First player to steal a base in 4 decades was?

[kairos12]

...Ted Williams.

[Diamond_Dog]

1. Holy cow.

I would have guessed Rickey Henderson.

[kairos12]

2. Williams got one in

1939 and 1960, with the 40s and 50s in between.

This is my favorite all time BB trivia question.

[OAITW r.2.0]

5. Didn't look up, but that's what I would have expected.

Ted didn't play in the 70's.

[kairos12]

10. Last season was 1960.

[Diamond_Dog]

6. It's indeed a good one!

[Bleacher Creature]

8. That was my guess as well.

He had 66 stolen bases when he was 39. That's just insane.

[OAITW r.2.0]

11. Did not know.....

the man deserves his own life story told to the fullest extent. The good, the great, and, at the end, a little weird.

[OAITW r.2.0]

3. huh.

My Fenway Park memory of Ted William's almost launching a HR over the Monster at an oldtimer's game in the 70's(?)......which would have been his 2nd HR in a row as that's how he ended his career.

[DarthDem]

4. That's fantastic

Thanks for this. I had no idea!!

[True Dough]

7. Did he

put them back?

[TxGuitar]

9. Surprising

My best guess for some reason was Maury Wills.

[bobnicewander]

12. "Teddy Ballgame"

was not my guess.

.344 lifetime BA. Last man to bat over 400.

A fact about him that I quizzed a local TV sports announcer about back in the 70's then heard it repeated on "The Game Of The Week" national broadcast about a month later was that he never accomplished a feat most good hitters achieved in their careers - he never had 200 hits in any season.

[GeoWilliam750]

13. That may be at least partly because...

He had so many walks, and the highest On Base Percentage in baseball history at .482. In at least one year, he had more walks than hits, and averaged nearly a walk per game, plus more than a hit per game. most of this against the "Williams shift".

The stolen bases across four decades is even more remarkable when one remembers that he only stole 24 bases in his career. Oddly enough, he was also caught stealing in four decades.

Quite an amazing career for a man who missed five seasons to military service.

[malthaussen]

14. I would have guessed Eddie Collins...

... but he didn't steal any bases in 1930.

-- Mal