This is exactly what I’d like to see return to the Cardinals, SPEED and a little bit of daring. As lately as a few seasons ago TLR had the chutzpah to squeeze bunt. What ever happened to that derring do? From the above, look at the chaos and damage a little speed and daring created. Power is nice. Some power is even essential. What made that ‘85 team so fun to watch though, was that,coupled with a little power, they had speed and daring! As some have noted, “Speed never goes into a slump.”

I thought the Cardinals once stole 4 bases on one pitch, but over the years I convinced myself I only dreamed it.

Hard to believe that was more than 24 years ago. I was at that game. What a thrill to be there when that happened. Another memorable game I attended, but not a good outcome, was the 1959 no-hitter by then Cub Don Cardwell who I think was making his first start after being traded by the Phillies to the Cubs. As I recall Lindy McDaniel started the game for the Cardinals. A rare start for a fine relief pitcher of his time.

McGee is the fastest I’ve ever seen in person going from 1st to third…or home. His legs were just a blur…like Roadrunner or something.

It is a puzzle to me why base stealing has diminished as an offensive weapon in the game. I know it was never common for a player to steal 80-100 bases in a year but it certainly was not unheard of. Someone else may have actual stats but I’m thinking Juan Pierre is the leading active player in career steals and I believe he only had 30 or so SBs in 2009.

Meant to add AP being our leading base stealer (16?) certainly means it is not a significant part of our offensive philosophy and the Cards are not alone in that way of thinking.

SPEED THRILLS

Great memory from a great season. And a happy 51st birthday (yesterday) to #51.

KZRider, great question. Could be a rollover effect of the spike in home runs. Stolen bases means open bases, and the possibility of an intentional walk to your big bat turns into an inevitability (more now than ever, it seems). I have data to (sort of) back that up, but I’ll confine it to the ‘85 and ‘09 Cards.

In 1985 Coleman and McGee combined for 207 of the Cards’ 410 steal attempts, Whitey knowing that no one is going to intentionally walk a #3 hitter (Tom Herr). Jack Clark led the team with 22 HRs and was walked intentionally just 14 times—with Andy Van Slyke and Tito Landrum typically batting fifth! Contrast that with Brendan Ryan and Skip Schumaker accounting for just 25 of the Cardinals 106 attempts. Had they run more frequently, Albert might have never gotten a pitch to hit.

My guess is things will change now that HR totals are returning to reasonable levels—they probably already are changing. Think of how key Brett Gardner is to the Yankees as a pinch runner and late-inning steal threat. I’m biased here, but as a longtime Cardinals fan who remembers stuff like what happened on 8/1/85, I’d like to see more running. Not a knock on TLR’s managing, just nostalgia.

Sorry . . . I MEANT to write a #3 hitter who entered the season with 6 career HRs, one every 377 at-bats. (And BTW, in the three full seasons Herr hit third for the Cardinals, he drove in 254 runs despite hitting 12 HRs, a RBI:HR ratio of over 21:1. Over two decades later I still find that astonishing.)

Appreciate the info micus-va and this is a fun topic. Just to observe… unless someone is running on an exceptional catcher (and Molina is one!), it takes an almost perfect performance to actually throw out a good runner. The base advance as it is played today comes typically because of either a safe hit (which by percentage is going to fail about 70% of the time) or at the cost of a sacrifice out. Strategically, it seems to me it makes a lot more sense to be more aggressive running. Add that to the entertainment value of base stealing and I would think MLB would be happy if more teams ran more.