...but it isn't, really.
Rafael Furcal stole four bases tonight off Miguel Montero (two off of Livan Hernandez and two off of Doug Slaten). Great fantasy day, and I thought it must be very rare. But, it isn't as impressive as I would have thought in the annals of MLB history.
Nineteen times someone has stolen more than four bases in a game. And it isn't just the old timers. Eleven of those 19 have been since 1990. Four players stole 6 bases in a game: Eddie Collins twice (in 1912, eleven days apart), Otis Nixon (1991) and Eric Young (1996). Young must have hit his noggin on a few head-first slides, which would explain why he utters a string of verbalizations on Baseball Tonight that I cannot make heads or tails of.
The most recent 5 or more performance was Ryan Freel's 5 SB game in 2005. If you are curious, Rickey Henderson did it only once. You don't need to steal five a game when you steal one almost every game.
The strangest name on the list? Tony Gwynn. Yeah, he wasn't always fat.
