Stealing home: a lost art in major league baseball: swiping a run was once a common offensive tool that created excitement for fans, but today it is rarity

George Vass

APPARENTLY FEW, IF ANY, HAVE noticed, but present-day fans are being short-changed of what is possibly baseball's most dramatic play, one surpassing even a game-winning home run for heart-pounding excitement.

Sure, a "walk-off" homer undeniably produces an exceptionally sensational and satisfying conclusion. But it wouldn't overstate the case to suggest that a game-winning theft of home could catapult suspense and sensory stimulation to an even higher level.

Not that it's likely to happen these days. Few players steal home any more at any point of a game, let alone in the ninth inning or later. Seldom does a runner on third base make an unexpected dash for the plate, providing the thrill and suspense of the day for the three to four seconds that flash by before the umpire displays the safe or out sign.

Even rarer is the feat of stealing one's way entirely around the bases, something Ty Cobb did a record four times in his career. As the 2004 season kicked into high gear, no player had pulled off the "hat trick" of swiping second, third and home in succession for seven full campaigns (1997-2003).

The last National League grand larceny from first to home in an inning was accomplished by Eric Young, then with Colorado, on June 30, 1996. Chris Stynes, then with Kansas City, was the last to do it in the American League, on May 12, 1996.

The virtual disappearance of the theft of home may be puzzling, but Rickey Henderson, the most proficient base-stealer of all time with 1,406 career larcenies, offered at least a partial explanation. Significantly, less than a half dozen of Henderson's enormous total steals during his lengthy career (1979-2003) were of home.

"Rod Carew stole home 17 times, which is a testimony to Rod's instincts and quickness, but pitchers at that time worked more from the windup than they do now," Henderson noted in his autobiography Off Base. "Now they keep runners closer to third base by working from the stretch.

"Rod wasn't considered the biggest threat around, so every time he stole home it was a surprise. It was easier then."

Maybe so. Pitchers with a big windup, entailing a slower delivery to the plate, obviously benefit runners. But today many starters pitch out of the stretch even with the bases empty, like relievers and unlike Dontrelle Willis, the Florida Marlins' young windmill with his quirky delivery, or Juan Marichal in the distant past.

Not that it ever has been easy to steal home. It's a low percentage play, with the odds heavily weighted against success. It's almost impossible with a left-handed batter at the plate, giving the catcher a clear shot at the runner from third. If the pitcher throws a fastball instead of a pitch that dawdles on its way to the plate that adds to the difficulty.

Then there's the managerial attitude that with less than two outs in an inning there are any number of less risky ways for a runner on third to be brought across the plate. They're seldom tempted with runners on first and third to attempt a double steal, which once accounted for many thefts of home by even less gifted runners.

All these factors combine to help explain why the outstanding thieves of recent decades, such as Henderson, Lou Brock (second with 938 career steals), Vince Coleman, and Maury Wills, seldom dashed for the plate. In fact, Brock never stole home. None of them achieved even nine such thefts, a modest total that wouldn't land them among the top 40 on the all-time list.

The leader with 50 steals of home is Ty Cobb, whose previous modern (since 1900) record of 893 thefts overall has been surpassed by only Henderson and Brock. The others among the top 38 are players whose careers ended before 1950 with the exceptions of Carew, Robinson and Paul Molitor, the last just making it with 10, a figure oddly enough tying him with Babe Ruth. While Cobb performed his thefts in the A.L., the N.L. record of 33 is held by Max Carey, a near contemporary.

(Steals of home have not always been recorded in official statistics, most being uncovered in newspaper accounts. Research continually reveals additional steals of home, which explains the changes in the record books from year to year.)

Cobb also set the major league single season record for steals of home at eight in 1912, a total Carew just missed when he stole seven in 1969 while with the Minnesota Twins, being thrown out on his eighth try. Carew matched the N.L. record set by Pete Reiser of the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1946.

Carew was egged on by Billy Martin, then managing the Twins, who later was to spur on Henderson with the Oakland A's.

"He (Martin) said I could use my speed to advantage in a game situation in which we needed a run and the guys weren't hitting," Carew recalled in his autobiography Carew. "I had stolen home once before in the minors--I had decided on the spur of the moment, and I could have gotten killed if the batter had swung.

"All I knew about stealing home was that Jackie Robinson had done it so spectacularly. I remember seeing newspaper photos of him, with a big hook slide and a lot of dust around home plate and the catcher (Yogi Berra) lunging at him."

The theft of home by Robinson in the first game of the 1955 World Series between his Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Yankees on September 28 at Yankee Stadium is the most famous of all such steals. It has been depicted countless times on television, in film, and in the newspaper picture Carew saw. Who can forget Berra's anguished leaps and protests over the plate umpire's safe call?

The eighth-inning steal did not change the outcome of the opener, the Yankees winning 6-5. But some credited it with pushing the Dodgers to a higher level, enabling them to capture a World Series for the first time in eight tries, and after five consecutive defeats (1941, 1947, 1949, 1952, 1953) by the Yankees.

"The daring play aroused team and fans, and the Dodgers went on to win their first world championship," commented an observer.

It has been overlooked that Robinson's was not the only attempt to steal home in that game. Martin, the Yankees second baseman, tried it in the sixth inning, but was tagged out, which didn't deter him from urging on Carew many years afterwards.

Almost unbelievably, there has been only two later steals of home in a Series, one came 40 years ago. St. Louis catcher Tim McCarver crossed home as part of a double steal in the seventh game of the 1964 Series against the Yankees, and the last was in Game 2 of the 2002 Fall Classic when Brad Fullmer of the Angels stole home as part of a double steal in the first inning against the Giants.

Robinson's daring base-running has become legendary as a facet of his pioneering establishment of the African-American player in major league baseball, though he is tied with Frankie Frisch in a modest ninth place with 19 steals of home, his total limited by his late arrival in the major leagues at the age of 28. His aggressive running helped make it clear he was not to be intimidated.

His first steal of home came on June 24, 1947, his rookie season, against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Fritz Ostermueller, who had knocked him down with a pitch, was on the mound, and Robinson responded, as he did invariably to any attempt to cow him. He made another "statement" by scoring all the way from first on a sacrifice fly.

Robinson's play resembled that of the all-out, no-holds-barred style of a teammate, "Pistol Pete" Reiser, whose injury-plagued career was fading by 1947. Reiser's unrestrained effort in the field, on the bases, and at bat, caused him to be carded off the field 11 times during his career (1940-42, 1946-52).

Steals of home by Reiser kept the Dodgers in the 1946 N.L. pennant race to the end. But by the time they finished the regular season tied for first with St. Louis, necessitating a one-game playoff won by the Cardinals, Reiser was out of action, having broken an ankle on the bases.

Nevertheless, he already had set the N.L. record for most steals of home at seven that season (also leading the league with 34 steals). He was caught only twice while trying to steal home. A typical performance came in a 1-1 game against the New York Giants. With Reiser on third, Giants pitcher Bill Voiselle made a gesture as if to defy Pete to try to steal home.

"I was glad he challenged me the way he did," said Reiser, "because that really made up my mind for me. No sooner did Bill give me that gesture than I took off for home and stole it. It was a big kick for me, to win a one-run ball game with a steal home."

Reiser insisted that his success at stealing home was attributable as much to confidence as speed.

"You've got to think you're going to make it," he said. "You have to know in your mind that when you take off to steal you're going to make it. If you have any doubt, you're going to be out."

Ironically, it was Reiser's reputation for daring base running that dealt the Dodgers a disheartening blow in 1946. On September 27, he took a long lead at first,. When the pitcher threw to pick him off, Reiser caught his spikes on the bag, snapping the ankle. The injury ended his season, and conceivably cost the Dodgers a clear-cut pennant rather than the tie with St. Louis.

Like Reiser, Carew two decades later emphasized the importance of confidence, as well as speed and surprise, in enabling a player to steal home. He credited Martin with working on him for hours to perfect his technique. Martin thought it important to get what he called a "walking lead" off third instead of coming to a stop as most runners do. Communicating with the batter also is essential. Then there's the need for nerve.

"And you can't be afraid of being thrown out," Martin told Carew, "because that's going to happen occasionally. You have to do it recklessly."

Carew was reckless to good purpose in 1969, stealing home seven times (of 19 thefts total). He stole home eight more times during his long career (1967-1985). Oddly perhaps, he never led the league in stolen bases, but won the A.L. batting title seven times to cement Hall of Fame status with a career average of .328.

Since it takes recklessness and nerve to make a habit of stealing home, it should not surprise that the most aggressive of all players set the career record at 50. Of course, much of Cobb's career came during the "dead ball" era when stolen bases were a greater factor than between the mid-1920s and mid-1950s. (In 1950, Dom DiMaggio topped the A.L. with 15, and Stan Hack led the N.L. with 16 in 1936, low points for league leaders.)

A Cobb steal of home came in his first full season (1906) With the Detroit Tigers, and set the pattern. It was described in a Sporting News account by New York Highlanders (Yankees) catcher Fred Mitchell, and reproduced in the biography of Cobb by Al Stump.

"Cobb was the runner at third base," said Mitchell. "I was catching. Frank LaPorte was our third baseman. Cobb made a sudden move to the plate. I shot the ball to LaPorte, but Cobb got back safely.

"LaPorte took a few steps toward the pitcher. The pitcher walked toward LaPorte. Cobb slightly sauntered off the bag. As players often do, LaPorte tossed the ball a foot or two in the air and caught it while talking to the pitcher. Cobb apparently was paying no attention. He was looking toward his own dugout

"LaPorte again tossed the ball into the air and did it twice more. With the fourth toss, at that instant, Cobb made a break for the plate. I never in my life saw a man spring into action so fast. Bear in mind that LaPorte was about 55 feet from the plate. Cobb was at least 83.

"There was yelling and confusion. LaPorte didn't see Cobb, didn't realize what was happening. By the time LaPorte awoke and threw home, Cobb had slid across the plate, had scored, and was standing up, brushing off his uniform."

In this steal of home, the element of surprise proved the key as it often does. That's especially true with base runners not blessed with great speed like that of Cobb, who once was timed at 10 seconds for 100 yards in baseball equipment.

Henderson, a speed demon himself, pointed this out in noting Carew's success.

"Rod wasn't considered the biggest threat around, so every time he stole home it was a surprise," said Henderson. "Wayne Gross, another of my old teammates, stole home three times in his career, and Wayne Gross was the slowest guy in the world. His over-all career total was 24. Of course, Wayne had some help. He'd scoot home on the back end of a double steal or with the pitcher in the windup. It helps to have the surprise factor."

Like Gross, first baseman Vic Power was no base-running dynamo during his career, with just 34 stolen bases in 12 seasons (1954-1965), yet is among only 11 players to steal home twice in a game. Notables on the list are Honus Wagner, Joe Jackson and Eddie Collins. (Never done by Cobb, Carey, Robinson, Carew, Reiser or Henderson,)

While splitting the 1958 season between Cleveland and Kansas City (A's). Power stole only three bases. But he stole home twice in a 10-inning game on August 14, to become the first to accomplish the feat in either league in 31 years, and nobody has matched him since.

There has been almost as long a drought in a theft of home by a pitcher. It seems the last one to do so was Curt Simmons of the Cardinals, who caught the Philadelphia Phillies napping on September 1, 1963.

While it's evident from most of the foregoing that one of the game's most dramatic plays is no longer in fashion, or apparently even a viable option, the steal of home has produced memorable moments in the game's history.

It can be said to have decided at least one pennant race, even if Reiser's heroics couldn't quite put the Dodgers across in 1946.

A steal by Chicago Cubs outfielder Danny Taylor at Wrigley Field in late September of 1930 was fatal to the Giants.

The Cardinals, Cubs and Giants were going neck and neck down to the wire during a campaign highlighting sluggers, among them Hack Wilson (Cubs), Mel Ott (Giants) and Chick Hafey (Cardinals). Wilson hit 56 home runs and drove in 191 runs, while all eight men in the St. Louis lineup batted over .300, and the team average was .314 while New York's was .319. The Cubs hit a sluggish .309,

Base running, however, decided the Giants' fate. The memorable play of the late-season series between the Giants and Cubs came in the ninth inning of a 1-1 tie. Taylor was on third base. Giants manager John McGraw brought in reliever Joe Heving, who took five warm-up pitches on the mound.

When Heving paused, preparing to throw his first pitch to the batter, Taylor took off from third, thundering toward the plate. The flustered Heving's pitch was high, and Taylor scored the run with a steal that eliminated the Giants from the race. The Cubs, however, didn't benefit much from Taylor's theft, finishing the season in second place behind the Cardinals.

It wasn't the first time Giants manager McGraw had been burned by a steal of home. It had happened most memorably in World Series play.

As mentioned already, the most recent (relatively!) World Series theft of home was accomplished in 1964 by McCarver. His was the 13th in a World Series, and seven came on double steals. Robinson is the last to pilfer it on his own, four years after Monte Irvin of the Giants did it against the Yankees in 1951.

Only one player has stolen home twice in World Series play. Bob Meusel of the Yankees did it against McGraw's Giants in 1921, and against the Cardinals in 1928.

The Yankees, led by Ruth, were making their first Series appearance ever, and shocked the Giants immediately, winning the opener 3-0. The most exciting play of the game came when Yankee third baseman Mike McNally stole home.

The Yankees also won the second game 3-0, with Ruth stealing a couple of bases, but having the spotlight stolen from him by Meusel. The center fielder barreled in from third base in the fifth inning, and kicked the ball loose from the grasp of Giants catcher Earl Smith.

The ensuing rhubarb, with McGraw berating Smith, drew intemperate language from the catcher, who was fined 8200 by Commissioner Kenesaw M. Landis.

McGraw claimed to be upset more by the thefts than the defeats.

"Losing two 3-0 games is bad enough, but having them steal home on me in two consecutive days, that's what really hurts," he told writer Fred Lieb.

The hurt surely eased when the Giants won the best-of-nine Series in eight games.

Meusel's second World Series theft of home came in 1928 against the Cardinals. It occurred on a double steal in the sixth inning of Game 3 while Tony Lazzeri was swiping second base en route to a 7-3 victory, and a Yankees sweep of the four games. It was the Series in which Ruth went 10-for-18 with three home runs and three doubles.

While Ruth never made it from third to home on a steal in a World Series, he came close. In the eighth inning of Game 2 of the 1922 Series, again against the Giants, Ruth charged the plate and slammed into catcher Charlie Berry. But Meusel had fouled off the pitch, and to make matters worse Ruth was shaken up. Hampered by the injury, he went 2-for-17 in the Series the Giants won in five games.

An unfriendly critic wrote: "The exploded phenomenon didn't surprise the smart fans who long ago realized he couldn't hit smart pitching. Ruth therefore is no longer a wonder."

The gentleman's crystal ball was clouded. Ruth's misfortune of 1922, however, is another example of how an attempt to steal home can influence the course of a Series or a season, just as Cubs outfielder Danny Taylor's successful dash did in 1930..

The Dodgers, who benefited so hugely from the thefts by Reiser and Robinson, also saw the reverse side of the coin one year.

They faced the Braves in late-season 1951 when Boston's Bob Addis decided to head from third for home. Dodgers catcher Roy Campanella lunged to put the tag on Addis, but umpire Frank Dascoli gave the safe call. The usually placid Campanella blew his cork to the extent he was tossed and suspended for three days.

The Dodgers were forced to play without their great catcher--who was to be voted the N.L. Most Valuable Player for 1951--at a crucial point of the campaign. It's conceivable that with Campanella on the field rather than banished for three days they might have avoided the regular season tie for first with the Giants that was broken in the playoff series by Bobby Thomson's home run.

It goes to show that at one time attempts to steal home were an important part of the game. The tactic might not be extinct today, but it could be classified as an "endangered species" even though as late as 1980 there were two steals of home in an inning by a team, the Kansas City Royals doing it on May 28.

Four years later, on June 10, 1984, the Cubs completed a similarly rare feat, a triple steal, with Leon Durham reaching home in a 2-0 victory over the Cardinals.

But it's a long way from 1948 when the Dodgers, ignited by Robinson's flair for the dramatic, stole home 14 times. It's a total no team has matched since, or is likely to given the current propensity to hang around third base waiting for a hit, sacrifice fly, wild pitch, passed ball, error or even balk to cover the rest of the way home.

With the steal of home virtually crossed out in the "book" managers live by, an exhilarating and flamboyant part of baseball has been stolen from those who love its lore and legends. They're condemned to dwell on past stories and glories.

Steals of Home Fact:

The most steals of home by a club in one season are 18 by the New York Yankees in 1912. The National League record is 17 by the Cubs in 1911 and Giants in 1912.

Steals of Home Fact:

The most steals of home by one player in a single season are eight, set by Ty Cobb in 1912 for the Detroit Tigers. Cobb swiped a total of 61 bases that year.

Steals of Home Fact: Bob Meusel of the Yankees is the only player to steal home twice in World Series competition (1921, 1928).

Most Career Steals of Home

Player              No.
Ty Cobb              50
Max Carey            33
George Burns         28
Honus Wagner         27
Sherry Magee         23
Frank Schulte        23
Johnny Evers         21
George Sisler        20
Frankie Frisch       19
Jackie Robinson      19
Jimmy Sheckard       18
Tris Speaker         18
Joe Tinker           18
Rod Carew            17
Eddie Collins        17
Larry Doyle          17
Tommy Leach          16
Ben Chapman          15
Fred Clarke          15
Lou Gehrig           15
Bob Byrne            14
Fred Maisel          14
Fred Merkle          14
Vic Saier            14
Heinie Zimmerman     13
Donie Bush           12
Sam Rice             12
Shano Collins        11
Harry Hooper         11
George Moriarty      11
Bob Roth             11
Buck Herzog          10
Jim Johnston         10
Rabbit Maranville    10
Paul Molitor         10
Babe Ruth            10
Bill Werber          10
Ross Youngs          10

Note--Steals of home are not recorded as official statistics and most
are uncovered in newspaper accounts.

Researchers are continually finding  additional steals of home for
many players, which explains the frequent changes in this list.

Players Who Stole Home Twice In One Game

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Player          Team        Date

Joe Jackson     Indians     August 11, 1912
Guy Zinn        Yankees     August 15, 1912
Eddie Collins   Athletics   September 6, 1913
Bill Barrett    White Sox   May 1, 1924
Vic Power       Indians     August 14, 1958

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Player          Team        Date

Honus Wagner    Pirates     June 20, 1901
Ed Konetchy     Cardinals   September 30, 1907
Joe Tinker      Cubs        June 28, 1910
Larry Doyle     Giants      September 18, 1911
Sherry Magee    Phillies    July 20, 1912
Doc Gautreau    Braves      September 3, 1927

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