Baseball's Biggest Bandits Trivia Quiz

Answer: Rickey Henderson

Henderson played in 25 seasons from 1979-2003. Rickey set a season record in 1982 with 130 thefts, and retired with a record 1406. He was inducted into the hall in 2009. Cobb fell quite short of the 1000-mark with 897 thefts.

Answer: Willie Mays

Ruth would be the low person on this pole (one of extremely few) with stealing 123 bases. Stolen bases were not a priority in the 1920s. Aaron was next on the list by stealing 240. Sammy stole only 234 bases in his career. Mays, the "Say Hey Kid" stole 338 bases and became a member of the 30/30 Club in 1956 when he hit 36 home runs and stole 40 bases in the season. Willie also duplicated that the following season.

Answer: Oakland Athletics

The Athletics burned trenches in the basepaths in 1976. Bill North led the team with 75, Bert Campaneris stole 54, Don Baylor stole 52, and Claudell Washington was a thief 37 times. In 1974 they stole 164, then 183 in 1975 before buying new shoes.

Answer: Billy Hamilton

Hamilton began his career with the Kansas City Cowboys in 1888. He stole 111 bases with them, then another 102 and 111 with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1890 and 1891. Billy would reach the 100-barrier again in 1894 with the Phillies. He retired after 14 seasons with 914 thefts, an average of 65 bases per season. That was a tremendous average in "old-time" baseball.

The others listed did not steal 60 bases in their entire career.

Answer: Rickey Henderson

The others never stole more than 30 bases in a season in their career. With all the teams that Rickey played with during his 25-season career, he donned the pinstripes in five seasons from 1985-1989. He reached the 80 stolen base mark with the Yankees three times.

He stole 80 in 1985, 87 in 1986, then another 93 in 1988. He retired with 326 stolen bases in the pinstripes for those five seasons.

Answer: Honus Wagner

Cobb led the league six times total, but when Wagner led the National League five times from 1901-1908, Cobb had only led the league once. Aparicio led the American League in nine consecutive seasons from 1956-1964. Max Carey of the Pittsburgh Pirates led the league 10 times from 1913-1925.

Answer: 20

The ups and downs were over managing priorities with base stealing. The very first player to lead a league was Mike McGeary, who stole 20 bases for the Troy Haymakers of the NA. That was the infielder's career high during his 11 seasons of baseball in the National Association and National League.

Answer: Lou Brock

The others never played in the National League. Brock was a St. Louis Cardinal in his 14th season of Major League Baseball in 1974 when he stole 118 bases. Over 19 seasons in the 1960s and 1970s, Lou would steal 938 bases, a tremendous amount for that era. Rickey Henderson's highest season total in the National League was 37, which he did with the Padres and Mets.

Answer: Washington Senators

The only person that ran on the 1957 Senators was manager Chuck Dressen, when he was run out of town by the owner after only 20 games in the season. Their new manager, Cookie Lavagetto, didn't feel much like running, or having the team run either. Reserve first baseman Julio Becquer led the team in the season by stealing only three bases.

The Senators had 33 rostered players without a stolen base. The Cardinals were just as pathetic in the National League in 1959, when the team stole only 17 bases.

Answer: 4

The thieves were Maury Wills with 104 in 1962, Rickey Henderson three times, Vince Coleman three times, and Lou Brock once in 1974.