Billy Hamilton Swipes Record-Setting 146th Stolen Base

The Cincinnati Reds are shifting speedy prospect Billy Hamilton from shortstop to center field next season. The move could help streamline his path to the big league club, and Reds vice president of scouting and player development Bill Bavasi believes the move may also prove beneficial to Hamilton’s overall play, per MLB.com:

The 22-year-old Hamilton set the minor-league record for stolen bases this season, nabbing 155 bags in 192 attempts between Single- and Triple-A. Known more for his speed than his bat entering this season, the young switch-hitter backed up his eye-popping base-running numbers with a productive year at the plate, batting .311/.410/.420 in 132 games.

Billy Hamilton is fast and good at stealing bases. Every article about him could probably be whittled down to those points. It would start with that sentence, there’d be all manner of nouns, verbs, and adjectives, and it would end with that sentence. Yes, yes, that’s why we’re interested in the fellow.

The fast part is easy to understand, but there are a lot of fast players. There are a lot of really, really fast players. Peter Bourjos and Mike Trout probably won’t agree to a footrace on pay-per-view, and that likely means they hate capitalism and our freedoms, but it’s hard to see how Hamilton can be that much faster than both. Yet neither one of them came close to setting minor-league stolen base records. There’s more to it than just being fast.

There have been four Billy Hamiltons to play organized baseball. The second one made it to World War I, but he never made it out of the minors. The third one was a 19-year-old pitcher who pitched 16 games in his career. But the bookends of Billy Hamilton, the first and the fourth, were special. They had and have a gift. The original Billy Hamilton stole 111 bases in his first full season in 1889, and he stole 100 or more in four different seasons. The current Billy Hamilton set a minor-league record with 146 stolen bases.

To celebrate, I’ve attempted to collect all of the ridiculous facts and factoids surrounding Hamilton’s record-setting season. This is a living document; if you have facts or factoids, please leave them in the comments. Let’s revel in and share the ridiculousness together.

In 1983, St. Louis Cardinals farmhand Vince Coleman stole 145 bases in the Class-A South Atlantic League. For almost 29 years, that stood as the all-time record in the minor leagues. For that matter, it stood as the all-time record in professional baseball, because no major leaguer has ever stolen more than 130 bases in one season.

The Reds’ switch-hitting speedster stole his 147th base later in that game -- setting another new record, of course -- but was shut out in the second game of the Wahoos’ double-header against the Montgomery Biscuits.

There are easy ways to get attention on the Internet. For example, one of them is to mention Corgis. D’awww, Corgis. And by using Corgis, I will add 1,000 page views to this article:

He’s unlike anything the majors has right now. There are other players who steal bases. There are other fast players. But there aren’t any fast players who make the stolen base the justification for their baseball existence. Hamilton has other skills, and he’s a real prospect. But he thrills the baseball world right now because of the stolen bases.