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MLB: The Top 15 Major League Baseball Base Stealers of All-Time

By Nicholas Ian Allen

June 8, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; New York Yankees Ricky Henderson before the old timers game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
June 8, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; New York Yankees Ricky Henderson before the old timers game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports /
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32. . Outfielder. Cardinals, Mets, Royals, Mariners, Reds, Tigers, 1985-1997. Vince Coleman. 1. player

Had he played a little longer or been successful just a few more times than he was during a 13-year Major League career, Vince Coleman could have been the undisputed greatest base stealer of all-time according to our metrics. Instead, the speedster will have to settle for a tie for first.

752 Career SB

57.85 SB Per Season

80.95% Success Rate

89 SB Per 162 Games

13 Points

Coleman, who currently serves as a base-running instructor for the Chicago White Sox, stole 752 bases (fourth most among the players considered for our list and sixth in the big league record book) in 929 career attempts. He had a career success rate of 80.95%, which was seventh among those on our list and he averaged 57.85 per season, which was more than anyone else in our data and second all-time to 19th Century Billy Hamilton.

If you don’t count the 1997 and 1996 seasons in which Coleman stole only 12 bases in 14 attempts in a combined 39 games, he would have averaged 67.27 steals per year, which is even better than Hamilton’s career average of 65.29, but Coleman blows away the competition in 162-game average. Coleman’s 89 stolen bases per 162 games is 15 steals ahead of second place Rickey Henderson.

As a rookie in 1985, Coleman stole a career-high 110 bases for the St. Louis Cardinals and won National League Rookie of the Year honors. That season, teammate Willie McGee stole 56 bases, which gave the pair the Major League record for a stolen base duo. Coleman swiped 107 the following season and was caught only 14 times, an amazing success rate of 88.43%. That year Ozzie Smith stole 43 bases, giving he and Coleman the third place spot on the single-season stolen base duo list.

Coleman stole 109 bases for the third and final time, which made him the second player since Hamilton to reach the century mark three times, behind only the (co-) Greatest of All-Time, Rickey Henderson.

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It’s worth noting that had Vince Coleman been called safe just one time when he had been called out – whether he had gotten a slightly better jump or got the benefit of the doubt on a bang-bang play – he would have stolen 753 bases in 929 attempts, for an improved success rate of 81.05%.

Why does that matter? Coleman’s actual success rate of 80.95% is just .01% behind Joe Morgan’s, which puts Coleman 7th on our list of qualifiers. One more stolen base would have saved Coleman one more point and brought his total to 12.

He would have had the No. 1 spot and the title of the best base stealer in Major League Baseball history – at least by our metrics.

Next: The Top 30 Leadoff Hitters of All-Time

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