List of Major League Baseball stolen base records
s were not officially noted in a baseball game's summary until 1886, and it was not until 1888 that it officially earned a place in the box score. The modern rule for stolen bases was adopted in 1898. While some sources do not include stolen base records before 1898 because they are difficult to compare to the era after 1898, as the sourcing on the below list indicates, Major League Baseball continues to recognize them.
No. | Player | SB | Teams and seasons |
1 | Rickey Henderson | 1,406 | 1979–84, 89–93, 94–95, 98, 1985–89, 1993, 1996–97, 2001, 1997, 1999–2000, 2000, 2002, 2003 |
2 | Lou Brock | 938 | 1961–64, 1964–79 |
3 | Billy Hamilton | 912 | 1888–89, 1890–95, 1896–1901 |
4 | Ty Cobb | 892 | 1905–26, 1927–28 |
5 | Tim Raines | 808 | 1979–90, 2001, 1991–95, 1996–98, 1999, 2001, 2002 |
6 | Vince Coleman | 752 | 1985–90, 1991–93,, 1994–95, 1995, 1996, 1997 |
7 | Eddie Collins | 745 | 1906–14, 27–30, 1915–26 |
8 | Arlie Latham | 739 | 1880, 1883–89, 96, 1890, 1890–1895, 1899, 1909 |
9 | Max Carey | 738 | 1910–26, 26–29 |
10 | Honus Wagner | 722 | 1897–99, 1900–17 |
11 | Joe Morgan | 689 | 1963–71, 80, 1972–79, 1981–82, 1983, 1984 |
12 | Willie Wilson | 668 | 1976–90, 1991–92, 1993–94 |
13 | Tom Brown | 657 | 1882, 1883–84, 1885–87, 1887, 1888–89, 1890–91, 1892–94, 1895, 1895–98 |
14 | Bert Campaneris | 649 | 1964–76, 1977–79, 1979–81, 1983 |
15 | Kenny Lofton | 622 | 1991, 1992–96, 98–2001, 07, 1997, 2002, 2002, 2003, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007 |
16 | Otis Nixon | 620 | 1983, 1984–87, 1988–90, 1991–93, 99, 1994, 1995, 1996–97, 1997, 1998 |
17 | George Davis | 616 | 1890–92, 1893–1901, 03, 1902, 1904–09 |
18 | Juan Pierre | 614 | 2000–02, 2003–05, 2006, 2007–09, 2010–11, 2012, 2013 |
19 | Dummy Hoy | 594 | 1888–89, 1890, 1891, 1892–93, 1894–97, 1898–99, 1901, 1902 |
20 | Maury Wills | 586 | 1959–66, 1967–68, 1969, 1969–72 |
Source:
Notes:
- Historical totals reported by other sources may vary—for example, Baseball-Reference.com ranks Arlie Latham ahead of Eddie Collins, with totals of 742 and 741, respectively.
- As of the 2019 MLB season, only one currently active player, Rajai Davis, has more than 400.
Top 10 career stolen bases by league
American League Player | SB | National League Player | SB | |
Rickey Henderson | 1270 | Lou Brock | 938 | |
Ty Cobb | 892 | Billy Hamilton | 782 | |
Eddie Collins | 745 | Max Carey | 738 | |
Willie Wilson | 660 | Honus Wagner | 722 | |
Bert Campaneris | 649 | Joe Morgan | 681 | |
Luis Aparicio | 506 | Vince Coleman | 660 | |
Paul Molitor | 504 | Tim Raines | 635 | |
Kenny Lofton | 502 | Dummy Hoy | 567 | |
Clyde Milan | 495 | Maury Wills | 586 | |
Ichiro Suzuki | 487 | Ozzie Smith | 580 |
100 stolen bases, one season
The pre-modern single-season mark for stolen bases is 138 by Hugh Nicol of the Cincinnati Red Stockings in 1887. In the modern era, Ty Cobb set a single-season mark of 96 stolen bases in 1915 that lasted until it was broken by Maury Wills with 104 in 1962. A new modern mark was set by Lou Brock with 118 in 1974, and again by Rickey Henderson with 130 in 1982. Henderson and Vince Coleman are the only players to record three 100-steal seasons in the modern era. Coleman is the only player to do it three seasons in a row, much less in the first three season of his career, as well as the only player to record 100 steals as a rookie.
Player | SB | Team | Season |
Hugh Nicol | 138 | Cincinnati Red Stockings | 1887 |
Rickey Henderson | 130 | Oakland Athletics | 1982 |
Arlie Latham | 129 | St. Louis Cardinals | 1887 |
Lou Brock | 118 | St. Louis Cardinals | 1974 |
Charles Comiskey | 117 | St. Louis Cardinals | 1887 |
John Montgomery Ward | 111 | New York Giants | 1887 |
Billy Hamilton | 111 | Philadelphia Phillies | 1891 |
Vince Coleman | 110 | St. Louis Cardinals | 1985 |
Arlie Latham | 109 | St. Louis Cardinals | 1888 |
Vince Coleman | 109 | St. Louis Cardinals | 1987 |
Rickey Henderson | 108 | Oakland Athletics | 1983 |
Vince Coleman | 107 | St. Louis Cardinals | 1986 |
Maury Wills | 104 | Los Angeles Dodgers | 1962 |
Hugh Nicol | 103 | Cincinnati Red Stockings | 1888 |
Jim Fogarty | 102 | Philadelphia Phillies | 1887 |
Billy Hamilton | 102 | Philadelphia Phillies | 1890 |
Rickey Henderson | 100 | Oakland Athletics | 1980 |
Note: "" designates a player's rookie season
5 stolen bases, one game
Under the pre-modern rule, George Gore stole 7 bases in a game in 1881, a mark that was tied by "Sliding Billy" Hamilton in 1894. In the modern era, Eddie Collins stole 6 bases in a game on two occasions, both in September 1912, a mark that stood alone for nearly eight decades before being tied by Otis Nixon, Eric Young, and Carl Crawford.Player | SB | Team | Date | Opponent |
George Gore | 7 | Chicago White Stockings | June 25, 1881 | Providence Grays |
Billy Hamilton | 7 | Philadelphia Phillies | August 31, 1894 | Washington Senators |
Eddie Collins | 6 | Philadelphia Athletics | September 11, 1912 | Detroit Tigers |
Eddie Collins | 6 | Philadelphia Athletics | September 22, 1912 | St. Louis Browns |
Otis Nixon | 6 | Atlanta Braves | June 16, 1991 | Montreal Expos |
Eric Young | 6 | Colorado Rockies | June 30, 1996 | Los Angeles Dodgers |
Carl Crawford | 6 | Tampa Bay Rays | 3 May 2009 | Boston Red Sox |
Dan McGann | 5 | New York Giants | 27 May 1904 | Brooklyn Superbas |
Clyde Milan | 5 | Washington Senators | June 14, 1912 | Cleveland Indians |
Johnny Neun | 5 | Detroit Tigers | July 9, 1927 1 | New York Yankees |
Amos Otis | 5 | Kansas City Royals | September 7, 1971 | Milwaukee Brewers |
Davey Lopes | 5 | Los Angeles Dodgers | August 24, 1974 | St. Louis Cardinals |
Bert Campaneris | 5 | Oakland Athletics | 24 May 1976 | Minnesota Twins |
Lonnie Smith | 5 | St. Louis Cardinals | September 4, 1982 | San Francisco Giants |
Alan Wiggins | 5 | San Diego Padres | 17 May 1984 | Montreal Expos |
Tony Gwynn | 5 | San Diego Padres | September 20, 1986 | Houston Astros |
Rickey Henderson | 5 | Oakland Athletics | July 29, 1989 | Seattle Mariners |
Alex Cole | 5 | Cleveland Indians | August 1, 1990 | Kansas City Royals |
Alex Cole | 5 | Cleveland Indians | 3 May 1992 | California Angels |
Damian Jackson | 5 | San Diego Padres | June 28, 1999 | Colorado Rockies |
Eric Young | 5 | Chicago Cubs | 14 May 2000 | Montreal Expos |
Kenny Lofton | 5 | Cleveland Indians | September 3, 2000 | Baltimore Orioles |
Scarborough Green | 5 | Texas Rangers | September 28, 2000 | Seattle Mariners |
Ryan Freel | 5 | Cincinnati Reds | July 27, 2005 | Los Angeles Dodgers |
Willy Taveras | 5 | Colorado Rockies | June 14, 2008 | Chicago White Sox |
Dexter Fowler | 5 | Colorado Rockies | April 27, 2009 | San Diego Padres |
Jacoby Ellsbury | 5 | Boston Red Sox | May 30, 2013 | Philadelphia Phillies |
Billy Hamilton | 5 | Cincinnati Reds | June 14, 2015 | Chicago Cubs |
35 consecutive stolen bases
Records for consecutive successful stolen base attempts are limited by the available data, as times caught stealing has been recorded officially only since 1920. Max Carey established a mark in 1922-23 of 36 consecutive stolen bases without being caught, which stood until it was broken by Davey Lopes with 38 consecutive steals in 1975. Lopes's record was broken by Vince Coleman with 50 consecutive stolen bases in 1988-89.Player | SB | Team | Start | Ended |
Vince Coleman | 50 | St. Louis Cardinals | September 16, 1988 | July 26, 1989 |
Ichiro Suzuki | 45 | Seattle Mariners | April 29, 2006 | 16 May 2007 |
Tim Raines | 40 | Chicago White Sox | July 23, 1993 | September 1, 1995 |
Jimmy Rollins | 39 | Philadelphia Phillies | September 1, 2007 | July 26, 2008 |
Davey Lopes | 38 | Los Angeles Dodgers | June 6, 1975 | August 24, 1975 |
Tim Raines | 37 | Montreal Expos | September 22, 1983 | July 6, 1984 |
Stan Javier | 37 | Oak Athletics-SF Giants | May 31, 1995 | June 27, 1996 |
Max Carey | 36 | Pittsburgh Pirates | July 7, 1922 | May 13, 1923 |
Paul Molitor | 36 | Toronto Blue Jays | August 22, 1993 | October 1, 1995 |
Brady Anderson | 36 | Baltimore Orioles | May 14, 1994 | July 3, 1995 |
Coco Crisp | 36 | Oakland Athletics | July 16, 2011 | June 19, 2012 |
Davey Lopes | 35 | Oak Athletics-Chi Cubs | July 11, 1983 | May 18, 1985 |
Jimmy Rollins | 35 | Philadelphia Phillies | May 9, 2001 | August 25, 2001 |
Three or more seasons with 70 stolen bases
Under pre-modern rules, "Sliding Billy" Hamilton amassed six separate seasons of 70-plus stolen bases over his career. In the modern era, Ty Cobb established a mark of three such seasons that stood until it was broken by Tim Raines in 1984. In 1986, Raines reached six seasons of 70-plus steals, all consecutive, but Rickey Henderson notched his seventh such season in 1989.Player | Seasons | Seasons and teams |
Rickey Henderson | 7 | 1980, 82–83, 1985–86, 88, 1989 |
Billy Hamilton | 6 | 1889, 1890–91, 94–95, 1896 |
Tim Raines | 6 | 1981–86 |
Vince Coleman | 5 | 1985–88, 90 |
Tom Brown | 3 | 1890–91, 1892 |
Harry Stovey | 3 | 1887–88, 1890 |
Ty Cobb | 3 | 1909, 11, 15 |
Lou Brock | 3 | 1966, 73–74 |
Omar Moreno | 3 | 1978–80 |
Ten or more seasons with 40 stolen bases
In 1924, Eddie Collins tied Billy Hamilton's pre-modern mark of ten seasons with 40-plus stolen bases. A year later, Max Carey also tied the record. The record was broken by Lou Brock in 1974. Brock eventually recorded a thirteenth 40-steal season, but was in turn surpassed by Rickey Henderson in 1993. Henderson eventually stole 40 bases in sixteen separate seasons.Player | Seasons | Seasons and teams |
Rickey Henderson | 16 | 1980–84, 90–92, 98, 1985–88, 1989, 1993, 1997 |
Lou Brock | 13 | 1964, 1965–76 |
Tim Raines | 11 | 1981–87, 89–90, 1991–92 |
Billy Hamilton | 10 | 1889, 1890–95, 1896–98 |
Eddie Collins | 10 | 1909–10, 12–14, 1915–17, 23–24 |
Max Carey | 10 | 1912–13, 16–18, 20, 22–25 |
Eight or more consecutive seasons with 40 stolen bases
Fifteen or more seasons with 20 stolen bases
League leader in stolen bases, 5 or more seasons
League leader in stolen bases, 4 or more consecutive seasons
League leader in stolen bases, two leagues
League leader in stolen bases, three different teams
Eighty percent stolen base percentage (100+ attempts), career
Those marked in bold have at least 600 career stolen base attempts. Of those, Joe Morgan was the first to retire with a career stolen base percentage of at least 80%. His mark was successively surpassed by Davey Lopes, Willie Wilson, and Tim Raines.Player | SB | Attempts | SB% |
Chase Utley | 153 | 174 | 87.9% |
Carlos Beltrán | 312 | 361 | 86.4% |
Jayson Werth | 132 | 155 | 85.2% |
Tim Raines | 808 | 954 | 84.7% |
Eric Davis | 349 | 415 | 84.1% |
Willie Wilson | 668 | 802 | 83.3% |
Barry Larkin | 379 | 456 | 83.11% |
Tony Womack | 363 | 437 | 83.07% |
Davey Lopes | 557 | 671 | 83.0% |
Jimmy Rollins | 470 | 575 | 81.7% |
Carl Crawford | 480 | 589 | 81.49% |
Julio Cruz | 343 | 421 | 81.47% |
Ichiro Suzuki | 509 | 626 | 81.3% |
Alex Rodriguez | 329 | 405 | 81.2% |
Joe Morgan | 689 | 851 | 80.96% |
Vince Coleman | 752 | 929 | 80.95% |
Rickey Henderson | 1406 | 1741 | 80.8% |
Roberto Alomar | 474 | 588 | 80.6% |
José Reyes | 513 | 639 | 80.3% |
Ninety-five percent stolen base percentage, season, 30+ stolen bases
see notes2 3Player | SB% | SB | Attempts | Team | Season |
Brady Anderson | 96.9% | 31 | 32 | Baltimore Orioles | 1994 |
Carlos Beltrán | 96.9% | 31 | 32 | Kansas City Royals | 2001 |
Max Carey | 96.2% | 51 | 53 | Pittsburgh Pirates | 1922 |
Ichiro Suzuki | 95.74% | 45 | 47 | Seattle Mariners | 2006 |