Ty Cobb Stealing Home With A Little Mustard
Jackie Robinson‘s first stolen base of his major league career came today in 1947. He stole home. Yup.
Robinson would go on to steal the plate another 18 times over his career, tied for ninth most in baseball history.
The tenacious Ty Cobb, though, sits at the top, more than 20 ahead of second place Max Carey.
Most stealing home occurred early on in the game. Cobb and Carey played mostly in the 19-teens and -twenties. Of the top 20 plate-stealers of all time below, 15 finished their careers in 1930 or earlier. Another two finished theirs before 1940.
That leaves just Robinson, Ben Chapman, and most recently, Rod Carew as the best modern players at stealing home.
Thanks to baseball-almanac.com for tallying the totals.
Follow @VinGetz| PLAYER | TIMES STOLE HOME | POS.* | CAREER SPAN | |
| 1. | Ty Cobb | 54 | CF, RF | 1905-1928 |
| 2. | Max Carey | 33 | CF, LF, RF | 1910-1929 |
| 3. | George Burns | 28 | LF, RF, CF | 1911-1925 |
| 4. | Honus Wagner | 27 | SS, OF, 1B, 3B | 1897-1917 |
| 5. | Sherry Magee | 23 | OF, LF, 1B, CF | 1904-1919 |
| 5. | Frank Schulte | 23 | OF, LF, RF | 1904-1918 |
| 7. | Johnny Evers | 21 | 2B | 1902-1917, 1922, 1929 |
| 8. | George Sisler | 20 | 1B | 1915-1922, 1924-1930 |
| 9. | Frankie Frisch | 19 | 2B, 3B | 1919-1937 |
| 9. | Jackie Robinson | 19 | 2B, 3B, LF | 1947-1956 |
| 11. | Jimmy Sheckard | 18 | OF | 1897-1913 |
| 11. | Tris Speaker | 18 | CF | 1907-1928 |
| 11. | Joe Tinker | 18 | SS | 1902-1916 |
| 14. | Rod Carew | 17 | 1B, 2B | 1967-1985 |
| 14. | Eddie Collins | 17 | 2B | 1906-1930 |
| 14. | Larry Doyle | 17 | 2B | 1907-1920 |
| 17. | Tommy Leach | 16 | OF, 3B, CF | 1898-1915, 1918 |
| 18. | Ben Chapman | 15 | CF, RF, LF | 1930-1941, 1944-1946 |
| 18. | Fred Clarke | 15 | OF | 1894-1911, 1913-1915 |
| 18. | Lou Gehrig | 15 | 1B | 1923-1939 |
* At least 100 games played at position, with more/most games from left to right, courtesy baseball-reference.com.
Photo: athleticpoetics.com
