In addition to having several guys who can hit home runs, the Cubs have turned into a good running team.
Going into Friday’s game at Cincinnati, the Cubs have stolen 63 bases this year in 50 games. The 63 steals rank third in MLB behind the Rays (67) and Brewers (66).
The Cubs have also done a good job this year in SB percentage — they’ve been caught only 10 times, for a success rate of 86.3 percent. That’s excellent.
If the Cubs continue to steal bases at their current pace, they will wind up this year with 204 stolen bases.
That would be the most steals for any Cubs team since 1911, when they had 219.
In the early days of the 20th Century, of course, teams ran a lot more than they do now. The Cubs were no exception. They stole over 200 bases every year from 1901-08, dropped off a bit the following two years, and then did it again in 1911.
And not since. Stolen bases began to fall off in baseball in general beginning in the 1920s with the end of the Deadball Era, but the Cubs seemed to be a team that dropped further than most. They stole 183 in 1923 and have not had that many since. In 1985 they came close with 182, but that’s it.
From 1930-77 the Cubs did not steal more than 78 bases in any year — as a team, not even in the 1960s and early 1970s when the rest of MLB was beginning a stolen-base revolution. In 1962, Maury Wills set the then-MLB record of 104, while the entire Cubs team had just 78. The contending Cubs teams of the late 1960s were even more slow-footed. The fabled 1969 Cubs had just 30 steals (and were caught 32 times!).
In 1978, the Cubs finally stole over 100 bases in a season for the first time since 1929. Ivan De Jesus led the way with 41. He was the first Cub with 40 steals in a season since Kiki Cuyler led the NL with 43 in 1929. In the 48 seasons from 1930-77, when the Cubs had zero players steal 40 bases in a season, there were 106 seasons of 40 steals or more from players on other teams, including 13 such seasons by Lou Brock, who… well, you know. Bill North, also traded away by the Cubs, accounted for three more of those 40+ steal seasons in that 48-year span.
That’s why it’s so good to see the Cubs near the top of the league in stolen-base attempts and successful steals. They add a lot to an offense that also has a lot of power. Three Cubs enter this weekend series in double figures in steals: Pete Crow-Armstrong and Kyle Tucker with 14 and Nico Hoerner with 10 (and two of those three of those players also are in double figures in home runs). Tucker’s career high is 30, set two years ago, but he doesn’t really seem like that much of a speed guy. PCA is currently on pace for 45 steals, but if he can run a bit more he might even have a chance at the Modern Era franchise record, which is 67. That was set by Frank Chance… in 1903!
Since the Deadball Era, only three Cubs have had even 50 or more in a season: Ryne Sandberg, 54 in 1985; Eric Young Sr., 54 in 2000; and Juan Pierre, 58 in 2006.
Keep up the running game, Cubs. Not only does it help provide more run-scoring, but it could break some long-standing franchise marks.