photo credit: John-Morgan
As Rickey ages we get farther and farther from the Stolen Bases’ glory days.
I know that baseball has a long history of ups and downs, but I grew up in the “Age of the Stolen Base” with Rickey Henderson seemingly stealing a base every 2 seconds. It just occured to me that the Stolen Base is becoming a lost art…not because people aren’t doing it, but because the biggest names aren’t doing it.
Last season Jacoby ellsbury led the Majors with 70 stolen bases. Now, I kow he’s a big deal, but he’s isn’t Dustin Pedroia (the MVP). Really, the times of “big-boppers” like Jose Canseco and Barry Bonds going 40-40 and 50-50 are dead.
Smaller guys are the only dudes who can make it to second base in time nowadays. Catchers are stronger and (generally) more accurate so if you weigh more than a buck-fifty then you’ll never make it.
The game has taken a turn. Even though we have exited the “Steroids Era” there are still a million reasons why finesse has been lost in baseball. With every new medical or strength advancement we lose the Rickey Hendersons and Marquis Grissoms. Rickey Henderson and Vince Coleman EACH have stolen over 100 bases in a season. We’ll never see the likes of that again.
With the loss of solen bases we also lose the “surgical pitcher”. Guys like Greg Maddux have faded out of the spotlight in favor of dudes who throw over 100 mph. Baseball games take longer because there is less “cat and mouse” going on.
When Greg Maddux was picking apart teams in 2 and a half hours he also would get the occasional “free out” from a trigger-happy base-runner. Now, most pitchers know that guys aren’t when they take that huge lead-off because they’re afraid of the catcher.
I wish I could return to my youth but I can’t. At least we know this…the game is fluid and if we wait long enough we might have Marquis, Vince and Rickey 2.0′s stealing 100 bases in a season.
A guy can dream can’t he?
{ 1 trackback }