Ask any Red Sox fan to name the most famous play in team history, and you’ll get no shortage of answers. Carlton Fisk’s extra-inning, walk-off home run to win Game 6 of the 1975 World Series. Mookie Wilson’s slow ground ball through Bill Buckner’s legs in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. Bucky-bleeping-Dent.
But for me, it’s Dave Roberts stealing second in Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS against the Yankees. Before the Red Sox’ memorable comeback and first World Series since 1918, there was Roberts.
Down three games to none in the series and 4-3 in the ninth inning against Mariano Rivera, everyone, including the Yankees, knew that Roberts would attempt to steal second. After three pickoff attempts, Roberts went for it, narrowly beating Jorge Posada’s throw. Bill Mueller singled, and the rest was history.
The stolen base was once a magical thing. Lou Brock made them cool. Rickey Henderson made them iconic. Modern baseball made them borderline non-existent.
From 1976 through 2001, players in MLB tallied at least 2,923 steals every season that was played to completion (in other words, excluding strike-shortened seasons). In the 20 seasons since, that number has been reached only four times.
The league has seen fewer than 2,538 steals in every season since 2014. Last year’s 2,214 steals were the lowest for a full season since 1973.
They’re a thing of the past. And like any great relic, we should take a moment to celebrate them. And, in particular, those players who exceled at them. So here is a look at the career leaders in stolen bases for each MLB team.
Arizona Diamondbacks
Stolen Base Leader: Tony Womack (182)
Years played for the team: 1999-2003
Highest single-season total with team: 72
Womack became an everyday player in 1997 and promptly rattled off seasons of 60, 58, and 72 steals. He finished his career with 363 total stolen bases.
Atlanta/Boston Braves
Stolen Base Leader: Herman Long (433)
Years played for the team: 1890 – 1902
Highest single-season total with team: 60
I get it, it’s the 1890s, but give Long credit. His total doesn’t even count the 89-steal year he had back in 1889 for the Kansas City Cowboys!!
Baltimore Orioles/St. Louis Browns
Stolen Base Leader: George Sisler (351)
Years played for the team: 1915 – 1927
Highest single-season total with team: 51
Sisler is best known for having the single-season hit record that Ichiro Suzuki broke. But he was a noted base stealer back in the day, swiping at least 34 bases in six of seven seasons from 1916 through 1922.
Boston Red Sox
Stolen Base Leader: Harry Hooper (300)
Years played for the team: 1909 – 1920
Highest single-season total with team: 40
You would have thought a team like the Red Sox would have had a more prolific base stealer than someone who last played in 1925, but here we are. Hooper topped 30 steals just twice in his career.
Chicago Cubs
Stolen Base Leader: Frank Chance (400)
Years played for the team: 1898 – 1912
Highest single-season total with team: 67
Chance, of Tinker to Evers to Chance fame, hit just 20 career home runs, but was more than capable of swiping a bag when necessary.
Chicago White Sox
Stolen Base Leader: Eddie Collins (368)
Years played for the team: 1915 – 1926
Highest single-season total with team: 53
The best part about Collins is that he’s the all-time stolen base leader for the White Sox, and yet the 368 bags he stole for them represent less than half of his career total of 744.
Cincinnati Reds/Red Stockings
Stolen Base Leader: Bid McPhee (568)
Years played for the team: 1882 – 1899
Highest single-season total with team: 95
In McPhee’s final season, during which he was 39 years old, he stole 18 bases and batted .279. He had four seasons of at least 54 thefts.
Cleveland Indians/Guardians
Stolen Base Leader: Kenny Lofton (452)
Years played for the team: 1992 – 2001, 2007
Highest single-season total with team: 75
Lofton is one of the most underappreciated players of his generation and began his Indians career with 325 stolen bases over his first five seasons.
Colorado Rockies
Stolen Base Leader: Eric Young Sr. (180)
Years played for the team: 1993 - 1997
Highest single-season total with team: 53
The Rockies have by far the fewest total for their stolen base leader, but it was hardly Young’s fault. He tallied 465 steals in his MLB career, but the majority of those came after he left Colorado.
Detroit Tigers
Stolen Base Leader: Ty Cobb (865)
Years played for the team: 1905 – 1926
Highest single-season total with team: 97
There was nothing Cobb couldn’t do on a baseball field. Other than perhaps win an impromptu popularity contest.
Houston Astros
Stolen Base Leader: Cesar Cedeno (487)
Years played for the team: 1970-1981
Highest single-season total with team: 61
Cedeno stole at least 50 bases for six straight seasons with the Astros beginning with his age-21 season.
Kansas City Royals
Stolen Base Leader: Willie Wilson (612)
Years played for the team: 1976 - 1990
Highest single-season total with team: 83
Wilson never stole fewer than 20 bases in a season for the Royals after he became a regular.
Los Angeles Angels
Stolen Base Leader: Chone Figgins (280)
Years played for the team: 2002 - 2009
Highest single-season total with team: 62
Figgins was the ideal utility man and stole at least 34 bags in each season he was a regular for the Angels.
Los Angeles Dodgers
Stolen Base Leader: Maury Wills (490)
Years played for the team: 1959 – 1966, 1969 - 1972
Highest single-season total with team: 104
Wills had seasons of 94 and 104 steals, but his next-highest total was “just” 53. Kudos to his stolen base prowess considering he had just a .330 career OBP.
Miami/Florida Marlins
Stolen Base Leader: Luis Castillo (281)
Years played for the team: 1996 - 2005
Highest single-season total with team: 62
Castillo hit more than two home runs in just two of his 10 seasons with the Marlins, so he did everything he could to provide value with his legs.
Milwaukee Brewers
Stolen Base Leader: Paul Molitor (412)
Years played for the team: 1978 – 1992
Highest single-season total with team: 45
Molitor was as consistent as they come, topping 30 stolen bases eight times but never more than 45. A 79% success rate didn’t hurt.
Minnesota Twins/Washington Senators
Stolen Base Leader: Clyde Milan (495)
Years played for the team: 1907 – 1922
Highest single-season total with team: 88
Of Milan’s 2,100 career hits, 1,738 of them were singles. He had a lot of opportunities to run.
New York Mets
Stolen Base Leader: Jose Reyes (408)
Years played for the team: 2003 - 2011, 2016 - 2018
Highest single-season total with team: 78
Reyes was electric when he burst onto the scene, stealing at least 56 bases in four straight seasons. Frequent leg injuries robbed him of 50 – 100 more with New York.
New York Yankees
Stolen Base Leader: Derek Jeter (358)
Years played for the team: 1995 - 2014
Highest single-season total with team: 34
Jeter was a smart baserunner but hardly a burner, and his single-season high of 34 is the lowest of any team leader. Still, leave it to Jeter to somehow lead baseball’s most historic franchise in a category where he hardly exceled.
Oakland Athletics
Stolen Base Leader: Rickey Henderson (867)
Years played for the team: 1979 – 1984, 1989 – 1995, 1998
Highest single-season total with team: 130
The greatest and most dominant base-stealer of all time. An 81% success rate. A 66-steal season at age 39. Narrowly missed being the all-time stolen base leader for the Yankees despite playing just 4.5 seasons for them. He can refer to himself in the third person all he wants.
Philadelphia Phillies
Stolen Base Leader: Billy Hamilton (508)
Years played for the team: 1890 - 1895
Highest single-season total with team: 111 (twice)
I guess if your name is Billy Hamilton, you steal a bunch of bases. But even the “new” Hamilton couldn’t put together five seasons with at least 97 thefts like the old one did.
Pittsburgh Pirates
Stolen Base Leader: Max Carey (688)
Years played for the team: 1910 – 1926
Highest single-season total with team: 63
Carey stole at least 35 bases in every full season from 1912 through 1925.
San Diego Padres
Stolen Base Leader: Tony Gwynn (319)
Years played for the team: 1982 – 2001
Highest single-season total with team: 56
Gwynn only had four seasons with more than 26 steals and only five seasons with more than 17. But he played for so long that he compiled enough to be the all-time leader. Also, he’s Tony Gwynn so he should just own all Padres records anyway.
San Francisco/New York Giants
Stolen Base Leader: Mike Tiernan (428)
Years played for the team: 1887 - 1899
Highest single-season total with team: 56
I’ll be honest, I don’t have much to say about Tiernan. He stole a lot of bases and NEVER struck out (5.8% K rate). He’d be a superstar now.
Seattle Mariners
Stolen Base Leader: Ichiro Suzuki (438)
Years played for the team: 2001 – 2012, 2018 – 2019
Highest single-season total with team: 56
Imagine what the total would have been had he started playing in the United States before his age-27 season.
St. Louis Cardinals
Stolen Base Leader: Lou Brock (888)
Years played for the team: 1964 – 1979
Highest single-season total with team: 118
Brock’s 118-steal season came when he was 35 years old. Oh, and it was sandwiched between 12 straight years of at least 51 stolen bases.
Tampa Bay Rays/Devil Rays
Stolen Base Leader: Carl Crawford (409)
Years played for the team: 2002 – 2010
Highest single-season total with team: 60
Remember the Crawford who played for Tampa Bay and try to forget any other version of him. He stole 409 bases in his nine seasons with Tampa. He stole just 71 over his final six seasons.
Texas Rangers
Stolen Base Leader: Elvis Andrus (305)
Years played for the team: 2009 – 2020
Highest single-season total with team: 42
Yeah, the Rangers just don’t really steal bases. Andrus was a capable base-stealer for many years, but the bar wasn’t very high. The next highest total was Ian Kinsler’s 172.
Toronto Blue Jays
Stolen Base Leader: Lloyd Moseby (255)
Years played for the team: 1980 - 1989
Highest single-season total with team: 39
Moseby had just a .332 OBP but made the most of it, stealing at least 30 bases five times.
Washington Nationals/Montreal Expos
Stolen Base Leader: Tim Raines (635)
Years played for the team: 1979 – 1990, 2001
Highest single-season total with team: 90
Raines was an incredible player and a better base-stealer, successful on 84.6% of his attempts. He added another 173 after leaving Montreal.
