RetroSimba

An email exchange among members of the Society for American Baseball Research offered a statistic about Curt Flood that surprised me.

In 1958, his rookie season with the Cardinals, Flood attempted 14 stolen bases and was caught 12 times.

Flood had speed. Even if some of the failed steal attempts were botched hit-and-run plays, he should have been successful more than twice in 14 tries in 1958.

In a March 5, 1958, article headlined “Flood Can Run _ Cards Hoping For Great Jump, Too,” The Sporting News reported Johnny Temple, Flood’s manager in the 1957 winter league in Venezuela, told Cardinals general manager Bing Devine that Flood “is one of the best I’ve seen in baserunning.”

But that speed didn’t transform him into a top base stealer.

Flood, 20, was caught stealing in his first attempt of 1958, was successful on his second and then had just one steal in his last 12 tries. He was unsuccessful in his last eight consecutive steal attempts.

Flood’s two steals in 1958 came against the Pirates and the battery of pitcher Bob Friend and catcher Danny Kravitz on May 24 Boxscore and against the Reds and the battery of pitcher Don Newcombe and catcher Ed Bailey on June 18. Boxscore

Bailey also nailed Flood twice that season (both times with Brooks Lawrence pitching).

Four other catchers also twice threw out Flood attempting to steal in 1958: Joe Pignatano of the Dodgers, John Roseboro of the Dodgers and Carl Sawatski of the Phillies. Don Drysdale was the pitcher who teamed with Roseboro on both plays.

Other catchers who caught Flood trying to steal in 1958: Del Crandall of the Braves, Joe Lonnett and Stan Lopata, both of the Phillies and Sammy Taylor of the Cubs.

Flood never developed into an exceptional base stealer. In 12 seasons with the Cardinals, Flood had 88 steals and was caught 72 times. That’s a success rate of 55 percent.

By comparison, his teammate, Lou Brock, had 888 steals in 1,173 attempts during his 16 Cardinals seasons. That’s a success rate of 75 percent.

In 1963, Flood had a single-season career high of 17 steals for the Cardinals. He was caught 12 times that year.

His most successful single-season rate was when he had 14 steals in 21 attempts for the 1966 Cardinals. That’s a success rate of 66 percent.

Previously: George Crowe: mentor to Curt Flood