Man, you wouldn’t believe the rabbit hole I went down today. I got this idea in my head about tracking stolen bases for the Cubs, specifically looking at how Nico Hoerner just swiped his 30th bag of the season. It sounded simple enough at first, but oh boy, was I wrong.
I started by just trying to get a handle on the current team’s stats. Found out that the 2024 Cubs have swiped around 131 bases so far, which is apparently pretty decent. It’s not setting any records, but they’re up there, you know? I figured that was a good starting point, so I moved on to the next thing.
Then I got curious about the most stolen bases in a single game. Like, what’s the craziest base-stealing frenzy in baseball history? Turns out, some team called the New York Highlanders stole a whopping 15 bases in one game back in 1911! Imagine that! They were playing against the St. Louis Browns and won. That’s just insane.
Of course, that got me thinking about individual records. Who’s the king of stolen bases? Found out some dude named Hugh Nicol stole 138 bases in a single season back in the 1800s. That’s wild. But for more modern times, it’s all about Rickey Henderson. This guy, nicknamed the “Man of Steal,” snatched 130 bases in 1982. He completely destroyed the old record!
Digging into Cubs history
Now, back to the Cubs. I wanted to see who held the team’s all-time records. For career hits, it’s Cap Anson with over 3,000! That’s a lot of hits. Ernie Banks is in second place, but still pretty far behind. It’s crazy to see how long ago these guys played.
Dived deeper into stolen bases for the Cubs and learned that Nico Hoerner’s 30 steals is actually a big deal. It puts him in some pretty elite company. I started looking up other players who have managed that. Found out that Eric Young stole 54 for the Cubs in 2000, and some guy named King Kelly had 53 in 1886 for the Chicago White Stockings, which I guess was an old name for the Cubs.
Then I discovered that Cap Anson, the same guy with all those hits, also had 247 career steals for the Cubs. He played way back when they were called the Chicago Colts. It’s amazing how much the game has changed.
Getting Lost in the Data
I spent hours on this site called StatMuse. It has all this data going back to the 1800s. It’s a goldmine for baseball nerds like me, but it’s also easy to get lost. I was clicking through player after player, season after season. It was like being in a time machine.
Finally, I decided to see where Nico Hoerner stands right now. He’s actually leading the Cubs this season with 36 steals. So he’s not just good, he’s the best on the team right now. That’s pretty cool.
So, yeah, that was my day. Started with a simple question about Nico Hoerner and ended up knee-deep in baseball history. It was a wild ride, but I learned a ton. Baseball is way more interesting than I thought!
Here’s a little summary of what I found:
- Current Cubs: Doing pretty well with stolen bases this year.
- Most in a game: 15 by the New York Highlanders in 1911.
- Single season record: 138 by Hugh Nicol in 1887, 130 by Rickey Henderson in 1982 (modern era).
- Cubs all-time hits: Cap Anson with 3,012.
- Cubs 30+ steals in a season: Nico Hoerner, Eric Young, King Kelly, and others.
- Cubs career steals: Cap Anson with 247.
- Nico Hoerner: Leading the Cubs with 36 steals this season.
It’s pretty cool to see how the game has evolved over time. Who knew stolen bases could be so interesting?
