Man of Steal & the Sons of Swipe

With the passing of Rickey Henderson to close out 2024, a perusal of the internet showed an interesting graphic of the leading stolen base merchants amongst the thirty big league clubs compiled by the Romantic about Baseball posters on the X platform.

While Henderson circled the bases for nine big league clubs, he was most known for his time with the Oakland Athletics.  Of his major league record 1,406 steals, 867 came while wearing the green and gold of Oakland as noted on the chart.

Henderson easily topped St. Louis Cardinal Lou Brock who reset the MLB record of 938 steals to best Detroit’s Ty Cobb who held the record of 897 career swipes for 49 years. Cobb’s single season record of 97 stolen bases was topped by Dodger Maury Wills’ total of 104 swipes in 1962 who was bested by Brock’s 118 total in 1974 and ultimately Henderson’s MLB single season record of 130 stolen bases.

The names of Cobb, Wills and Brock rolled off our tongues for ages as the standards for stolen bases for years until Henderson shattered the glass ceiling. Yes, Rickey Henderson was truly the “Man of Steal”.

Going to back to the chart, we ask who were some of these “Sons of Swipe” for the major league franchises?

With hands on hips in 1910 cardboard, Harry Hooper was a fly catching thief for the Boston Red Sox. Roaming Fenway’s right field for twelve of his seventeen big league seasons, Hooper amassed a franchise leading 300 stolen bases for Boston. Rising 5’10” the speedy Hooper seldom ranked amongst the tops of the American League stolen base leader board as his 40 steals the year this card came out were his high water mark for a season and seventh in the AL for 1910.

A confident cuss, Hooper took his swings at the top of the Red Sox lineup that at times featured future Hall of Famers Tris Speaker and Babe Ruth during the 1910’s decade helping the franchise win four World Championships 1912, ’15, ‘16, and ‘18. The career .281-hitter collected 2,466 hits to go along with his 375 stolen bases as Hooper also swiped 75 bags in his final five seasons playing for the Chicago White Sox.

Not an overly impressive physical specimen while gracing 1910 cardboard was Clyde Milan of the Washington Senators. The diminutive Milan was just 5’9” but was big on the base paths as he unseated Ty Cobb as the American League’s top base stealer in consecutive seasons — 1912 with 88 swipes and 75 in 1913.

Stealing at least 30 bases over seven consecutive seasons, Milan was a steady player for manager Clark Griffith’s Senators. Milan patrolled centerfield carrying the moniker of “Deerfoot” for 16 years all with Washington totaling 495 stolen bases that has never been topped even as the franchise moved to Minnesota. Twins second baseman Chuck Knoblauch swiped 276 bases during the 1990’s and into the next century placing third on the franchise leader board for steals.

With a franchise that has enjoyed a history of home runs from Mel Ott to Willie Mays to Barry Bonds, Giants fans need to go back to the earliest days of baseball to find their stolen base leader. In the final decade of the 19^th century, Mike Tiernan roamed right field as a multi-tooled player. Looking at Tiernan’s cardboard, the fly catcher looked a little hippy and thick legged in the baggy uniforms of the day, though he managed to steal 56 bases in 1890, while also connecting on a league leading 16 homers, which we assume were due to the ball rolling around pasture-like outfields. The next season “Quiet Mike” as he was known swiped 53 bases while tying for the league lead with 13 homers. His stolen base totals for both years fell way short of the NL leader in Billy Hamilton of the Phillies who respectively logged 102 and 111 during the 1890 and 1891 seasons.

As for Hamilton, who was known as “Sliding Billy”, the outfielder would set the Phillies franchise mark with 510 swipes during his six years playing in the “City of Brotherly Love”. The short (5’6”) and stocky Hamilton would play 14 years and amass 914 steals in a career that eventually saw him be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame 1961.

Wearing a pair of nice high top shoes that may have doubled as his “Sunday Best”, Herman Long stole 434 bases for the early National League Boston club of the 1880’s. Never a league leader due to the presence of Sliding Billy Hamilton, Long annually stole twenty or more bases for Boston. In all the shortstop racked up 537 stolen bases over his 16 seasons that also saw him suit up for the Kansas City Cowboys, Detroit Tigers, Philadelphia Phillies and New York Yankees. Barring more injuries or a departure due to free agency, Atlanta’s Ronald Acuna, Jr. and his 196 career stolen bases entering the 2025 season stand as a present threat to Long’s reign at the top of the Braves franchise stolen base list.

While the names of Hall of Famers Joe Morgan and Barry Larkin come to mind for their multiple tools, it is Bid McPhee’s 568 stolen bases that lead MLB’s oldest franchise. A Hall of Famer in his own right, inducted in 2000 by the Veteran’s Committee, McPhee was a second sacker for the Cincinnati Reds in the 1880’s. McPhee should have had a higher total except the first four seasons of his career the stolen base was not kept as a stat. The actual stolen base statistic didn’t come into realization until 1898, so while many of these franchise leaders could have an asterisk by their name, we’re not going to go down that road here.

The oddities of this group are with Chicago Cub Frank Chance and St. Louis Browns George Sisler, the  full-time first basemen on the list.

Chance, who completed the famous “Baseball’s Sad Lexicon” by Franklin Pierce Adams of Tinker to Evers to Chance was the earliest first baseman of the pair as most of his thievery took place in the early 1900’s. En route to a place in Cooperstown, Chance swiped all but one of his 403 career bases with the Chicago Cubs. A career .297-hitter in 17 years Chance had little power with just 20 career homers, but enough speed to steal National League leading totals of 67 bases in 1903 and 57 steals in 1906. Chances are he would not have held this record long had Chicago not traded Lou Brock to the Cardinals in what many Cubs fans still lament as the worst trade in franchise history.

Prior to becoming the American League version of the Baltimore Orioles, the St. Louis Browns historically fielded a second division club, except for a few seasons in the 1920’s when future Hall of Famer George Sisler supplied their offense. A two-time AL batting champ, eclipsing .400 both in 1920 and ‘22, Sisler was also a four-time league stolen base leader with the Browns. Playing twelve of his fifteen seasons with St. Louis, the first baseman swiped a franchise tops 351 bases, a total that has stood the test of time as Orioles Don Buford, Brian Roberts and Brady Anderson all fell short of Sisler’s total.

As for the two franchises with the lowest totals, the Arizona D-backs just don’t keep players of speed around long enough, while the Colorado clubs have historically been built around hitting and power.  The versatile Tony Womack led the National League in stolen bases three consecutive seasons (1997-99) with totals of 60, 58 and 72, but his unsteady glove work bounced him around the field and the major leagues. Womack would swipe 182 of his career 363 stolen bases with Arizona, which was enough for the desert franchise’s lead.

Eric Young, Sr. was an original Rockie who logged the first stolen base in team history as his thievery helped the upstart Colorado club. His franchise leading 180 stolen bases came in just four plus seasons with the Rocks. From 1993 into 1997 respectfully Young stole 42, 18, and 35, a league leading 53 bases and 35 bags before being traded out of the organization. After fifteen seasons Young would total 465 stolen bases spread out amongst seven clubs, but most notably the Colorado Rockies.

While baseball will never forget the entertaining and engaging Rickey Henderson who stole his way into our baseball hearts as the Man of Steal. Let us not forget the many Sons of Swipe who in their own way made their mark in this great game, while giving us some awesome cards.