Stolen Base - Background

Background

Ned Cuthbert, playing for the Philadelphia Keystones in either 1863 or 1865, is documented as the first baseball player to steal a base in a baseball game, although the term stolen base was not used until 1871. For a time in the 19th century, stolen bases were credited when a baserunner reached an extra base on a base hit from another player. For example if a runner on first base reached third base on a single, it would count as a steal. In 1887, Hugh Nicol set a still-standing Major League record with 138 stolen bases, many of which would not have counted under modern rules. Modern steal rules were fully implemented in 1898, and steals are now only credited when a runner successfully takes an extra base while the ball is being pitched, but not already hit. If the ball is dead on the pitch run on, such as from a foul ball (except caught fly-out), the steal is not allowed and the runner returns to his time-of-pitch base. In addition, if the situation of the game is such that the steal is of little use (usually in the late innings when the runner would not change the game's outcome by scoring), and the catcher does not attempt to throw out the runner, the runner is not credited with a steal, and the base is attributed to defensive indifference.

Base stealing was popular in the game's early decades, with speedsters such as Ty Cobb and Clyde Milan stealing nearly 100 bases in a season. But the tactic fell into relative disuse after Babe Ruth introduced the era of the home run – in 1955, for example, no one in baseball stole more than 25 bases, and Dom DiMaggio won the AL stolen base title in 1950 with just 15. However, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, base-stealing was brought back to prominence primarily by Luis Aparicio and Maury Wills, who broke Cobb's modern single-season record by stealing 104 bases in 1962. Wills' record was broken in turn by Lou Brock in 1974, and Rickey Henderson in 1982. The stolen base remained a popular tactic through the 1980s, perhaps best exemplified by Vince Coleman and the St. Louis Cardinals, but began to decline again in the 1990s as the frequency of home runs reached unprecedented heights and the steal-friendly artificial turf ballparks began to disappear.