All Good Things...

I don't want to be sucked into an excuse-making apologia, so I'll be blunt: you've undoubtedly noticed a lack of regular updates on this blog, stretching back over a period of months. While I still enjoy the obscure minutia of baseball history, and I do still write occasionally at Brew Crew Ball, I am not able to devote as much time to research as I used to. Call it a lack of inspiration, a dwindling of desire, or whatever you will, but it's time to give up the illusion that I'll post regularly again.

If you've got questions or comments about previous posts or have something you want me to research, drop me a line. It's worth noting that my top research tool over the past few years has been the Baseball-Reference.com Play Index. It has expanded greatly over time and features a free trial until November 20th, so play around and see what you can find.

Thanks for reading and providing input over the past two years.

60+ Steals of Second Base

Since 1898*, only four players have stolen 100 bases in a season. Maury Wills swiped 104 bags in 1962, Lou Brock took 118 in 1974, and Rickey Henderson and Vince Coleman did it multiple times in the 1980s. Of those four speedsters, only Lou Brock had at least 100 steals of second base in that season. In fact, a stunning 112 of his 118 swipes were of second base.

Below is the leaderboard of the most steals of second base in a season since 1954.

Rank	Name	Year	2B SB	Total SB
1	Lou Brock	1974	112	118
2	Rickey Henderson	1982	94	130
3	Omar Moreno	1980	91	96
4	Maury Wills	1962	86	104
5	Vince Coleman	1987	85	109
	Tim Raines	1983	85	90
7	Rickey Henderson	1980	82	100
8	Ron LeFlore	1980	80	97
9	Rickey Henderson	1983	79	108
	Willie Wilson	1979	79	83
11	Vince Coleman	1985	78	110
	Maury Wills	1965	78	94
13	Vince Coleman	1986	76	107
	Rudy Law	1983	76	77
15	Tim Raines	1982	74	78
16	Omar Moreno	1979	73	77
	Ron LeFlore	1979	73	78
18	Rickey Henderson	1986	72	87
	Lou Brock	1966	72	74
20	Tim Raines	1984	71	75
	Dave Collins	1980	71	79
22	Willie Wilson	1980	69	79
23	Rickey Henderson	1985	65	80
	Davey Lopes	1975	65	77
25	Eric Davis	1986	64	80
	Tim Raines	1985	64	70
27	Tony Womack	1999	63	72
	Omar Moreno	1978	63	71
	Ron LeFlore	1978	63	68
	Lou Brock	1973	63	70
31	Jose Reyes	2007	62	78
	Rickey Henderson	1988	62	93
	Joe Morgan	1975	62	67
	Mickey Rivers	1975	62	70
35	Kenny Lofton	1993	61	70
	Joe Morgan	1973	61	67
37	Chone Figgins	2005	60	62
	Scott Podsednik	2004	60	70
	Brian Hunter	1997	60	74
	Tim Raines	1986	60	70
	Juan Samuel	1984	60	72
	Lonnie Smith	1982	60	68
	Tim Raines	1981	60	71
	Billy North	1976	60	75

Retrosheet data splitting players' stolen bases out by base only goes back to 1954, so early twentieth-century basestealers like Ty Cobb, Eddie Collins, Clyde Milan, and Bob Bescher are unfortunately ignored. It is likely at least one of them (and/or another player) belongs somewhere on the above list.

* - the modern definition of the stolen base did not come into being until 1898. For more information about the change in definition over time, the wikipedia entry on the stolen base rule's evolution is here.