‘The 40/40 Club’ – 1980’s – Card #29

‘The 40/40 Club’ – 1980’s – Card #29

Vince Coleman – 1985 Topps Traded

Very few players are able to debut in the major leagues and have the kind of attention paid to them that superstar veterans receive.  And if per chance a player does get that kind of recognition, it almost always falls to a power hitting rookie that blasts home runs by the dozen or to a starting pitcher that is pitching shutout after shutout.

But, what Vince Coleman did during his rookie season of 1985 was nothing short of spectacular and he achieved stardom in an unconventional way.  By the end of his rookie campaign, Vince Coleman tallied 110 stolen bases while scoring 107 runs and collecting 170 hits.  110 swipes is an amazing accomplishment, but to have a rookie so comfortable to achieve this in his very first season in the game is remarkable.  This outstanding performance led to Coleman winning the Rookie of the Year award in ’85.

Coleman’s dominance on the base paths continued for the next 2 seasons as he collected 107 in 1986 and another 109 in 1987.  Coleman was well on his way to becoming one of the best base stealers of all-time, with several years of playing time ahead of him.  Unfortunately Vince Coleman never hit the 3-digit mark in stolen bases after the 1987 season.  He was still aggressive on the base paths, but not as successful as he had been in years past.   Because base stealing involves several key elements, including many that are not controlled by the runner, Coleman’s success rate remained very high but his attempts dropped off.  After the 1987 season, the highest amount of bases Coleman was able to steal was 81.

Soon after the amazing begining to Vince Coleman’s career, injuries and lack of playing time crept up and began to remove the lustre on this shining star.  After spending the first 6 seasons of his career with the Cardinals, Coleman spent his last 7 seven seasons with 5 teams.  He was never able to secure a solid position on the teams he played for after leaving St. Louis and this one-time threat on the base paths became an ordinary player fighting for a position.

Vince Coleman retired after 13 seasons in the big leagues.  He retired with a career batting average of .264 with 1,425 hits 960 strikeouts(way too many for a lead-off hitter).  He has scored 849 runs and because of his speed has only grounded into 45 double plays.  His 752 career stolen bases is good for 6th place all-time. 

Whatever Happened to Vince Coleman??

As the Marlins prepare to host the St. Louis Cardinals for a 4-games series and look to take back the lead in the all of a sudden, very competitive NL East race I started to think back to some of the greats that played under the Gateway Arch.  As with many fans of the game Stan Musial came to mind quickly followed by Bob Gibson, Lou Brock and Ozzie Smith.  And if you’re a fan of today’s game you would have to mention Albert Pujols and 2008 sensation Ryan Ludwick.

For me, I thought of Vince Coleman.  Vince made his major league debut in 1985 and quickly made a name for himself by grabbing Rookie of the Year honors.  He was a base stealing machine with 110 swipes in 151 games and played excellent defense with a .979 fielding percentage.  In his rookie year he hit .267 which was not too bad for a 1st year player and he was being compared to fellow Cardinals base stealing legend Lou Brock and at the time current steals king Rickey Henderson. 

As a collector I fell for Vince hook, line, and sinker.  I rapidly gobbled up his rookie cards and began following his stats daily in the newspaper.  Vince didn’t let me down.  In 1986 he stole another 107 bases and followed that up with 109 in 1987.  Collectors soon took notice of his exceptional talent and his cards soon became much harder to obtain.  Coleman was the first player of the modern era to start his career with 100+ steals in each of his first three years.  He continued to play for the Cardinals through 1990 and by the end of his 6 year stint with them he compiled an amazing 549 steals, averaging an incredible 91 per year.  In 6 seasons Vince got on base 1251 times.  Stealing 549 bases gave him a stolen base for every 2.2 times he got on base.  Truly remarkable and untouchable by today’s players.

As a comparison, the highest number of steals in a single season in this decade was 78 by Jose Reyes of the New York Mets in 2007.  Nobody has come close to putting up similar numbers to Vince’s steals totals in the last 20 years.  If you use the same formula of hits plus walks and divide that by steals Reyes has been on base 890 times in five years with 234 steals giving him 1 stolen base every 3.8 time he’s gotten on base.  And these numbers are actually inflated as they include HR’s of which Reyes has had 45 in 5 years, while Vince only hit 15 during his 6 years in STL.

Vince was traded to the NY Mets in 1991 and he would never be the same player.  For someone that played in over 90% of his team’s games while with the Cardinals he struggled to get into half of the games his team played over the last 7 years of his career.  He still enjoyed 4 more 30+ steal seasons but the legend was gone.  He was quickly overshadowed by off the field problems that quickly led to more problems and soon was used as a complimentary player included in trades as he finished the last 4 years of his career on 4 different teams.

Sadly enough Vince Coleman may not be remembered for his amazing 6 years with the Cardinals, and may only be remembered for this.

Vince's 1986 Topps Record Breakers rookie card