I watched a video of Jackie Robinson stealing home for the first time in MLB on June 24, 1947, and learned that Jackie stole home 20 times! Actually, the exact number of times Robinson stole home is under debate.
That is because statistics for stealing home were not accurately kept by major league baseball and the baseball encyclopedia. Some have Jackie with 19 and others with 20, but for this story we will use 20.
Also surprising to learn that Jackie is not the all time leader in stealing home at 20. Ty Cobb stole home a record 54 times. During Cobb’s era of baseball, there were a lot more steals of home. Even the larger players in size and myth, stole home.
Babe Ruth has 10 in his career and Lou Gehrig had 15. One of the last, great baseball players to steal home quite a few times was Rod Carew, with 17, and 7 in one year in 1969.
I saw Rod Carew steal home in 1974 or 75. I went to a Yankee game at Shea Stadium with my dad and grandpa Murphy, at Shea Stadium, against the Twins. The Yanks were playing their home games at Shea those two years as Yankee Stadium was under renovation.
