Moving further along in my on-going "expanded league leaders" thread, today we have the 1972 National League stolen base leaders in the 1973 set, featuring two future Hall of Famers and a guy who seemed well on his way early in his career:
Starting off, of course we begin with the great Lou Brock, who once again paced the league in stolen bases, this time with 63.
It
was the sixth of eight stolen base titles for the St. Louis Cardinals
great, who would take the baseball world over two seasons later when
he'd swipe a then record 118 bases at the age of 35.
Right
behind him with 58 stolen bases was another Hall of Famer, Joe Morgan,
who made a splash in his first season with the burgeoning "Big Red
Machine" Cincinnati Reds, leading the league with 122 runs scored and
115 walks, as well as a .417 on-base-percentage while helping the team
make it all the way to the World Series before losing to the three-peat
Oakland A's.
Coming in third with his own 55 stolen bases in
1972 is Houston Astros young stud Cesar Cedeno, who was still only 21
years of age when he led the league with 39 doubles, collecting 103 runs
scored and 179 hits while batting a cool .320 with 22 homers and 82
runs batted in.
Really, when look at Cedeno's first eight
seasons, ending in 1977 while still only 26 years of age, it seemed
certain he was going to go on to do incredible things in Major League
ball before injuries hampered his progress, though he did go on to play
17 years, through the 1986 campaign.
Nevertheless, there you
have it, three elite players who paced the league in stolen bases and
went on to put in wonderful Big League careers.
Up next, the American League's top base-stealers!
