MLB: The Top 15 Major League Baseball Base Stealers of All-Time
player. 32. . Outfielder. Cubs, Cardinals, 1961-1979. Lou Brock. 4
When he retired in 1979 following an All-Star season as a 40-year old, Lou Brock was the greatest base stealer in Major League history.
At that point, Brock had 938 career steals, which was more than anyone in the history of the game, and also set a single-season record for the modern era with 118 stolen bases in 1974. It was the first time anyone had passed the century mark since Maury Wills in 1962 and only the second time it had been done since Billy Hamilton in 1894.
938 Career SB
49.37 SB Per Season
75.95% Success Rate
58 SB Per 162 Games
26 Points
A Hall of Famer, Brock led the National League in stolen bases eight times and led Major League Baseball in the category on six occasions. He averaged 49.37 thefts across 19 seasons combined between the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals, which is the third best average among those that qualified on our list and the fourth best in Major League history for those that played at least ten seasons.
Brock stole 58 bases per 162 games, which was fourth among qualifiers and pushed him ahead of Willie Wilson into fourth place. The only thing holding Brock back on our list is a 75.95% success rate, which ranks 17th among our qualifiers.
Rickey Henderson may have smashed Brock’s career stolen base record and also beat him for the single-season mark, but Brock is still one of the top five stolen base artists in baseball history.
Next: Tim Raines