List of Major League Baseball career stolen bases leaders

In baseball statistics, a stolen base is credited to a baserunner when he successfully advances to the next base while the pitcher is throwing the ball to home plate. Under Rule 7.01 of Major League Baseball's (MLB) Official Rules, a runner acquires the right to an unoccupied base when he touches it before he is out.^[1] Stolen bases were more common in baseball's dead-ball era, when teams relied more on stolen bases and hit and run plays than on home runs.^[2]

Rickey Henderson is the all-time stolen bases leader, stealing 1,406 bases over the course of his 25-year career.

Rickey Henderson holds the MLB career stolen base record with 1,406.^[3] He is the only MLB player to have reached the 1,000 stolen bases milestone in his career. Following Henderson is Lou Brock with 938 stolen bases;^[3] Billy Hamilton is third on the all-time steals listing. The number of career steals attributed to Hamilton varies by source, but all sources hold his career steals placing him in third on the list before Ty Cobb (897), Tim Raines (808), Vince Coleman (752), Arlie Latham (742),^[4] Eddie Collins (741), Max Carey (738), and Honus Wagner (723),^[5] who are the only other players to have stolen at least 700 bases.^[3] Coleman is the leader for retired players that are not members of the Hall of Fame.^[3]Brock held the all-time career stolen bases before being surpassed by Henderson in 1991. Brock had held the record from 1977 to 1991.^[6] Before Brock, Hamilton held the record for eighty-one years, from 1897 to 1977.^[6] Before that, Latham held the record from 1887 to 1896. Latham was also the first player to collect 300 career stolen bases.^[6] With Kenny Lofton's retirement in 2007, 2008 was the first season since 1967 in which no active player had more than 500 career stolen bases.^[6] Between 2008 and 2010, no active player had more than 500 stolen bases until Juan Pierre collected his 500th stolen base on August 5, 2010. He was the leader in stolen bases for active players until his retirement at the end of the 2013 season.^[6]

Key

Rank	Rank amongst leaders in career stolen bases. A blank field indicates a tie.
Player	Name of player.
SB	Total career stolen bases.
*	denotes elected to National Baseball Hall of Fame.

List

Lou Brock held the stolen base record from 1977 to 1991 and is one of just three players with more than 900 career stolen bases.

Sliding Billy Hamilton held the stolen base record for 80 years.

Arlie Latham was the stolen base record holder from 1887 to 1896.

Juan Pierre won multiple stolen base titles and finished his career with 614 stolen bases.

Rank	Player	SB
1	Rickey Henderson *	1,406
2	Lou Brock *	938
3	Billy Hamilton *	914
4	Ty Cobb *	897
5	Tim Raines *	808
6	Vince Coleman	758
7	Arlie Latham	742
8	Eddie Collins *	741
9	Max Carey *	738
10	Honus Wagner *	723
11	Joe Morgan *	689
12	Willie Wilson	668
13	Tom Brown	657
14	Bert Campaneris	649
15	Kenny Lofton	622
16	Otis Nixon	620
17	George Davis *	616
18	Juan Pierre	614
19	Dummy Hoy	596
20	Maury Wills	586
21	George Van Haltren	583
22	Ozzie Smith *	580
23	Hugh Duffy *	574
24	Bid McPhee *	568
25	Brett Butler	558
26	Davey Lopes	557
27	Cesar Cedeño	550
28	Bill Dahlen	548
29	John Montgomery Ward *	540
30	Herman Long	537
31	Patsy Donovan	518
	Jack Doyle	518
33	José Reyes	517
34	Barry Bonds	514
35	Fred Clarke *	509
	Harry Stovey	509
	Ichiro Suzuki	509
38	Luis Aparicio *	506
39	Paul Molitor *	504
40	Willie Keeler *	495
	Clyde Milan	495
42	Omar Moreno	487
43	Carl Crawford	480
44	Roberto Alomar *	474
45	Mike Griffin	473
46	Jimmy Rollins	470
47	Tommy McCarthy *	468
48	Jimmy Sheckard	465
	Eric Young	465
50	Delino DeShields	463

Rank	Player	SB
51	Bobby Bonds	461
52	Ed Delahanty *	455
	Ron LeFlore	455
54	Curt Welch	453
55	Steve Sax	444
56	Joe Kelley *	443
57	Sherry Magee	441
57	John McGraw *	436
	Tris Speaker *	436
60	Marquis Grissom	429
61	Bob Bescher	428
	Mike Tiernan	428
63	Frankie Frisch *	419
	Jimmy Ryan	419
65	Charlie Comiskey *	416
66	Rajai Davis	415
67	Craig Biggio *	414
68	Johnny Damon	408
	Tommy Harper	408
70	Chuck Knoblauch	407
71	Donie Bush	406
72	Omar Vizquel	404
73	Frank Chance *	403
74	Bobby Abreu	400
	Bill Lange	400
76	Willie Davis	398
77	Sam Mertes	396
	Juan Samuel	396
79	Dave Collins	395
	Billy North	395
81	Jesse Burkett *	389
82	Tommy Corcoran	387
83	Tom Daly	385
	Freddie Patek	385
85	George Burns	383
	Hugh Nicol	383
	Fred Pfeffer	383
	Walt Wilmot	383
89	Nap Lajoie *	380
90	Barry Larkin *	379
91	Harry Hooper *	375
	George Sisler *	375
93	Jack Glasscock	372
94	Luis Castillo	370
	Lonnie Smith	370
96	Tom Goodwin	369
97	Tommy Dowd	368
	King Kelly *	368
99	Sam Crawford *	367
100	Hal Chase	363
	Tony Womack	363

References

1. "Official Rules: 7.00 - The Runner". Major League Baseball. Retrieved January 27, 2014.
2. Okrent, Daniel; Lewine, Harris (200). The Ultimate Baseball Book, Expanded and Updated. Mariner Books. p. 33. ISBN 0-618-05668-8.
3. "Career Leaders & Records for Stolen Bases". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved March 4, 2014.
4. MLB Advanced Media. "Arlie Latham Stats, Video Highlights, Photos, Bio". MLB Advanced Media. Retrieved March 8, 2014.
5. MLB Advanced Media. "Honus Wagner Stats, Video Highlights, Photos, Bio". MLB Advanced Media. Retrieved March 8, 2014.
6. "Progressive Leaders & Records for Stolen Bases". Baseball-Reference. Retrieved February 20, 2015.

External links

• All-time stolen base leaders at Baseball-Reference.com