Sure, Rickey Henderson ranks atop our list of the top 15 Major League Baseball base stealers of all-time, but it’s closer than you’d think. Much closer.
Stolen bases have been a part of baseball since its earliest days. However, most of the players we consider to be among the greatest base stealers of all-time have played in the last four decades – and especially in the 1980s.
The poster child for the stolen base – the Greatest of All-Time – is Rickey Henderson, who holds the Major League record with 1,406, a full 468 more than second place Lou Brock. But just because Henderson had (many, many) more stolen bases than anyone else, does that truly mean he is the best base stealer in Major League history?
To answer that question, I devised a three-part scoring system that would rank the top 15 base thieves in big league history:
- Total number of stolen bases (Only top 50 all-time are eligible)
- Stolen bases per season (stolen bases/years a player played in the big leagues)
- Success rate (stolen bases/attempts)
The first measurement to be considered is overall production. Therefore, we started with the players that rank in the top 50 in stolen bases in the official Major League record book. However, because stolen bases were calculated differently in the 19th Century and because caught stealing statistics were not fully reliable until well into the 20th Century, we struck some of the old-timers from the list.
Top 25 Greatest, 16-25
- Bert Campaneris, 59 Points
- Ozzie Smith, 64 Points
- Ichiro Suzuki, 65 Points
- Cesar Cedeno, 69 Points
- Brett Butler, 73 Points
- Luis Aparicio, 75 Points
- Roberto Alomar, 76 Points
- Paul Molitor, 79 Points
- Barry Bonds, 81 Points
- Bobby Bonds, 82 Points
For example, Hall of Famers Billy Hamilton and Ty Cobb who rank third and fourth in the record book for career stolen bases could not be considered because their success rate could not be accurately calculated. Because of inconclusive caught stealing stats, 25 players including top-ten base stealers Arlie Latham, Eddie Collins and Max Carey had to be left off the list.
That gave me a list of 25 players to compare. Stolen bases per season and success rate were calculated for each player, and each category was ranked from 1-25 with one point assigned for each place. One point was given for first place and 25 for 25th place (golf scoring rules apply and the lower the score, the better).
However, after examining the results, there was a problem. Several of the top 15 players were being penalized in the stolen bases per season category because they played in roughly 10, 20 or 25 games in multiple seasons either as a rookie, an aging veteran or due to injury. I thought it was still a fair metric since the best base stealers played long number of years (and it might help to limit a lofty ranking based solely on career longevity) but not a perfect one. Therefore, I added a fourth category:
- Stolen bases per 162 games, via Baseball-Reference.com
Is it a perfect formula? Probably not (and we can discuss that in the comments below), but it helped to even out the number of years when a player was limited by age or injury and helped the biggest threat to the G.O.A.T. make a move for the top spot. And as it turned out, Rickey Henderson had some very stiff competition.
Without further ado, the top 15 MLB base stealers of all-time:
Next: Carl Crawford
The first player on our list is one of just two active players to earn the honor: Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Carl Crawford, who ranks 44th on the all-time list and 23rd among our qualifiers with 470 career steals through May 13, 2015.
470 Career SB
33.58 SB Per Season
81.6% Success Rate
47 SB Per 162 Games
54 Points
To date, Crawford has averaged 33.58 stolen bases per season (including the 15 games he’s played so far in 2015, in which he has yet to attempt a steal), and he has averaged 47 stolen bases per 162 games through his first 14 seasons in the big leagues. He also tied a Major League record with six steals in a game in 2003.
The biggest reason Crawford made the cut is his extreme efficiency. He currently ranks fourth on our list with an 81.6% success rate, which currently ranks 30th in Major League history.
Understandably, Crawford’s best seasons as a base stealer came as a member of the Tampa Bay Rays. He led the American League in steals four times in Tampa and averaged 45.44 thefts per year with the club. Now 33 years old, Crawford doesn’t run nearly as much as he did early in his career. In fact, he has just 61 stolen bases combined in the six seasons since leaving the Rays after the 2010 season.
While Crawford could climb up this list in the future, it’s just as likely he will fall. As he’s aged, Crawford’s average steals per season have dwindled. Should his success rate drop as well, he could move towards the back of the pack among players in our database.
Next: Delino DeShields
Crawford shares the 14th spot on our list with Delino DeShields, a 13-year Major League veteran who recorded 463 stolen bases during his career, which ranks 48th in big league history and 23rd among our qualifiers.
463 Career SB
35.62 SB Per Season
75.9% Success Rate
46 SB Per 162 Games
54 Points
Had DeShields been a bit more efficient on the base paths – he was successful 75.9% of the time, which ranks 18th in our database – he would have placed slightly higher on the list.
However, DeShields was fast and consistent, which allowed him to swipe an average of 35.62 bags per season and 46 per 162 games.Interestingly, unlike most of the players on our list, DeShields never led his league in steals.
After his playing days were over, DeShields turned to coaching and has been with the Cincinnati Reds organization since 2009. He is currently the manager of the Reds Triple-A franchise in Louisville – a position he chose despite an offer to become the first base coach for fellow base thief Paul Molitor, the new manager of the Minnesota Twins.
DeShields’ son, Delino DeShields, Jr., made his Major League debut this season with the Texas Rangers. A speedster like his dad, the younger DeShields has stolen nine bases in ten tries through May 13.
Next: Jose Reyes
One of just two active players on our list, Jose Reyes still has plenty of time to climb up the ranks of the greatest base stealers of all-time. Through May 13, 2015, Reyes has 458 stolen bases, which ranks 50th all-time – the cutoff point for our database.
Because we dropped 25 players that didn’t have adequate caught stealing statistics, he ranks 25th among our qualifiers. He’s also third among active players behind Ichiro Suzuki and Carl Crawford.
458 Career SB
35.23 SB Per Season
80.5% Success Rate
51 SB Per 162 Games
52 Points
Reyes jumps into the top 15 because he has averaged a solid 35.23 stolen bases across 13 seasons (and that includes three steals in just 16 games this year). He has been successful in 80.5% of his attempts and ranks tenth among our qualifiers in both categories. Even better, Reyes has the seventh best 162-game average of those in our database with 51 steals.
Reyes has become one of the best base stealers of all-time despite his best seasons coming when stolen bases were rare. His most prolific seasons came from 2005 to 2008 when he averaged 64.5 thefts, led the National League three times and led the Majors with 64 in 2006 and 78 in 2007. Of course, those were also the years in which Reyes was caught the most: an average of 17 times per season including a Major League high of 21 in 2007.
Next: Maury Wills
The first great base stealer of the modern era was Maury Wills, who played 14 Major League seasons from 1959 to 1972. Wills stole 586 bases in his career, which still ranks in the top 20 of the all-time list.
Among the 25 qualifiers used in our rankings, he ranks 11th, but is the only of them to play in a game prior to 1960 – the first year Wills led the National League when he collected 50 thefts. He led the league six times in 14 seasons, and led all of baseball twice.
586 Career SB
41.86 SB Per Season
73.8% Success Rate
49 SB Per 162 Games
48 Points
In 1962, Wills set a modern Major League record with 104 stolen bases. No one in big league history had surpassed the century mark since Billy Hamilton in 1894. Wills record stood for ten years until Lou Broke swiped 118 bags in 1974. For his efforts on the base paths and atop the lineup for the Dodgers, Wills was named the ’62 National League MVP.
Across 14 seasons, Wills averaged 41.86 stolen bases, which is the fifth best mark among our qualifiers. He averaged 49 steals per 162 games, which ranked 11th. However, because Wills was only successful in 73.8% of his stolen base attempts throughout his career, which ranks 21st among those in our database, he is on the outside of the top ten looking in.
Next: Joe Morgan
The first Hall of Famer on our list, Joe Morgan is one of the greatest second basemen of all-time. The National League MVP in 1975 and 1976 for the back-to-back World Series Champion Big Red Machine, Morgan played 22 seasons in the big leagues, hit .271/.392/.427 with 268 home runs and 1,133 RBI, was a ten-time All-Star and a four-time Gold Glove Award winner.
689 Career SB
31.32 SB Per Season
80.96% Success Rate
42 SB Per 162 Games
48 Points
He could also steal bases. With 689 career swipes, Morgan ranks 11th in the all-time record book and fifth on our list. He was also one of the most efficient base stealers in big league history and succeeded 80.96% of the time – the sixth best among our qualifiers and 37th in Major League history.
Morgan led the Majors in success rate three times in his career, and at very different points. In 1967, Morgan was successful 85.29% of the time. In 1975, he led the Majors with a 87.01% success rate and in 1983, he paced Major League Baseball with a 90% success rate. He was 23, 31 and 39 years old, respectively.
Unfortunately for Morgan, there were three seasons in which he played ten games or fewer (1963 and 1964 when he was 19 and 20 years old, and 1968). That pulled his stolen bases per season rate down to 31.32, which is 20th among our qualifiers. He averaged 42 thefts per 162 games, which ranked 17th.
Next: Omar Moreno
The most surprising name among the top ten base stealers in Major League Baseball history is Omar Moreno. It’s not that Moreno wasn’t fast – he led the Major Leagues with 71 stolen bases in 1978, led the National League with 77 in 1979 and set a career-high with 96 steals in 1980, but he did not have the prolonged success of those that will follow on our list.
487 Career SB
40.59 SB Per Season
72.8% Success Rate
57 SB Per 162 Games
45 Points
In 12 Major League seasons, Moreno stole 487 bases, an average of 40.59 per season, which is the sixth best among our qualifiers. Per 162 games, Moreno swiped 57 bags, which ranks in the top five. Unfortunately, he was successful only 72.8% of the time, which is 24th among our 25 qualifiers.
Moreno’s most memorable seasons came as a member of the “We Are Family” Pittsburgh Pirates, specifically the 1979 World Series championship club. Moreno led off for the Pirates that season and in addition to leading to NL in steals, led all of Major League baseball in at bats (695) and plate appearances (757). He led the Majors in both categories again in 1980. In the World Series, Moreno hit .333/.353/.394 in 34 plate appearances in the seven-game series, but interestingly enough did not steal a base.
Had he gotten on base more in his career (he hit .252/.306/.343 with 1,257 hits and 387 walks in 1,382 games), Moreno might have ranked among the very best of all-time. Instead, he was out of baseball at the age of 33 after one season with the Atlanta Braves in 1986.
Next: Juan Pierre
Only three players on our list have played exclusively in the last 15 years, and the best of the bunch to date is Juan Pierre.
The speedy Pierre didn’t set the base paths on fire when he debuted with the Colorado Rockies in 2000 – he stole seven bases and was caught six times in 51 games – but he quickly established himself as the best base stealer of the 2000s. Pierre recorded 459 of his career 614 stolen bases from 2000-2009, which helped propel the outfielder to 18th on the all-time list and tenth among our qualifiers.
614 Career SB
43.86 SB Per Season
75.15% Success Rate
50 SB Per 162 Games
42 Points
In 14 big league seasons, Pierre averaged 43.86 stolen bases, which is the fourth best on our list. He also averaged 50 stolen bases per 162 games, which is eighth.
Pierre led the National League with 46 steals in 2001, a number he beat six times later in his career. He led all of baseball with 65 stolen bases in 2003 and again with 68 in 2010, but the biggest reason he isn’t among the top five base stealers of all-time is a poor success rate.
In 817 stolen base attempts during his career, Juan Pierre was successful just 75.15% of the time, which ranks 20th among our 25 qualifiers. Pierre was thrown out so much he led the Majors in caught stealing five times and led the National League on two other occasions.
Next: Kenny Lofton
Kenny Lofton was arguably the best leadoff hitter and base stealer of the 1990s, when he stole a combined 433 bases (43.3 per season) with the Houston Astros, Cleveland Indians and Atlanta Braves and was named an All-Star every year from 1994-1999. He led the American League in steals from 1992-1996 and led all of baseball in four of those seasons. Lofton was also a four-time Gold Glove Award winner.
622 Career SB
36.59 SB Per Season
79.54% Success Rate
48 SB Per 162 Games
40 Points
Overall, Lofton stole 622 bases, which is 15th in the official record book and sixth among those in our database. He stole 36.59 bases per season, which ranked eighth on our list, but was successful only 79.54% of the time, which was 12th and brought down his overall score.
Lofton would also rank a little higher on our list had he been on the field more in his later years. The speedster averaged a very respectable 36.59 stolen bases across 17 big league seasons, which ranks eighth in our data, but he appeared in less than 100 games seven of those years, including six after he turned 35.
But as it stands, Kenny Lofton was not only one of the best base stealers of his generation, he comes in sixth on our list of the best of all-time.
Next: Davey Lopes
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.
Next: Otis Nixon
Often overlooked because he played in the same era as Rickey Henderson, Vince Coleman and Tim Raines (and played alongside Raines in Montreal from 1988 to 1990) and also because he never led his league in steals, Otis Nixon is still one of the top ten base stealers of all-time.
Nixon ranks 16th in Major League history with 620 stolen bases, which is ninth on our list of qualifiers. Throughout his 17-year big league career, Nixon averaged 38.25 thefts per season, which is eighth on our list and his average of 59 thefts per 162 games ranks third.
620 Career SB
38.25 SB Per Season
76.92% Success Rate
59 SB Per 162 Games
34 Points
Far from the most efficient base stealer of all-time, Nixon was successful in only 76.92% of his attempts, which ranks 16th among the 26 players that met our database criteria. He is, however, a Major League record holder.
On June 16, 1991, Nixon stole six bases in a 7-6 loss to the Montreal Expos in Montreal. He reached base three times and stole both second and third twice (the final coming with two outs in the bottom of the ninth – an extremely risky and perhaps unwise move that would have ended the game had he been caught).
The performance tied a Major League record and was the first time a player had done it since 1912 (George Gore and Billy Hamilton are credited with seven stolen bases in a game in 1881 and 1894, respectively). Only Eric Young and Carl Crawford have matched the mark of six stolen bases in a single game.
That season, Nixon set a personal best with 72 stolen bases. He was part of the Atlanta Braves team that went “worst to first” in the NL West before falling to the Minnesota Twins in Game 7 of the World Series. Deion Sanders also played for the Braves that season and until 1993, which gave the team one of the fastest duos in baseball history.
Next: Willie Wilson
Because he played during the Rickey Henderson era, Willie Wilson only led the American League in stolen bases once – when he swiped 83 bases for the Kansas City Royals as a 23-year old in his second full big league season. However, because Wilson stole 668 bases in his career and was successful 83.29% of the time, he ranks as the fourth greatest base stealer on our list.
668 Career SB
35.16 SB Per Season
83.29% Success Rate
50 SB Per 162 Games
27 Points
Like several players on this list, Wilson would have ranked slightly higher if he hadn’t played very few games over the course of a few seasons. In Wilson’s first two years as a Royal, 1976 and 1977, he appeared in only 25 games combined. He also played just 17 games for the Chicago Cubs in 1994, his final season.
During those years, he stole a combined nine bases. Counting only the other 16 years he played – in which he played in more than 100 games each season, Wilson stole 41.19 bases per season, which would have improved his position in that category by five points. Instead, he ranked eighth with 50 steals per 162 games and fell to fifth overall using our metrics.
Of course, Wilson is obviously one of the all-time greats. His 668 career thefts rank 12th in Major League history and sixth among our qualifiers. With a career success rate of 83.29%, he is also one of the most efficient base stealers in big league history and the second most efficient on our list.
Next: Lou Brock
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
Had Tim Raines not played a combined 21 games during the 1979 and 1980 seasons, he would have been credited with 801 steals across 21 years in the big leagues, which would have been an average of 38.14 per campaign. That would have pushed Raines to eighth in the category, an improvement of four points in our standings, for a total of 12 points (prior to the addition of the 162-game metric). That would make him the second greatest base stealer in Major League history according to our earlier methods.
808 Career SB
35.13 SB Per Season
84.7% Success Rate
52 SB Per 162 Games
22 Points
Alas, Raines made his Major League debut with the Montreal Expos and played in six games for the club as a 19-year old in 1979 and saw action in 15 more in 1980 and stole seven bases during that time. He stole at least one base in every season until he was finally shut out as a 42-year old in 2002 with the Florida Marlins– his final Major League season. However, once we accounted for Raines’ 162-game average of 52, which ranked 6th, third on our list is his rightful place.
Of course, during his prime Raines could make a case as the best base stealer in Major League history. From 1981 to 1992, he stole 723 bases in 840 attempts – an average of 65.73 per season and an unbelievable success rate of 86.07%. As it stands, Raines’ 808 steals are third on our list and fifth in the Major League record books and at 84.7%, he is among the most efficient base stealers of all-time.
Next: Rickey Henderson
To almost no one’s surprise, Rickey Henderson is the greatest base stealer in Major League history. However, it was very, very close. In fact, Henderson tied Vince Coleman, which we will explain in the following slide.
Of course, the numbers don’t lie and the all-time stolen base leader sits atop our list as well, and rightfully so – he did it better and for a longer period of time than anyone else.
1,406 Career SB
56.24 SB Per Season
80.76% Success Rate
74 SB Per 162 Games
13 Points
Across 25 Major League seasons, Henderson stole 1,406 bases, which is 468 more than second place Lou Brock. In 1998 at the age of 39, Henderson stole 66 bases to become the oldest player in Major League history to lead the big leagues in steals.
Henderson averaged 56.25 steals per season, second only to Coleman on our list and he was successful 80.76% of the time, which is the eighth best rate among those in our data. His 74 steals per 162 games are also second to Coleman and 22 ahead of third place Time Raines.
Among players since 1900, Henderson holds the single-season stolen base record with 130, which a 23-year old Henderson set in 1982. That record-setting season surpassed Brock’s 118 swipes he collected with the Cardinals in 1974 (at the age of 35). Henderson also stole 108 bases in 1984 and 100 in 1908, which makes him one of only two men since 1900 to record 100 steals in three separate seasons.
The other? The co-best base stealer in Major League history: Vince Coleman.
Next: Vince Coleman
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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