The second and third greatest base stealers of all time?

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

I have to go Raines. Insane percentage for the any amount of steals let alone for the guy in 5th on the all-time list. Almost 85% success rate.

I Like Coleman, but sticking with the success rate theme I'm going to go Willie Wilson for 3rd at over 83%.

Honorable mention to Davey Lopes who had an 83% success rate in an era that was unheard of, plus he is credited with teaching Rickey a lot about reading pitchers and getting a jump. Rickey became a much higher percentage guy after being mentored by Lopes.

Incidentally the list of highest success percentage for steals for guys who had over 500 attempts goes

Raines
Wilson
Lopes
Rollins
Carl Crawford
Ichiro
Joe Morgan
Coleman
Henderson
Roberto Alomar
Jose Reyes

Those are the only guys over 80%. I was curious after writing the above, didn't know that going in, I just knew the guys I picked were very successful.

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

I have to go Raines. Insane percentage for the any amount of steals let alone for the guy in 5th on the all-time list. Almost 85% success rate.

I Like Coleman, but sticking with the success rate theme I'm going to go Willie Wilson for 3rd at over 83%.

Honorable mention to Davey Lopes who had an 83% success rate in an era that was unheard of, plus he is credited with teaching Rickey a lot about reading pitchers and getting a jump. Rickey became a much higher percentage guy after being mentored by Lopes.

Incidentally the list of highest success percentage for steals for guys who had over 500 attempts goes

Raines
Wilson
Lopes
Rollins
Carl Crawford
Ichiro
Joe Morgan
Coleman
Henderson
Roberto Alomar
Jose Reyes

Those are the only guys over 80%. I was curious after writing the above, didn't know that going in, I just knew the guys I picked were very successful.

Lopes was first base coach for the Phillies from 2007 to 2010, and I think the Phillies led the league (or were close to it) in stolen base percentage when he was there. I remember many of the players credited him with helping them greatly improve their running game as a team.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by jayshum

Lopes was first base coach for the Phillies from 2007 to 2010, and I think the Phillies led the league (or were close to it) in stolen base percentage when he was there. I remember many of the players credited him with helping them greatly improve their running game as a team.

Well Rollins is on the list of over 500 attempts guys over 80% and if I remember correctly Utley and Victorino were high percentage guys albeit with less attempts.

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

Well Rollins is on the list of over 500 attempts guys over 80% and if I remember correctly Utley and Victorino were high percentage guys albeit with less attempts.

Utley had a career success rate of 87.5% but with only 176 total attempts. In 2009 he had 23 steals without being caught.

Victorino was at 83.3% with 277 total attempts.

As a team in 2006, Phillies were at 78.6%. 2007 (Lopes first year as tgeir coach) was 87.9%. 2008 was 84.5%. 2009 was 81.0%. 2010 was 83.7%. Definitely a good run (pun intended) when he was there.

[NiceDocter]

To me it’s no contest…… Ty Cobb held the record until 1977 with 892…… including an incredible 54 steals of home!!! No one else even comes close!!

[jingram058]

Originally Posted by NiceDocter

To me it’s no contest…… Ty Cobb held the record until 1977 with 892…… including an incredible 54 steals of home!!! No one else even comes close!!

+1 and why no mention at all of Maury Wills since OP?

[bk400]

Perhaps this is an unpopular view, but I just can't get it up for pre-war, deep pre-integration player accolades, especially when it comes to something like base running. Ty Cobb may have been a freak of nature in his era, but he was just so much slower than modern era players. Ty Cobb reportedly ran the 100-yard dash in 10.2 seconds, which compares very unfavorably to Vince Coleman at 9.5 seconds and Rickey Henderson at 9.6 or so. I couldn't find Tim Raines's 100-yard dash time, but he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.3 seconds.

And I don't know how good the catchers were back in Ty Cobb's day, but I'd be willing to bet that they didn't throw to second base nearly as well or as quickly as the guys in the modern era.

Finally, the fact that Ty Cobb could steal home so many times seems to me to be less a testament to his ability and more an indictment of the level of preparation and coaching that persisted during his era.

I know it is unfair to compare across eras, but when we are talking about the best ever, I think there should be a bias toward modern players. The game has become so much more professional and athletically competitive than back in the 1910s and 20s.

[Balticfox]

Originally Posted by jingram058

+1 and why no mention at all of Maury Wills since OP?

So I just reconfirmed that the only Maury Wills cards I have in my Baseball card collection from the 1954-65 period are the 1962 Post Cereal and 1962 Shirriff Coins ones. Looking through my 1951-1990 Topps Baseball Cards book, I was then shocked to learn that Maury Wills' first Topps card wasn't until 1967! Can anyone explain why no Maury Wills' cards were included in the 1959-66 Topps sets?

[Balticfox]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

I have to go Raines. Insane percentage for the any amount of steals let alone for the guy in 5th on the all-time list. Almost 85% success rate.

I Like Coleman, but sticking with the success rate theme I'm going to go Willie Wilson for 3rd at over 83%.

Honorable mention to Davey Lopes who had an 83% success rate in an era that was unheard of, plus he is credited with teaching Rickey a lot about reading pitchers and getting a jump. Rickey became a much higher percentage guy after being mentored by Lopes.

Incidentally the list of highest success percentage for steals for guys who had over 500 attempts goes

Raines
Wilson
Lopes
Rollins
Carl Crawford
Ichiro
Joe Morgan
Coleman
Henderson
Roberto Alomar
Jose Reyes

Those are the only guys over 80%.

Willie Wilson deserves far more accolades in this thread! Though completely overshadowed by Ricky Henderson in his prime, Wilson led MLB with 83 steals in 1979 and had 79 in 1980. He's twelfth on the all-time list with 668.

But Wilson also hit 147 triples which was a total exceeded in the post WWII era by only Stan Musial and Roberto Clemente!

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by Balticfox

Willie Wilson deserves far more accolades in this thread! Though completely overshadowed by Ricky Henderson in his prime, Wilson led MLB with 83 steals in 1979 and had 79 in 1980. He's twelfth on the all-time list with 668.

But Wilson also hit 147 triples which was a total exceeded in the post WWII era by only Stan Musial and Roberto Clemente!

Willie was a master of using that KC artificial turf to his advantage, though his Home/Away splits are not as lopsided as you may think they are (they are still much better in KC), so he was able to adjust if he needed to.

If Willie ever figured out how to take a walk, he might be in the HOF right now.