This Date in Sports: Rickey Henderson Steals 119th Base to Set Single Season Record for Stolen Bases

Posted by DavidGreen
Aug 29, 2019

Introduction

On this date in sports history (August 27th, 1982), Rickey Henderson, of the Oakland Athletics, surpassed Lou Brock to earn the record for most stolen bases in a season with 119. That legendary steal came against Milwaukee Brewer’s pitcher, Doc Medich, and catcher, Ted Simmons. Henderson went on to steal 130 bases throughout the 1982 season which still stands as the current record for the most stolen bases over the course of a single season.

The amazing and speedy outfielder also owns the record for most career stolen bases in Major League Baseball history with 1,406. He got on base quite a bit during his 25 year MLB career. He has the second most walks in MLB history with 2,190 behind Barry Bonds who has recorded 2,558 base on balls throughout his legendary career. Henderson got on base 5,343 times in his career and by having 1,406 stolen bases that means he stole a base an unbelievable 26.3% percent of the time he made it aboard on average.

Career Accomplishments and Honors

Henderson was selected to the MLB All Star game ten times (1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991). He is a two time World Series champion (1989, 1993). He won the American League MVP Award in 1990 and the American League Championship Series MVP Award in 1989, while also earning himself a Gold Glove Award in 1981 as well as three MLB Silver Slugger Awards (1981, 1985, 1990).

Miraculously, Henderson was the AL stolen base leader 12 times (1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1998). His number 24 was retired by the Oakland Athletics. He was inducted into the Oakland A’s Hall of Fame and the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2009 as a first ballot inductee.

Career Statistics

Year	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	TB	HBP
1979	OAK	AL	89	398	351	49	96	13	3	1	26	33	11	34	39	0.274	0.338	0.336	0.675	88	118	2
1980	OAK	AL	158	722	591	111	179	22	4	9	53	100	26	117	54	0.303	0.42	0.399	0.82	135	236	5
1981	OAK	AL	108	493	423	89	135	18	7	6	35	56	22	64	68	0.319	0.408	0.437	0.845	151	185	2
1982	OAK	AL	149	656	536	119	143	24	4	10	51	130	42	116	94	0.267	0.398	0.382	0.78	122	205	2
1983	OAK	AL	145	622	513	105	150	25	7	9	48	108	19	103	80	0.292	0.414	0.421	0.835	139	216	4
1984	OAK	AL	142	597	502	113	147	27	4	16	58	66	18	86	81	0.293	0.399	0.458	0.857	146	230	5
1985	NYY	AL	143	654	547	146	172	28	5	24	72	80	10	99	65	0.314	0.419	0.516	0.934	157	282	3
1986	NYY	AL	153	701	608	130	160	31	5	28	74	87	18	89	81	0.263	0.358	0.469	0.827	125	285	2
1987	NYY	AL	95	440	358	78	104	17	3	17	37	41	8	80	52	0.291	0.423	0.497	0.92	145	178	2
1988	NYY	AL	140	647	554	118	169	30	2	6	50	93	13	82	54	0.305	0.394	0.399	0.793	124	221	3
1989	TOT	AL	150	674	541	113	148	26	3	12	57	77	14	126	68	0.274	0.411	0.399	0.81	132	216	3
1989	NYY	AL	65	293	235	41	58	13	1	3	22	25	8	56	29	0.247	0.392	0.349	0.741	112	82	1
1989	OAK	AL	85	381	306	72	90	13	2	9	35	52	6	70	39	0.294	0.425	0.438	0.863	148	134	2
1990	OAK	AL	136	594	489	119	159	33	3	28	61	65	10	97	60	0.325	0.439	0.577	1.016	189	282	4
1991	OAK	AL	134	578	470	105	126	17	1	18	57	58	18	98	73	0.268	0.4	0.423	0.823	135	199	7
1992	OAK	AL	117	500	396	77	112	18	3	15	46	48	11	95	56	0.283	0.426	0.457	0.883	155	181	6
1993	TOT	AL	134	610	481	114	139	22	2	21	59	53	8	120	65	0.289	0.432	0.474	0.906	148	228	4
1993	OAK	AL	90	407	318	77	104	19	1	17	47	31	6	85	46	0.327	0.469	0.553	1.023	182	176	2
1993	TOR	AL	44	203	163	37	35	3	1	4	12	22	2	35	19	0.215	0.356	0.319	0.675	83	52	2
1994	OAK	AL	87	376	296	66	77	13	0	6	20	22	7	72	45	0.26	0.411	0.365	0.776	111	108	5
1995	OAK	AL	112	487	407	67	122	31	1	9	54	32	10	72	66	0.3	0.407	0.447	0.855	132	182	4
1996	SDP	NL	148	602	465	110	112	17	2	9	29	37	15	125	90	0.241	0.41	0.344	0.754	108	160	10
1997	TOT	MLB	120	509	403	84	100	14	0	8	34	45	8	97	85	0.248	0.4	0.342	0.742	101	138	6
1997	SDP	NL	88	365	288	63	79	11	0	6	27	29	4	71	62	0.274	0.422	0.375	0.797	118	108	4
1997	ANA	AL	32	144	115	21	21	3	0	2	7	16	4	26	23	0.183	0.343	0.261	0.604	60	30	2
1998	OAK	AL	152	670	542	101	128	16	1	14	57	66	13	118	114	0.236	0.376	0.347	0.723	94	188	5
1999	NYM	NL	121	526	438	89	138	30	0	12	42	37	14	82	82	0.315	0.423	0.466	0.889	128	204	2
2000	TOT	MLB	123	519	420	75	98	14	2	4	32	36	11	88	75	0.233	0.368	0.305	0.673	78	128	4
2000	NYM	NL	31	124	96	17	21	1	0	0	2	5	2	25	20	0.219	0.387	0.229	0.616	64	22	2
2000	SEA	AL	92	395	324	58	77	13	2	4	30	31	9	63	55	0.238	0.362	0.327	0.689	82	106	2
2001	SDP	NL	123	465	179	379	70	86	17	3	8	42	25	7	81	0.227	0.366	0.351	0.717	95	133	3
2002	BOS	AL	72	222	179	40	40	6	1	5	16	8	2	38	47	0.223	0.369	0.352	0.721	92	63	4
2003	LAD	NL	30	84	72	7	15	1	0	2	5	3	0	11	16	0.208	0.321	0.306	0.627	70	22	1
25 Y	25 Y	25 Y	3081	13346	10961	2295	3055	510	66	297	1115	1406	335	2190	1694	0.279	0.401	0.419	0.82	127	4588	98
162	162	162	162	702	576	121	161	27	3	16	59	74	18	115	89	0.279	0.401	0.419	0.82	127	241	5
			G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	TB	HBP
OAK	OAK	OAK	1704	7481	6140	1270	1768	289	41	167	648	867	219	1227	915	0.288	0.409	0.43	0.839	137	2640	55
NYY	NYY	NYY	596	2735	2302	513	663	119	16	78	255	326	57	406	281	0.288	0.395	0.455	0.85	135	1048	11
SDP	SDP	SDP	359	1432	1132	243	277	45	5	23	98	91	26	277	236	0.245	0.399	0.354	0.753	106	401	17
NYM	NYM	NYM	152	650	534	106	159	31	0	12	44	42	16	107	102	0.298	0.416	0.423	0.839	117	226	4
BOS	BOS	BOS	72	222	179	40	40	6	1	5	16	8	2	38	47	0.223	0.369	0.352	0.721	92	63	4
LAD	LAD	LAD	30	84	72	7	15	1	0	2	5	3	0	11	16	0.208	0.321	0.306	0.627	70	22	1
ANA	ANA	ANA	32	144	115	21	21	3	0	2	7	16	4	26	23	0.183	0.343	0.261	0.604	60	30	2
SEA	SEA	SEA	92	395	324	58	77	13	2	4	30	31	9	63	55	0.238	0.362	0.327	0.689	82	106	2
TOR	TOR	TOR	44	203	163	37	35	3	1	4	12	22	2	35	19	0.215	0.356	0.319	0.675	83	52	2

AL (	AL (	AL (	2540	11180	9223	1939	2604	433	61	260	968	1270	293	1795	1340	0.282	0.401	0.427	0.828	131	3939	76
NL (	NL (	NL (	541	2166	1738	356	451	77	5	37	147	136	42	395	354	0.259	0.401	0.373	0.774	108	649	22

Sources:

“Oakland Athletics’ Throwback: Rickey Henderson Steals 119th Base to Set Record”, Katrina Hamrick, August 27, 2015.

“Nobody will catch Rickey's record”, Rob Neyer, espn.com, January 11, 2009.

“Rickey Henderson”, baseball-reference.com, August 27, 2019.

Posted by DavidGreen

Comments

smoothgrh Aug 29, 2019

This was an exciting time in my life as a fan of the Oakland A's. Billy Martin was directing the team to do things rarely seen in baseball, including letting Henderson run free. He certainly had the talent to steal bases, but with the A's having below-average hitting talent, Martin give Rickey the perfect atmosphere to attain record-breaking numbers.

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