Speed Thrills ... And It's in Vogue Again

Carl Crawford ranks 69th in the American League in home runs, 45th in slugging percentage and 57th in walks.

And he was an All-Star this year.

"It's just good to see that a guy like me has value in the league," Crawford told FanHouse.

Crawford, tied for the AL lead in stolen bases with 55, has value because people are starting to once again appreciate the steal.

Four years ago, the Athletics stole 31 bases. For the season.

This year, as all-time leader Rickey Henderson went into the Hall of Fame, attempts are up to 0.85 per team per game from 0.79 last year, their highest level since 2001 according to baseball-reference.com. Crawford's Rays have swiped 167 bases, putting them on pace for the highest team total since the 1993 Expos had 228.

Crawford has had a six-steal night, and Colorado's Dexter Fowler had five in a game. Jacoby Ellsbury has set a Red Sox franchise record for stolen bases in a season.

"I think you've seen over the last few years the stolen base starting to come into play more," said Phillies first-base coach Davey Lopes, who stole 40-plus bases in six straight seasons for the Dodgers (1974-79) and 557 for his career.

"And if utilized correctly it's a tremendous weapon."

Less 'Roids, More Running?

Why is running making a comeback?

One unspoken but understood reason is testing for performance-enhancing drugs.

"I think you're going to see teams try to run more because of ... the obvious," as Yankees manager Joe Girardi put it.

If steroid use is eliminated, the thinking goes, home runs will be reduced, slugfests will disappear and teams will have to find other ways to score.

"I think now that all the dust has started to clear," Angels leadoff man Chone Figgins said, "it's going to have to come back. Guys are going to start drafting players that can run. Not that just run for a couple of years in the minor leagues but that can actually steal bases. Because a guy stealing 40-50 bases is huge in a season."

Said Rays manager Joe Maddon: "I think it's getting back to the point now, with the home runs becoming less, and you're looking for other ways to score runs."

During the Steroid Era, as muscles grew, so did statistical awareness.

A more analytical bent to many front offices meant a greater disdain for the steal.

"For a while there, I think teams wanted more of the three-run homer," said Tim Raines, fifth all-time with 808 stolen bases and the NL leader from 1981-84. "Even the guys that could run, they didn't let run.

"I think teams are afraid to turn guys loose."

Statistical studies claim that anything less than a 2/3rds to 3/4ths success rate on steal attempts costs teams runs.

"There's a couple of of things," Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein said. "One, teams are more aware with controlling the running game, to slide step, varying times, pitchouts and whatnot, and there's more information with advance scouting how to slow it down. Two, I think teams, from an offensive standpoint, are more aware that in order for the stolen base to be a good play, you have to be successful about 70 percent of the time. So teams only want to run when they have a very good chance of being safe."

But Lopes takes offense to the purely statistical approach.

"A lot of executives that were running the ballclub[s] felt as though the stolen base nor the bunt is a viable option," Lopes said. "That was just a matter of philosophy, and I think it's, obviously, being changed of late.

"When an element of people, when the computerized game came into the game, it kind of factored out stolen bases. And people went for the on-base percentage, one base at a time, three-run home run. ... And you have one-dimensional players. The game is starting to look at athletes again."

Speed Traps

Lopes and others promote the unquantifiable benefit of speed. A base-stealing threat forces the defense to make adjustments -- in the pitcher's delivery, pitch selection and defensive positioning.

"To make outs on the bases really runs counter to the present culture," Maddon said. "And I get that. Nobody wants to make outs on the bases. But I do believe there's a certain kind of attitude generated among your group by being aggressive. And I know that applies a thought to the defense. I know that applies a thought to the pitcher's mind as he's pitching to the next hitter. And I know that can impact what [pitch] the catcher may call because this guy may run. I mean, when you face a team that's not going to do anything, and you know that, and the pitcher and catcher can just play catch, they can call a different game."

A speedy runner, Lopes said, "affects the game as much as a power hitter. If you get a guy who controls the game when he gets on the basepaths, he upsets the tempo of the game more than a guy who's a power hitter. Basically, those guys are in control of the game. You've not only got the catcher, the pitcher [but] the manager, the middle infielders all in tune with what's going on with the game. Now it becomes a head game. "

Catchers with less confidence in their arm will have their pitchers throw more fastballs. Pitchers can get distracted by pickoff throws. Middle infielders who have to shade toward second base open holes for the hitter.

"It's a game-changer," said Figgins, whose 262 steals since the start of the 2004 season are second-most in the AL to Crawford. "You have to have that threat on first."

But that threat led to more sophisticated defenses against the stolen base.

Raines remembers Bruce Sutter as the first pitcher to use the "slide step" -- barely lifting the front foot off the ground and then sliding forward. That gets the ball to the plate quicker than the usual leg kick out of the stretch, and just a few tenths of a second makes a difference between being easy and tough to run against.

In fact, some time in the past 30 years, stopwatches became as important a piece of equipment as caps.

Coaches time runners from first to second, pitchers from first movement to the time the ball hits the catcher's mitt and catchers from receiving the ball to the ball reaching second. ("You have more toys," as Yankees bench coach and former All-Star catcher Tony Pena put it.)

A good runner makes it from his lead to second in 3.2 seconds. An average catcher takes 2.0 seconds to get the ball down to second base, so a pitcher whose delivery takes more than 1.2 seconds needs to quicken it up. Catchers work on foot movement, transferring the ball and arm path to try to get faster than 2.0 seconds.

Another development, which contributed to the decline of the steal and the rise in games times, is controlling the running game from the bench. Perhaps universally, managers tell catchers when to call for a pitchout and even when to tell the pitcher to throw over to first base.

"I remember at the tail end of my career," Raines said, "I started seeing teams go to spring training, working on holding guys on -- they'd hold the ball, they'd step off, they'd throw over, they'd have a long motion, they'd have a short motion. They're doing all these things to kind of offset the stolen base."

Caution in Wind

So while the steal is back in vogue, it hasn't become easier.

The emphasis on times has cut down on recklessness, and the premium is on efficiency. The four seasons since 2006 are the top four ever in stolen-base success rates.

"There's no chance," Figgins said, of someone stealing 80 bases, which happened 14 times in the 1980s but not since Henderson had 93 in 1988.

"No chance," Figgins said. "No chance. It doesn't matter how much you're going to get, it's not going to happen. If the pitchers were [as slow] to the plate like they used to be back then, you'd steal 100 bases again. Because guys are stealing 50-60 now, and guys are so quick to the plate.

"The catchers were good back then and they're good now, but it's the pitchers. I watch video of when Henderson and all those guys played -- Vince Coleman -- and those guys were so slow to the plate. That was just part of that era."

Said Crawford: "The pitchers are better now, with the moves and stuff like that -- the way they're throwing home, and the slide-stepping, and pitchout after pitchout."

Lopes, though, sees holes in the steal defenses. People tell him he couldn't steal 77 bases in a season today, as he did in 1975, and he replies, "I'll be damned if I couldn't."

Said Lopes: "A pitcher may show you a 1.25 [second] move to the plate. Now, does he sustain that for the whole duration of the at-bat? Are you ready, as a base-stealer, to go when he gives you that one pitch when he doesn't do that? Are you ready, are you focused, to go to that? That's the difference.

"What happens today, what happens with a lot of guys, once you show them a slide step a few times, they [shut] it down. 'This guy's too quick.' So they're not really focused on the total at-bat, where that one time he gives you a slow move, it goes up to 1.4, and you say, 'Oh, I should have gone!' Why didn't you go? Because you didn't [keep] that concentration level. ... The good guys do do that. They stay keen, they stay ready."

But even if they could pick their spots perfectly, players are less likely to put their body at risk by making 100-plus attempts.

"You have to have something that draws interest. Speed attracts interest."
-- Davey Lopes When it seemed Crawford had a shot at 100 earlier this year, Maddon said, "There's a lot of pounding in 100 steals, man. That's a lot of getting on base, that's a lot of running. He plays on turf. That's kind of a lot to ask. ... I'm betting no, that you're not going to see 100."

Or a team like the 1985 Cardinals, who swiped 314 bases and thus led the NL in runs scored despite hitting just 87 homers.

"You'll never see that again," Raines said, "where every guy on that squad had more than 20 stolen bases, other than Jack Clark."

Fans of Steal

Still, the steal is back. And it may also help baseball itself make a comeback.

Perhaps, if speed continues to become more important, baseball can get back some of the young athletes who gravitate toward football and basketball. Crawford, who passed up a scholarship to play quarterback at Nebraska, was an exception in recent times rather than the norm.

"I hate to say this," Lopes said, "but baseball's a dull game unless you grew up in the game. You have to have something that draws interest. Speed attracts interest. Because the pace of the game is relatively slow. So if you incorporate something that's fast -- speed -- it excites people.

"I think for a period of time, people lost sight of that. And they were putting their stamp on it: 'This is how it should be played.' I don't believe that's how the game was meant to be played by [Abner] Doubleday and [Branch] Rickey and all those people.

Stolen Base Leaders
Player	SB
Carl Crawford, Rays	55
Jacoby Ellsbury, Red Sox	55
Michael Bourn, Astros	49
Nyjer Morgan, Nationals	42
Chone Figgins, Angels	39

"Watching what happened to the game, I was like, 'God, what are they thinking? We're making the game more boring.' That's what we did for a period of years. Slowing the game down even more. You talk about why kids are not picking up on baseball. The first thing kids say is it's not fast enough. It's too slow. It's boring. They play basketball, they play football, they play soccer."

And the stolen base, or even just the anticipation of one, makes the game more exciting to watch as well as to play.

"From the fans' perspective, it's entertaining," Maddon said. "It is. I get a lot of compliments that people like to watch us play. And I like that. That's good. It's good for baseball. The baseball purists like to see all these different things."