MLB: The Top 15 Major League Baseball Base Stealers of All-Time
71. . 2nd Base, Outfielder. Dodgers, A's, Cubs, Astros, 1972-1987. Davey Lopes. 7. player
When you think of the top ten base stealers of all-time, Davey Lopes probably doesn’t come to mind immediately for most people. After all, the longtime Dodgers second baseman got a late start to his Major League career when he played in 11 games for Los Angeles as a 27-year old in 1972 and didn’t become a regular in the club’s lineup until the following season.
557 Career SB
34.82 SB Per Season
83.01% Success Rate
50 SB Per 162 Games
38 Points
On the other hand, Lopes played until he was 42, and though he did steal 47 bases in only 99 games with the Chicago Cubs in 1985 at the age of 40, he didn’t steal more than 28 bases in a season during the previous six years.
Overall, Lopes swiped 557 bags across 16 years in the big leagues – a very respectable average of 34.82 per year and 50 per 162 games. But the category that qualifies him for a spot in the top ten all-time is a 83.01% career success rate, which makes him the third most efficient stolen base artists in our database.
After his playing days were over, Lopes became a coach with the Baltimore Orioles. After two seasons, he joined the San Diego Padres coaching staff before becoming the manager of the Milwaukee Brewers in 2000.
In 2003, Lopes returned to the Padres and alter coached with the Washington Nationals and Philadelphia Phillies (where he helped the Phils record the best stolen base percentage for a team in MLB history, 87.9% in 2007) before joining the Dodgers again in 2011. He is currently in his fifth season as the first base coach in Los Angeles.
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