Rickey Henderson and the Top 20 Players with the Most Stolen Bases in a Season

Trick question. What player stole the most bases in a season?

Rickey Henderson is the first name that comes to mind. He stole a criminal 130 in 1982, really the modern record.

But in all of the annals of baseball lore, there is another man who stole eight more.

That would be Hugh Nicol of the Cincinnati Red Stockings back in 1887.

You see back in the 1880s, the stolen base was quite the fad, and ballplayers from those days are all over today’s first list: most stolen bases in a season, ever.

But there’s another reason why.

The eventual owner the Chicago White Sox, Charlie Comiskey, and Hall of Famer Billy Hamilton were contemporaries of Nicol.

In modern days, the three fastest men are Rickey, of course, Lou Brock and Vince Coleman.

If you just make a small qualifying adjustment to the first list, say lop off the dudes from the 19^th century, you get a whole different list, a more familiar one to you and me. And that is today’s second list below.

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