Good morning!
Looking back at baseball history, today’s date is notable both from a league standpoint and a White Sox player standpoint. At the league level, Rickey Henderson on this date in 1990 became the American League’s all-time leader in stolen bases swiping number 893 to surpass Ty Cobb:
Then, on this same date in 1992, Tim Raines stole career base number 700 en route to 45 total swiped bags for the season. (While a nice total in today’s game, that was nowhere near the league lead; Marquis Grissom stole 78 to lead the NL and MLB that year, while Kenny Lofton stole 66 to lead the AL)
Which got me wondering: just how many times has a White Sox player stolen at least 40 bases in a single season? Turns out the answer is 31: the number you’ll be trying to guess. How many can you get? Good luck!
Quiz Parameters
- I’ve allotted 10 minutes for completion attempts.
- For hints, I’ve provided the season and the number of stolen bases.
Useless information to amaze, annoy, confuse, and/or confound your friends and family:
- The last MLB player to record 100 or more stolen bases in a season was Cardinal outfielder Vince Coleman in 1987, with 109. (He also finished with more than 100 in 1986 and 1985)
- In 1912, Harry Lord stole 30 bases for the White Sox. Unfortunately for him and the team, he was caught 33 times.
- The average OBP of the players on this list is .353.
All data from stathead.com
23/31, and if you weren’t a Hall of Famer but did steal bases in the deadball era, I missed you.
22/31. Missed the 1987 guy and the old timers.
I don’t beat myself up for missing the old-timers, but I always guess “Luke Appling” and am constantly amazed that he never seems to appear on these Sporcle lists.
19/31. My most recent miss was 1966, and I’d only heard of 2 of my misses, so not bad.