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 Official Rules, a runner acquires the right to an unoccupied base when he touches it before he is out. 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.
Rickey Henderson holds the MLB career stolen base record with 1,406. 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; Billy Hamilton is third on the all-time steals listing. His number of career steals varies with different sources, but all sources hold his career steals placing him in third on the list before Ty Cobb, Tim Raines, Vince Coleman, Arlie Latham, Eddie Collins, Max Carey, and Honus Wagner, who are the only other players to have stolen at least 700 bases. Coleman is the leader for retired players that are not members of the Hall of Fame. Hugh Nicol is the leader for the most stolen bases in one season, with 138 stolen bases in 1887.
Brock held the all-time career stolen bases before being surpassed by Henderson in 1991. Brock had held the record from 1977 to 1991. Before Brock, Hamilton held the record for eighty-one years, from 1897 to 1977. Before that, Latham held the record from 1887 to 1896. Latham was also the first player to collect 300 career stolen bases. 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. 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.

Key

List

RankPlayerSB
1Rickey Henderson *1,406
2Lou Brock *938
3Billy Hamilton *914
4Ty Cobb *897
5Tim Raines *808
6Vince Coleman752
7Arlie Latham742
8Eddie Collins *741
9Max Carey *738
10Honus Wagner *723
11Joe Morgan *689
12Willie Wilson668
13Tom Brown657
14Bert Campaneris649
15Kenny Lofton622
16Otis Nixon620
17George Davis *616
18Juan Pierre614
19Dummy Hoy596
20Maury Wills586
21George Van Haltren583
22Ozzie Smith *580
23Hugh Duffy *574
24Bid McPhee *568
25Brett Butler558
26Davey Lopes557
27Cesar Cedeño550
28Bill Dahlen548
29John Montgomery Ward *540
30Herman Long537
31Patsy Donovan518
Jack Doyle518
33José Reyes517
34Barry Bonds514
35Fred Clarke *509
Harry Stovey509
Ichiro Suzuki509
38Luis Aparicio *506
39Paul Molitor *504
40Willie Keeler *495
Clyde Milan495
42Omar Moreno487
43Carl Crawford480
44Roberto Alomar *474
45Mike Griffin473
46Jimmy Rollins470
47Tommy McCarthy *468
48Jimmy Sheckard465
Eric Young465
50Delino DeShields463