Homer Sandberg: Stealing the Record

By KYLE KEOUGH
Double Day AP

When the theft of records is brought up with regard to professional baseball, chances are, the ensuing conversation is marred by talk of juiced-up sluggers who rewrote the history books with syringes as pens.

Yet for Baltimore Lords 2B Homer Sandberg, stealing history has come performance-enhancement free.

The 30-year-old Lords veteran has always had a knack for thievery of the extra-base variety. In his first two seasons, he stole 166 bases, ranking among the AL leaders in both years. But despite a lukewarm 36-39 start for the Lords, Sandberg will undoubtedly be at least one player on the roster still chasing something important long into the playoff stretch.

Sandberg leads the ML in stolen bases by a comfortable margin: his 66 stolen bases as the All-Star break is nearing are 18 ahead of second-place Neil Campbell. Through 75 games, Sandberg is on pace for over 142 SBs on the season, which would clear with ease the current Double Day record.

Only two players have ever successfully stolen over 100 bases in Double Day, and history has not been kind to either one. Willy Sodowski, whose 125 SBs in season one rank second all-time, played one more full season with Tampa Bay, and has now been relegated to the status of a pinch runner in Wichita. The record-holder, Javier Pineiro, called it quits after season one. The 32-year-old had made it through a full ML season, but after being allowed to head into free agency and finding no takes, Pineiro uncerimoniously called it a career.

Sandberg's season has thus far been under the radar for a league that increasingly values big bats and able-bodied sluggers over their base-stealing brethren. Sandberg is in the final year of a three-year, $14.4 million dollar deal, and it is unknown whether Baltimore will try to re-sign him or not. Traditionally, the best base-stealers in Double Day have been allowed to move to free agency, especially after they turn 30.

But for now, Sandberg's only concern is the record before him. He continues to chase history at his own pace, which these days seems a step quicker than everyone else.