Obscure sports trivia

Two players share the MLB record for best stolen base percentage in a season, with a 96.9 percent success rate on a minimum of 30 stolen bases. Who are they?

 

Randomly wrong guesses: Lou Brock and Ichiro.

 

Ichiro had a 95.74 percent success rate in 2006, but that is only fourth on the list. There are the two record holders, one other guy, and then Ichiro.
And for the record, there are 13 players who have had a 100 percent success rate in a season, but none of them finished with at least 30. The two record holders are both at 96.87 percent, and one of them is also just a tick off of the career record based on 100-plus stolen bases.

Brock is also incorrect. He had a lot of stolen bases, but also got caught a lot. He actually led the league in caught stealing seven times and only had two seasons (his second and his next-to-last) where he wasn't in double digits. He has a career success rate of 75.31 percent, which is No. 182 on the career list. None of his individual seasons rank in the top 500.

 

My guesses were based on: I knew ichiro had a fantastic year one time, and a quote from Ball Four about Brock being 30 for 30 at one point.

also, I looked up. Ichiro would be the leader for 40 and above.

 

It is interesting that neither of the two in first place are known (or at least best known) for stealing bases. The one that's also on the career list, I had no idea he had that many steals.

 

I was going to guess Davey Lopes because I recall him having a long streak without being caught. But this tells me no.

 

Lopes isn't a terrible guess. He had several seasons above 90 percent, but all of them are pretty far down the list. His best season was 92.15 percent in 1985, which only ranks 87th.

 

For whatever reason, I’ll guess Bert Campaneris.

 

Nope. His best was 88.7 percent in 1969.

 

I'll go ahead and pay this off.
The MLB single-season stolen base percentage record is shared by Brady Anderson (1994) and Carlos Beltran (2001). Both of them went 31-for-32 (96.9 percent) in those respective seasons. Max Carey is third (51-for-53, 96.2 percent for the Pirates in 1922) and then Ichiro is fourth (45-for-47, 95.7 percent in 2006 with the Mariners).
Chase Utley holds the career record for players with 100+ stolen bases, at 87.9 percent, and Beltran is second at 86.4 percent. Beltran had 312 stolen bases, though, which is surprising for a guy who was better known for his power.

 

Here's another stolen base question: Who are the only two MLB players since 1900 to lead both the American and National Leagues in stolen bases?

 

Ron LeFlore?