NakamuraStealing Away the Victory
One common rule applies to every sport. Speed will always kill. Whether it be basketball, where players constantly run up and down the court, or hockey, where you have to skate faster than your opponent, or get your head smashed into glass. But for baseball, speed is used in a slightly different fashion. There are no bone crushing hits at the end. Instead, there's a base. No running back and forth. Instead in one straight line. 90 feet of dirt. It was 90 feet of dirt yesterday, it was 90 feet of dirt last week and it was also 90 feet when legends like Rickey Henderson made a name for themselves.
Legends who somehow stole 1406 bases one career. It was the same 90 for other people like Joe Jackson, who stole home twice in a game. And Ty Cobb, who has stolen home 50 times in his famous career. But the art of the stolen base has changed over the years. There are currently no active players who rank in the Top 10 for most career stolen bases. In fact, you have to go all the way down to the 50th player. There, you'll find Juan Pierre, center fielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Pierre has 452 stolen bases. Great job Juan, you only have 954 bases to go. It seems like nobody will touch Henderson for years to come. But it's not entirely Juan's fault that he's so far behind. Here's the timeline and a history lesson for the "Stolen Base".
When players like Ty Cobb were around, you had to steal bases. Either you stole them, or you don't score. In 1909, Cobb won the triple crown and only hit nine home runs. None of them left the park. How's that possible? The ball parks were enormous those days. Shibe Park had a 515 feet marker, Robinson field's fence stood 500 feet away from the fence, South End Grounds kept a decent 450 feet distance, Huntington Avenue Grounds was an enormous 635 feet, Palace of the Fans ended at 510 feet and the famous Polo Grounds had 483 feet. Today, the Astro's Minute Maid Park has the farthest center field fence at a distance of 415 feet. Without the long ball, teams had to look for other ways to score.
But as the game grew, ballparks shrank. New players came with power, like Babe Ruth and Lou Gherig. Jimmie Foxx, Ted Williams and Joe Dimaggio followed. With the home run threat coming up, leadoff hitters sat tight at first base and not risk the out. And so the time of stolen bases began to pass away. In 1950, Dom Dimmagio of the Boston Red Sox led the league with 15 pathetic steals. Because of one simple principle. Power and steals are inversely proportional. You cannot have both, you either have power or speed. This is what makes achievements like the 40-40 club so difficult to reach. Canseco, Bonds, Rodriguez and Soriano. All had to have pitcher's ballparks to steal their share and no protection behind them to prompt their manager to give them the steal sign. But although stolen bases hit a bump in the road, it recovered several decades later. After Henderson, Canseco and Bonds, steals have gone up again.
Like I said before, power and steals are inversely proportional. What has happened in the last decade that has improved power? That's right, steroids. It was only a matter of time until I jumped on this topic and this is the perfect opportunity. In 2001, Ichiro Suzuki lead the league with 56 stolen bases. A record shattering 73 baseballs left the yard off the bat of Bonds that year. In 2002, it was Castillo who stole 48 bases. A-Rod hit 57 home runs that year. But once rules against PEDs were enforced, stolen bases went up. The numbers have gone up to 65, 70, 62, 64, 78 and 68. The home runs went down to 47, 48, 51, 58, 54, and 48. You would think that steroids make players faster and thus present them with more stolen bases. But all it did was erase possibilities and the spotlight from speedsters. Without Big Papi hitting home runs, Ellsbury can steal. Without Cliff Floyd, Carlos Delgado and Carlos Beltran hitting home runs, Reyes could steal. Without steroids, the stolen bases are back.
-Written by: Nakamura. This article is copyrighted © by Nakamura and may not be reproduced, recopied, or used in any form without permission from Nakamura
When players like Ty Cobb were around, you had to steal bases. Either you stole them, or you don't score. In 1909, Cobb won the triple crown and only hit nine home runs. None of them left the park. How's that possible? The ball parks were enormous those days. Shibe Park had a 515 feet marker, Robinson field's fence stood 500 feet away from the fence, South End Grounds kept a decent 450 feet distance, Huntington Avenue Grounds was an enormous 635 feet, Palace of the Fans ended at 510 feet and the famous Polo Grounds had 483 feet. Today, the Astro's Minute Maid Park has the farthest center field fence at a distance of 415 feet. Without the long ball, teams had to look for other ways to score.
But as the game grew, ballparks shrank. New players came with power, like Babe Ruth and Lou Gherig. Jimmie Foxx, Ted Williams and Joe Dimaggio followed. With the home run threat coming up, leadoff hitters sat tight at first base and not risk the out. And so the time of stolen bases began to pass away. In 1950, Dom Dimmagio of the Boston Red Sox led the league with 15 pathetic steals. Because of one simple principle. Power and steals are inversely proportional. You cannot have both, you either have power or speed. This is what makes achievements like the 40-40 club so difficult to reach. Canseco, Bonds, Rodriguez and Soriano. All had to have pitcher's ballparks to steal their share and no protection behind them to prompt their manager to give them the steal sign. But although stolen bases hit a bump in the road, it recovered several decades later. After Henderson, Canseco and Bonds, steals have gone up again.
Like I said before, power and steals are inversely proportional. What has happened in the last decade that has improved power? That's right, steroids. It was only a matter of time until I jumped on this topic and this is the perfect opportunity. In 2001, Ichiro Suzuki lead the league with 56 stolen bases. A record shattering 73 baseballs left the yard off the bat of Bonds that year. In 2002, it was Castillo who stole 48 bases. A-Rod hit 57 home runs that year. But once rules against PEDs were enforced, stolen bases went up. The numbers have gone up to 65, 70, 62, 64, 78 and 68. The home runs went down to 47, 48, 51, 58, 54, and 48. You would think that steroids make players faster and thus present them with more stolen bases. But all it did was erase possibilities and the spotlight from speedsters. Without Big Papi hitting home runs, Ellsbury can steal. Without Cliff Floyd, Carlos Delgado and Carlos Beltran hitting home runs, Reyes could steal. Without steroids, the stolen bases are back.
-Written by: Nakamura. This article is copyrighted © by Nakamura and may not be reproduced, recopied, or used in any form without permission from Nakamura
