Reds OF Billy Hamilton sets team rookie record for steals in a season
By Mike Marteny
If you follow baseball at all, you have heard the buzz about Cincinnati Reds speedster Billy Hamilton. There are still those that believe he will steal 100 bases in a season. One step at a time, people!
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Hamilton took that first step on Tuesday evening. During the Reds’ matchup with the Orioles in Baltimore, he swiped his 55th base of the season. Big deal, right?
It is, actually. The stolen base is making a comeback. No one has stolen 60 bags in a season since Michael Bourn thieved 61 in 2011. No one has 70 since Jacoby Ellsbury in 2009. Both of those numbers are attainable for either Hamilton or the Dodgers’ Dee Gordon, who has 58.
Also, Hamilton’s 55th steal set a rookie franchise record. And we are not talking about some team that has only been around for 20 years or so. The Reds have been in operation since 1869.
The previous record of 54 was set in 1909 by Bob Bescher. He held the record for over a century before Hamilton came along.
It’s not like the Reds have had a bunch of slow players over the years either. Outfielder Eric Davis joined the 30-30 club in 1987 with 37 homers and 50 steals that year.
In fact, the Reds’ franchise record is also the major league record! Maybe. Everyone lists Rickey Henderson as the record holder with 130 during the 1982, but Hugh Nichol of the Reds swiped 138 bases during the 1887 season. The only problem with that is that stolen bases were not an official stat in the box scores until 1888, so the record is unconfirmed.
Therefore, Bescher is the Reds’ modern franchise leader with 81 steals in 1911. That record will likely be under fire within the next couple of seasons with Hamilton in Cincinnati.