Record-Breaking Night for Base-Stealing Great

Some of the 41,500 on hand that night at Milwaukee County Stadium wrote it all down, figuring they’d have some 100-point trivia questions for ready recall in a few years.

When Oakland’s Rickey Henderson stole his 119th base in the third inning, setting the major league one-season record, these were the trivia answers:

* Ted Simmons was the catcher.

* Doc Medich was the pitcher.

* Robin Yount was the shortstop (who thought he’d tagged Henderson out).

* Wayne Gross was the batter.

Seventeen years later, Henderson remains far and away the sport’s greatest single-season base thief. Even with 119 steals--which broke Lou Brock’s eight- year-old record--Henderson had a lot left. He finished with 130 that year and Brock’s 118 is next on the list.

Only four players have stolen 100 in a season, Henderson and Vince Coleman doing it three times. Maury Wills, with 104 in 1962, and Brock are the others.

Henderson began this season with 1,297 stolen bases. Next is Brock with 938.