Comments on: 1979 Stolen Base Leaders

By: thunderfan24

thunderfan24 — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:22:55 +0000

I don’t think I ever saw someone look more lost at the plate during the postseason than Alfonso Soriano in the 2003 ALDS and WS. He would swing at anything (and usually miss) that was thrown within 50 feet of the plate.

I remember that Omar Moreno was nicknamed Omar The Tension Maker.

By: psychsound

psychsound — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 02:51:28 +0000

Babe Ruth hit more triples than Hank Aaron. How many people did not know that?

By: davidhwillis

davidhwillis — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:18:30 +0000

Anyone remember seeing Willie Wilson on the old Superstars competitions on television in the early 80s? He’s still, in my mind, the fastest person ever to play major league baseball.

By: johnq11

johnq11 — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:29:18 +0000

I’m not sure if this went into the 20th century but at one time there were no outfield walls just ropes that kept the fans back. It’s been said that hometown fans would move the ropes forward or backward depending on who was batting, that might account for some home field triples.

As far as Wilson goes, He was the fastest baseball player I ever remember. I think he hit something like 5 inside the park homeruns in ’79.

Wilson kind of had a reputation of being a jerk, which might have something to do with his cocaine use.

I remember reading in one of the Bill James books that Wilson wasn’t a very good hitter until Whitey Herzong taught him how to slap the ball and use his speed. He turned into a pretty good hitter and he even won a batting title.

But then Lee May became a Royals hitting coach and taught him to hit the ball hard and Wilson thought this was cool and actually got mad at Whitey Herzog for making him slap the ball.

Almost overnight Wilson went from being a .310-.320 singles hitter to a .260 hitter who would hit 5 home runs a year.

By: tscastle

tscastle — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:02:51 +0000

Catfish – in my last year in little league, in our championship game, I reached first on a strike out not once, but twice, in each of my last two at bats. Both times I stole second and eventually came around to score (helping to send the game into extra innings and then helping to win). To this day I am not sure how intentional each of those K’s were, but I like to tell myself I knew exactly what I was doing!

By: catfish326

catfish326 — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:42:14 +0000

Can’t steal first? When I coached my daughters’ softball team (ages 9-12) more than once I harkened a kid in the batter’s box to come down the line to talk with me while I coaching third base. I’d say (so no parents could hear me) to a struggling little hitter, “Ok, you have two strikes on you, and this pitcher is kind of wild. So, if it looks like a pretty bad pitch, just swing any way on the third strike and just run to first base as fast as you can.” It worked more than once, but I do recall each kid looking at me really perplexed at the suggestion.

By: blankemon

blankemon — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:10:39 +0000

Omar Moreno was the kind of player they invented the expression “You can’t steal first base” for.

By: catfish326

catfish326 — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:00:25 +0000

Damn, was Wilson fast. According to Wilson’s HR log on baseball-reference, 5 of Willie’s 6 homeruns in ’79 were inside the park jobs. 13 of Wilson’s first 16 homeruns were inside-the-park. Add in his triples and his stolen bases . . . Wilson had wings.

By: Josh Wilker

Josh Wilker — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:38:55 +0000

piehead: That Yellow Fever remark makes it two times in the last couple weeks that you’ve made me laugh out loud (the first being the comment in the Don Hood post that wished that Don Hood celebrated his recent 60th birthday by shivving someone in an alley).

By: piehead

piehead — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:13:56 +0000

Victor Martinez moved into first place this year when he went over 3000 at bats. He only has two triples.