Interesting Stats : Most All-Time steals by position

[Chuck9788]

Catcher : Jason Kendall = 189 Steals

1'st base : Jeff Bagwell = 202 Steals

2'nd base : Joe Morgan = 689 Steals

Shortstop : Bert Campanaris = 649 Steals

3rd base : Howard Johnson = 231 Steals

Left field : Ricky Henderson = 1406 Steals

Center field : Willie Wilson = 668 Steals

Right field : Ichiro Suzuki + 509 Steals

Designated hitter : Hal McRae = 109 Steals

Pitcher : Bob Gibson = 13 Steals


What do you think? Any surprises?

[GasHouseGang]

Wouldn't Ohtani fit into the pitcher category?

[Jim65]

Originally Posted by GasHouseGang

Wouldn't Ohtani fit into the pitcher category?

I assume it would only count stolen bases he had while being a pitcher, the others wouldn't count toward that.

[carlsonjok]

Originally Posted by Jim65

I assume it would only count stolen bases he had while being a pitcher, the others wouldn't count toward that.

This is correct.

ohtani.jpg

[mrreality68]

First it is interesting that most of the top base stealers were left fielders

But I am confused by the list

Wasn’t Ty Cobb centerfield and he had 897 stolen bases
Eddie Collins played 2nd base and had 741 stolen bases
Honus Wagner short stop 723 stolen bases

Unless I am missing something

[Jim65]

Originally Posted by mrreality68

First it is interesting that most of the top base stealers were left fielders

But I am confused by the list

Wasn’t Ty Cobb centerfield and he had 897 stolen bases
Eddie Collins played 2nd base and had 741 stolen bases
Honus Wagner short stop 723 stolen bases

Unless I am missing something

Same here, at first I thought because Cobb played 700 games in CF but Rickey played 400 games in CF but has his total career number listed. It is confusing.

[D. Bergin]

According to the article this originated from, it's a Post-1920 list (live ball era).

https://www.mlb.com/news/stolen-base...-each-position

[D. Bergin]

Most surprising I guess is Howard Johnson. I completely forgot about him. He didn't have much of a prime, but did have a very nice 5 year run for the Mets and got the bulk of his stolen bases in a 6 year stretch.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by D. Bergin

According to the article this originated from, it's a Post-1920 list (live ball era).

https://www.mlb.com/news/stolen-base...-each-position

I can see breaking off a question about home runs between the dead and live ball eras, but not so clear as to how a live or dead ball would impact someone's ability to steal bases. Unless they think that once the home run became such a big deal in the live ball era that managers quit having their players steal so much to try and get into scoring position. With the emphasis on home runs today, once a player is on first base, they're often already considered to be in scoring position, based on who's coming up to the plate next. Wonder if that was the reason for the 1920 cut-off?

[BobbyStrawberry]

Did you include 19th century? If so I don't believe Gibson has the record.