Henderson No Artist as a Thief

You can work up a foam, if you choose, over the American League base-stealing record of Oakland’s Rickey Henderson, but we submit humbly that he is chicken.

OK, he passes Ty Cobb with 893 steals, which is a lot of steals, but figures reveal he swipes home only four times.

Show us a guy willing to swipe home and we will show you a knight of the basepaths, a lion of the sporting scene.

Stealing second and third is all right, but it’s like a fisherman setting his sights on herring and mackerel instead of a trophy of the sea, something that’s going to hang on display at the landing pier.

Rod Carew was a big-game fisherman. Rod stole home 17 times.

Because he also hit .300 or better 15 times, his accomplishment as a home burglar is kind of obscured.

But stealing home is a deed capturing the fancy of any connoisseur. It is the most spectacular play in baseball, and with profound regret, we announce its undertaking is sharply in decline.

Maury Wills, one of the smartest baserunners ever to dive under the tag, rejected the theft of home for a reason he once confided was emotional.

“I have a fear of failing,” he said. “And failing is inevitable most of the times you try to steal home.”

Wills, too, suffered a harrowing experience attempting to steal home. Frank Howard, at bat, didn’t see him coming. The game’s most powerful man at the time, rising 6-feet-7, at 260, Howard, dispatching a foul, took a swing that was awesome. The wind it created swirled above Maury’s head like a cyclone.

Howard trembled. Asking for time, he summoned Wills, whom he always addressed as Maurice.

“Maurice,” he said, in a wavering voice, “please don’t ever try that again when I am at bat.”

Maury stood crystallized. He thought he was dead.

If Wills shied away from home-stealing, Lou Brock, who would follow him as the major league record breaker, did, too.

And noting that Vince Coleman, a superb baserunner, rarely tried it, we asked him one day why the art was vanishing.

“The risk has become so high that today’s runners don’t even think of it,” he answered.

Even Whitey Herzog, one of baseball’s foremost proponents of the running game, has drawn back.

“I love the steal, but I seldom send guys home any more because too many things have to be in place,” the St. Louis Cardinals’ manager said.

“First, you need a pitcher who falls asleep. Then you need a right-handed hitter at the plate, helping block the catcher’s view. And you need a baserunner with a crapshooting spirit, one who won’t be crushed if he fails.”

Certainly, Henderson has that spirit, but he lacks the scientific approach of Carew for stealing home.

Rod explained to us one day: “If you take a 10-foot lead, stop and sneak three feet more while the pitcher is in motion, you have reduced the 90-foot distance to 77 feet. That’s a savings of 14 1/2%. It’s an edge I like.”

Passing Ty Cobb as American League base-stealing champion, therefore, Henderson is functioning in a different capacity.

It took Cobb 24 years to do what Henderson has done in 11, although trying to make a case for Ty, one can argue that he undertook the theft of home with greater frequency than Rickey has, succeeding 50 times.

For all the excitement he generates, Henderson is not without critics among managers, some of whom take the position that Rickey, on too many occasions, has run his team out of an inning.

Earl Weaver always leveled a suspicious eye on base thieves, claiming their failures killed more rallies than their successful steals were worth.

If Earl, for instance, had been Henderson’s manager the other night, he would have suffered cardiac arrest watching Rickey go past Cobb with his 893rd steal.

The A’s were losing to Toronto, 2-0, in the sixth. They had two out and Henderson on second, hardly the spot for a steal. Yet, Henderson takes off for third.

He gets there, and one can’t argue with success, but Earl Weaver would have murdered him.

In the ninth inning, Henderson has the opportunity to earn a niche forever in the hearts of those who appreciate adventure on the bases. Rickey triples, with one out. Does he try to steal home? Nah. He waits for someone to hit a single.

Corporate base-stealers swipe second and third, artists go for home.