates Mills Gilmour Academy (1982-1984) 2: 144: Greg Spearman, Sidney Lehman Catholic (2012-2015) . Jorel Ortega - 17 4. In 1950, 1953, and from 1955 through 1958, approximately three home runs were hit for every base stolen, a ratio never seen before or since. Copyright 1999- HoJo posted a career-high 41 steals in 1989, falling four home runs shy of becoming the second member of the 40-40 club. Stealing in a game? [3] He played in all 162 games that year; he also led the league in putouts, and committed only four errors. Drebinger cited Joe Cronin, who as manager of the Boston Red Sox, mused Why risk an out simply to gain a base, when most any batter onyour club, if he connects properly, can smack it over the fence?[fn]John Drebinger, Sportfolio, 1947. The increase from 1900 to 1903 was slightly greater, as the number of teams doubled.[/fn]. [/fn], If Wills provided the spark for the stolen base revolution, Lou Brocks influence kept stolen bases at the forefront. OHIO HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL RECORDS. College baseball's most unbreakable records | NCAA.com Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. Perhaps the most telling statistic in all of base-stealing history is that major league teams from 1906 through 1909 averaged more than 10 stolen bases for every home run hit, with a peak of 11.8 steals per home run in 1909. NL Stolen Base Leaders Online Quiz | MLB Records | 10 Questions Key Numbers:.289 average, 97 runs, 28 doubles, 49 home runs, 118 RBIs, .618 slugging percentage. Seth Stephenson - 28 2. But an increased emphasis on stolen bases did not lead to a corresponding fall in home runs. Finding the top 25 players during any given season is far more challenging. Do you have a sports website? Key Numbers: 3.21 ERA, 15 wins, 7 losses, .682 win percentage, 179.2 innings, 24 stolen bases allowed. only have reliable data since 1901, so all leaders are since 1901. But, over and above the explanations, the downturn in stolen bases was huge. The muscular rookie forfeited his shot at a 50th home run when he skipped the years final game to witness the birth of his first child. Some high school data is courtesy David McWater. Total Zone Rating and initial framework for Wins above Replacement calculations provided by Sean Smith. Key Numbers:.327 average, 93 runs, 186 hits, 38 doubles, 30 home runs, 115 RBIs. 0.1 SB att/Team Game (baserunners only since 1951), and It was in the latter half of the 1940s when stolen bases began to decline most precipitously and home runs began to rise to then-historic heights. Key Numbers:.295 average, 115 runs, 27 doubles, 44 home runs, 105 RBIs, 115 walks, 29 intentional walks, 16 stolen bases. Initially, that happened. Find the Countries of Europe - No Outlines Minefield. With batting averages falling to .244 in 1972, teams sought new ways to score runs. But the modern style of play, dictated by the lively ball, has a sedentary effect on all but a few of the speed boys., [fn] Lew King, The Fleet-Feet Boys, Baseball Magazine, 1947, 419. At the peak of the golden age of steals in 1987, MLB teams were attempting steals 12.4 percent of the time when they were on first base (SB attempts/1B+BB+HBP). [fn] Total home runs fell between 1966 and 1968, from 2,743 in 1966 to 2,299 in 1967 to 1,995 in 1968, before rising again in 1969, when baseball expanded.[/fn]. With thanks to the Baseball Hall of Fame for providing clippings of vintage articles cited in this piece. The same was true in reverse for, say, the Yankees under Casey Stengel or Milwaukee Braves under Fred Haney. PDF Division Iii Baseball Records - Ncaa Look for your favorite MLB slugger in this impressive list of baseball's top 500 career batting leaders. Search Many fans will argue that "the steal" has become more important and others will argue that it has become less important. Up to this point, few players in baseball history were capable both of hitting home runs and stealing bases in quantity. As Koppett said: In short, its no secret that home run totals and batting averages have been much, much lower over the past decade than for the 40 years before that. The 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers stole 90, while the 195759 Chicago White Sox stole more than 100 bases in each season. Hunter, who threw and batted right-handed, was drafted by the Houston Astros in the 2nd round (35th overall) of the 1989 amateur draft. Of course, it made sense for teams to eschew stolen bases considering the array of power hitters in the game at the time. plate appearances for the BA, OBP, SLG or OPS title that year. What would become a steep decline in stolen bases first became evident in the National League, as from 1931 through 1945, no NL player stole as many as 30 bases in a season. But we let them go here because our base running is such a science.[fn]UPI, Stealings a Science in Kansas City, New York Daily News, July 24, 1977, 33C. During the 1950s, some teams did steal bases with regularity. The Development of the Science of Basestealing. The drop in stolen bases was greater between 1913 and 1915 than it was between 1916 and 1918, but I am referring to when there was an overall change in base-stealing philosophy[/fn] From a stolen base perspective, it is quite reasonable to consider the last three years of the Deadball Era as being stylistically removed from the first 16 years. Many historical player head shots courtesy of David Davis. 0.67 Gm and Chances/Team Game (fielding), Indeed, the 1919 season was a sign of things to come, as total home runs in major league baseball nearly doubled from the year prior. Baseball Almanac has taken away that difficult problem and is pleased to present the data you requested: "Maybe I missed my routine and my game so much that I was trying to rationalize reasons for getting it back. The result was a more methodical approach to stealing bases, which allowed even slower runners the chance to steal bases effectively when the situation allowed: Weve got guys like (George) Brett, (Hal) McRae and Joe Zdeb who arent pure baserunners and are the type most clubs wouldnt give free reign (sic) to, said Kansas City first base coach Steve Boros in 1977. [1], Hunter was born on March 25, 1971, in Portland, Oregon. document.write(update); State Records : Baseball - OHSAA List of Major League Baseball career records In Major League Baseball (MLB), records play an integral part in evaluating a player's impact on the sport. The National League single season record for stolen bases is on this page. Until a few seasons ago, there was only one name Mets fans would think of when they considered stolen-base leaders in the Mets organization. As stolen bases began to rise again in 1959, it spoke in part to the influence of White Sox shortstop Luis Aparicio, who won the American League stolen base title in nine straight seasons, from 1956 though 1964. 2. Sliding Billy Hamilton held the stolen base record for 80 years. As basestealing became an integral facet of baseball offenses in the 1970s, with it came more attention to the study of how to steal bases more efficiently. added to the player's season total. NAIA Baseball Records - NAIA With stolen bases and power both being high, steals and home runs were once again generally in a one-to-one ratio during the latter half of the decade, a balance last seen in the 1940s. MLB Baseball Player Stats & Stats Leaders - Stolen Bases - TeamRankings.com Top 25 Stolen Bases in the National League in 1982 Finding the American or National League leader in virtually every hitting & pitching statistic is easy-to-do. In 1956, when teams hit a combined 2,294 home runsthe highest total of the decade every team in the major leagues other than the Baltimore Orioles hit more than 100 home runs. Hunter then went on to spend the next three seasons in class A playing for the Asheville Tourists of the South Atlantic League in 1990 and then the Osceola Astros of the Florida State League for two seasons 19911992. Copyright 1999- MLB Baseball Career Batting Leaders - Major League Baseball - ESPN Consequently, a wider range of players was stealing bases than ever before, resulting in many players with a modest number of stolen bases contributing to the high league-wide totals. Key Numbers:3.06 ERA, 16 wins, 16 losses, 1 save, 37 appearances, 35 starts, 264.2 innings, 11 wild pitches, 30 grounded into double plays. Baseball takes its own sweet time reaching its conclusions." Stolen Bases : 1982 National League Top 25 - Baseball Almanac Aparicio helped to best bridge the gap between the predominantly power-hitting game of the 1950s to the one of the 1960s, where players stealing bases took their place alongside home run hitters. It allows scope for human initiative which is also very welcome.[fn]Ibid.[/fn]. Jim Thome wore number twenty-five since he first came up with the Cleveland Indians making him the franchise record holder for that particular number (Mike Garcia is second). Use without license or authorization is expressly prohibited. [/fn]Perhaps only George Foster, Greg Luzinski, Willie Stargell, and Tony Perez from the 1970s could be considered to have been in the same mold as the most notable power hitters of the 1950s. Willss achievement of stealing 104 bases in a season was even more staggering given that Aparicios American League-leading total from the same year was a mere 31. A weird year, to say the least, for the Ryan Express; he turned 40, won his second ERA title but with an 8-16 record thats the worst by a league leader, and recorded the highest strikeout-per-nine-inning rate (11.5) of his illustrious career. min. Full-year historical Major League statistics provided by Pete Palmer and Gary Gillette of Hidden Game Sports. copyright=new Date(); Finding the American or National League leader in virtually every hitting & pitching statistic is easy-to-do. Yet, beyond that, players in the 1970s were much more able to provide both power and speed whenever necessary, leading the way for Rickey Henderson in the 1980s and foreshadowing a type of player which has become comparatively frequent today. He has contributed many interview-based player profiles to Baseball Digest in recent years and writes a monthly column for Sports Collectors Digest.. Wayward for two seasons after a terrific 1984 debut, Langston re-acquired ace status and nearly became the Mariners first 20-game winner. Hunter was hired as hitting coach for the Everett AquaSox for the 2015 season.
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