Editing Stolen base (section)

==Background==
[[Ned Cuthbert]], playing for the [[Philadelphia Keystones]] in either 1863 or 1865, was the first player to steal a base in a baseball game, although the term ''stolen base'' was not used until 1870.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nymutuals.com/mutual-articles.html|title=Mutual Base Ball Club of New York; Newspaper Game Accounts 1858-1861|work=nymutuals.com|access-date=July 14, 2017|archive-date=August 31, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180831035454/http://www.nymutuals.com/mutual-articles.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> For a time in the 19th century, stolen bases were credited when a baserunner reached an extra base on a base hit from another player.<ref name = "bid"/>  For example, if a runner on [[First baseman|first base]] reached [[Third baseman|third base]] on a single, it counted as a steal.  In 1887, [[Hugh Nicol]] set a still-standing Major League record with 138 stolen bases,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/SB_season.shtml|title=Single-Season Leaders & Records for Stolen Bases|access-date=2007-05-17|website=Baseball-Reference.com}}</ref> many of which would not have counted under modern rules.<ref name="bid">{{cite web|url=http://www.jockbio.com/Classic/McPhee/McPhee_bio.html|title=JockBio: Bid McPhee|access-date=2007-05-17|publisher=JockBio.com|archive-date=2012-10-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121030055809/http://www.jockbio.com/Classic/McPhee/McPhee_bio.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Modern steal rules were fully implemented in 1898.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.mlb.com/glossary/standard-stats/stolen-base|title=What is a Stolen Base (SB)?|work=The Official Site of Major League Baseball|access-date=October 21, 2020}}</ref>

[[Image:MLB HR and SB rates.png|thumb|Graph depicting the yearly number of home runs (blue line) and stolen bases (pink line) per MLB game. The two primary periods in which the stolen base was popular were before 1920 and again in the 1970s and 1980s.|500px]]
Base stealing was popular in the game's early decades, with speedsters such as [[Ty Cobb]] and [[Clyde Milan]] stealing nearly 100 bases in a season.  But the tactic fell into relative disuse after [[Babe Ruth]] introduced the era of the [[home run]] &ndash; in 1955, for example, no one in baseball stole more than 25 bases, and [[Dom DiMaggio]] won the AL stolen base title in 1950 with just 15.  However, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, base-stealing was brought back to prominence primarily by [[Luis Aparicio]] and [[Maury Wills]], who broke Cobb's modern single-season record by stealing 104 bases in 1962.  Wills’ record was broken in turn by [[Lou Brock]] in 1974 and [[Rickey Henderson]] in 1982.  The stolen base remained a popular tactic through the 1980s, perhaps best exemplified by [[Vince Coleman (baseball)|Vince Coleman]] and the [[St. Louis Cardinals]], but began to decline again in the 1990s as the frequency of [[home run]]s reached record heights and the steal-friendly [[artificial turf]] ballparks began to disappear.

Base stealing is an important characteristic of the "[[small ball (baseball)|small ball]]" managing style (or "manufacturing runs"). Such managers emphasize "doing the little things" (including risky running plays like base-stealing) to advance runners and score runs, often relying on pitching and defense to keep games close.  The [[Los Angeles Dodgers]] of the 1960s, led by pitcher [[Sandy Koufax]] and speedy shortstop [[Maury Wills]], were a successful example of this style. The antithesis of this is reliance on power hitting, exemplified by the [[Baltimore Orioles]] of the 1970s, which aspired to score most of its runs via home runs.  Often the "small ball" model is associated with the [[National League (baseball)|National League]], while power hitting is associated with the [[American League]]. However, some successful recent American League teams, including the [[2002 in baseball|2002]] [[Anaheim Angels]], the [[2001 in baseball|2001]] [[Seattle Mariners]], the [[2005 in baseball|2005]] [[Chicago White Sox]], and the [[2015 in baseball|2015]] [[Kansas City Royals]], have excelled at "small ball." The [[Kansas City Royals|Royals]] in particular embodied this style within the last decade, leading the league in stolen bases but finishing last in [[home run]]s in 2013 and 2014, leading to a berth in two consecutive [[World Series]], one of which they won. Successful teams often combine both styles, with speedy runners complementing power hitters—such as the 2005 White Sox, who hit 200 home runs, which was fifth most in the majors, and had 137 stolen bases, which was fourth.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/2005.shtml|title=2005 Major League Baseball Season Summary}}</ref>