Vince Coleman
Encyclopedia
Vincent Maurice Coleman (born September 22, 1961 in Jacksonville, Florida
) is an American
former Major League Baseball
player, best known for his years with the St. Louis Cardinals
. Primarily a left fielder, Coleman played from to and set a number of stolen base
records. He was a switch-hitter and threw right-handed.
in Jacksonville
. He began setting records as a college player. In 1981, he set the all-time single season stolen base
record at Florida A&M with 65 steals in 69 attempts. He led NCAA Division I that year in both total steals and stolen base percentage. While at Florida A&M, Coleman was also a kicker and punter on the football team, where he followed in the footsteps of his cousin, Greg Coleman
who was also a punter at FAMU in the 1970s and went on to a 12-year career in the NFL. Coleman was named to the all-conference team in both 1980 and 1981 and is fondly remembered by FAMU football fans for kicking a game-winning 34-yard field goal in an unlikely 16-13 Rattler win over Division I-A University of Miami
in 1979.
by the St. Louis Cardinals
. Coleman continued his record breaking ways in the minor leagues, where he still holds the all-time professional mark for stolen bases in a single season with 145 for Macon of the South Atlantic League
in ; notably, Coleman set the mark despite missing a month of the season with a broken hand. He further demonstrated his speed and basestealing ability with 101 steals for the Louisville Redbirds of the American Association
before being called up to the majors.
Coleman stole 110 bases in his debut season in 1985, easily setting a major league rookie record. Benny Kauff
had had 75 steals as a rookie in the Federal League
in ; Juan Samuel
was considered MLB's rookie record holder with 72 steals in . To date, the 110 steals are the third-highest in Major League history, after Rickey Henderson
's 130 in and Lou Brock
's 118 in . Coleman stole over 100 bases in each of the following two seasons as well, making him the only player in the 20th century to post three consecutive seasons of 100 or more steals and the first player in Major League history to steal 100 bases in the first three seasons of their career. Before signing as a free agent with New York, Coleman led the National League
in stolen bases in every season he played with the Cardinals (-), becoming one of just four players ever to lead his league in six consecutive seasons. The other players to accomplish this feat are Henderson, Luis Aparicio
, and Maury Wills
. Coleman, Henderson, Wills and Brock are the only players to steal 100 bases in a season. Only Coleman and Henderson have three different 100-steal seasons to their credit, and only Coleman reached the total in three consecutive years.
As the leadoff hitter and baserunning sparkplug for St. Louis, Coleman helped the team reach the 1985 playoffs. But he suffered a freak injury prior to the fourth game of the National League Championship Series
, when the automatic tarpaulin at Busch Stadium rolled over his leg during routine stretching exercises. The injury sidelined him for the rest of the postseason, and the Cardinals eventually lost a seven-game World Series
to Kansas City
. Following the season, Coleman became the fourth-ever unanimous selection for the NL Rookie of the Year Award.
He offended many baseball fans, the press and many African Americans in 1985 when he declared "I don’t know nothin’ about him. Why are you asking me about Jackie Robinson
?" Responding to Coleman, Rachel Robinson, Jackie Robinson's widow said, "I hope somehow he'll learn and be embarrassed by his own ignorance."
Coleman compiled the best season of his major league career in , when he posted a .289 batting average and a .363 on base percentage while totaling 180 hits, 109 stolen bases, and 121 runs scored. He stole second and third base in the same inning 13 times that year. Coleman played in the World Series
that year, the only one he would appear in. In June, he recorded his 500th stolen base in just his 804th game, the fewest that any player has needed to reach that plateau.
In 1989, Coleman compiled a streak of 50 successful stolen bases without being caught stealing, before it was broken on July 28 when he was thrown out by Montreal Expos
catcher Nelson Santovenia
in a game at Olympic Stadium
. The next night, July 29, 1989, Coleman was called out twice for interference on the base paths - first by using his hands to hit a ball foul, and then tugging at the uniform of Expos second baseman Damaso Garcia
to break up a double play.
After leaving St. Louis for the Mets via free agency, Coleman tripled his salary, but his career took a quick downward spiral. Coleman was one of three Met players named in a complaint filed by a 31-year-old woman in Florida, although prosecutors did not pursue charges in the case. In April 1993, Coleman injured Dwight Gooden
's arm by recklessly swinging a golf club in the clubhouse. Three months later, Coleman was charged with endangerment when he threw a lit firecracker
into a crowd of baseball fans waiting for autographs in the Dodger Stadium
parking lot. The explosion injured three children, including a two-year-old, Amanda Santos. He was sentenced to 200 hours of community service for the incident, and was suspended by the Mets for the rest of the season. At the end of the season, the Mets traded him, with cash, to the Kansas City Royals for Kevin McReynolds
.
He recorded 76 steals in 179 games as a Royal before being traded to the Seattle Mariners in mid-1995. 1996 found Coleman with the Cincinnati Reds, where he was ineffective. Released by the team in June, he signed with the California Angels but never played a game for the team. Coleman finished his active career with 14 unproductive at-bats for the 1997 Detroit Tigers.
He ranks sixth in all-time career steals, with 752.
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
) is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
former Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
player, best known for his years with the St. Louis Cardinals
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to...
. Primarily a left fielder, Coleman played from to and set a number of stolen base
Stolen base
In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a baserunner successfully advances to the next base while the pitcher is delivering the ball to home plate...
records. He was a switch-hitter and threw right-handed.
Biography
Coleman attended William M. Raines High SchoolWilliam M. Raines High School
William Marion Raines Senior High School is a historically black high school in Jacksonville, Florida. The school is located off Moncrief Road in Jacksonville, Florida's northside. Located at the corner Raines Avenue in northwest Jacksonville, Raines serves approximately 1000 students. The school...
in Jacksonville
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
. He began setting records as a college player. In 1981, he set the all-time single season stolen base
Stolen base
In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a baserunner successfully advances to the next base while the pitcher is delivering the ball to home plate...
record at Florida A&M with 65 steals in 69 attempts. He led NCAA Division I that year in both total steals and stolen base percentage. While at Florida A&M, Coleman was also a kicker and punter on the football team, where he followed in the footsteps of his cousin, Greg Coleman
Greg Coleman
Gregory Jerome Coleman is a retired American football punter who had a 12-year career in the National Football League playing for the Cleveland Browns, the Minnesota Vikings, and the Washington Redskins. He attended Florida A&M University...
who was also a punter at FAMU in the 1970s and went on to a 12-year career in the NFL. Coleman was named to the all-conference team in both 1980 and 1981 and is fondly remembered by FAMU football fans for kicking a game-winning 34-yard field goal in an unlikely 16-13 Rattler win over Division I-A University of Miami
Miami Hurricanes
The Miami Hurricanes, of Coral Gables, Florida, are the varsity sports teams of the University of Miami. They compete in the Coastal Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference . The university fields 15 athletic teams for 17 varsity sports...
in 1979.
Major League Baseball career
He chose to forgo an NFL career when he was drafted in the 10th round of the 1982 Major League Baseball Draft1982 Major League Baseball Draft
-First round selections:The following are the first round picks in the 1982 Major League Baseball draft.- Other notable players :*Barry Bonds was drafted by the Giants in the 2nd round of the 1982 amateur draft, but did not sign...
by the St. Louis Cardinals
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to...
. Coleman continued his record breaking ways in the minor leagues, where he still holds the all-time professional mark for stolen bases in a single season with 145 for Macon of the South Atlantic League
South Atlantic League
The South Atlantic League is a minor league baseball league based chiefly in the Southeastern United States, with the exception of three teams in the Mid-Atlantic States...
in ; notably, Coleman set the mark despite missing a month of the season with a broken hand. He further demonstrated his speed and basestealing ability with 101 steals for the Louisville Redbirds of the American Association
American Association (20th century)
The American Association was a minor league baseball league at the Triple-A level of baseball in the United States from to and to . Together with the International League, it contested the Junior World Series which determined the championship team in minor league baseball, at least for the...
before being called up to the majors.
Coleman stole 110 bases in his debut season in 1985, easily setting a major league rookie record. Benny Kauff
Benny Kauff
Benjamin Michael Kauff was a professional baseball player, who played centerfield and batted and threw left-handed. Kauff was known as the “Ty Cobb of the Feds.” He is the only player to be permanently banned from baseball for reasons other than gambling...
had had 75 steals as a rookie in the Federal League
Federal League
The Federal League of Base Ball Clubs, known simply as the Federal League, was an American professional baseball league that operated as a "third major league", in competition with the established National and American Leagues, from to...
in ; Juan Samuel
Juan Samuel
Juan Milton Samuel is a retired second baseman who spent sixteen seasons in Major League Baseball with the Philadelphia Phillies , New York Mets , Los Angeles Dodgers , Kansas City Royals , Cincinnati Reds , Detroit Tigers and Toronto Blue Jays...
was considered MLB's rookie record holder with 72 steals in . To date, the 110 steals are the third-highest in Major League history, after Rickey Henderson
Rickey Henderson
Rickey Henley Henderson is a former Major League Baseball left fielder who played for nine teams from 1979 to 2003, including four stints with his original team, the Oakland Athletics. Nicknamed The Man of Steal, he is widely regarded as the sport's greatest leadoff hitter and baserunner...
's 130 in and Lou Brock
Lou Brock
Louis Clark "Lou" Brock is an American former professional baseball player. He began his Major League Baseball career with the Chicago Cubs but, spent the majority of his career as the left fielder for the St. Louis Cardinals. Brock was best known for breaking Ty Cobb's all-time major league...
's 118 in . Coleman stole over 100 bases in each of the following two seasons as well, making him the only player in the 20th century to post three consecutive seasons of 100 or more steals and the first player in Major League history to steal 100 bases in the first three seasons of their career. Before signing as a free agent with New York, Coleman led the National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
in stolen bases in every season he played with the Cardinals (-), becoming one of just four players ever to lead his league in six consecutive seasons. The other players to accomplish this feat are Henderson, Luis Aparicio
Luis Aparicio
Luis Ernesto Aparicio Montiel is a former shortstop in professional baseball. His career in Major League Baseball spanned three decades, from through . Aparicio played for the Chicago White Sox , Baltimore Orioles and Boston Red Sox . He batted and threw right-handed...
, and Maury Wills
Maury Wills
Maurice Morning "Maury" Wills is a former Major League Baseball shortstop and switch-hitting batter who played most prominently with the Los Angeles Dodgers , and also with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Montreal Expos...
. Coleman, Henderson, Wills and Brock are the only players to steal 100 bases in a season. Only Coleman and Henderson have three different 100-steal seasons to their credit, and only Coleman reached the total in three consecutive years.
As the leadoff hitter and baserunning sparkplug for St. Louis, Coleman helped the team reach the 1985 playoffs. But he suffered a freak injury prior to the fourth game of the National League Championship Series
1985 National League Championship Series
-Game 1:Wednesday, October 9, 1985 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, CaliforniaThe opening contest in Los Angeles pitted Dodgers screwballer Fernando Valenzuela against the Cardinals' twenty-game winner, John Tudor. The pitchers matched zeroes through the first three innings, but in the bottom of...
, when the automatic tarpaulin at Busch Stadium rolled over his leg during routine stretching exercises. The injury sidelined him for the rest of the postseason, and the Cardinals eventually lost a seven-game World Series
1985 World Series
-Game 1:Saturday, October 19, 1985 at Royals Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri-Game 2:Sunday, October 20, 1985 at Royals Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri...
to Kansas City
Kansas City Royals
The Kansas City Royals are a Major League Baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals are a member of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From 1973 to the present, the Royals have played in Kauffman Stadium...
. Following the season, Coleman became the fourth-ever unanimous selection for the NL Rookie of the Year Award.
He offended many baseball fans, the press and many African Americans in 1985 when he declared "I don’t know nothin’ about him. Why are you asking me about Jackie Robinson
Jackie Robinson
Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson was the first black Major League Baseball player of the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947...
?" Responding to Coleman, Rachel Robinson, Jackie Robinson's widow said, "I hope somehow he'll learn and be embarrassed by his own ignorance."
Coleman compiled the best season of his major league career in , when he posted a .289 batting average and a .363 on base percentage while totaling 180 hits, 109 stolen bases, and 121 runs scored. He stole second and third base in the same inning 13 times that year. Coleman played in the World Series
1987 World Series
The 1987 World Series pitted the Minnesota Twins versus the St. Louis Cardinals.Minnesota was victorious in a World Series that was the first in which the home team won every game...
that year, the only one he would appear in. In June, he recorded his 500th stolen base in just his 804th game, the fewest that any player has needed to reach that plateau.
In 1989, Coleman compiled a streak of 50 successful stolen bases without being caught stealing, before it was broken on July 28 when he was thrown out by Montreal Expos
Montreal Expos
The Montreal Expos were a Major League Baseball team located in Montreal, Quebec from 1969 through 2004, holding the first MLB franchise awarded outside the United States. After the 2004 season, MLB moved the Expos to Washington, D.C. and renamed them the Nationals.Named after the Expo 67 World's...
catcher Nelson Santovenia
Nelson Santovenia
Nelson Gil Santovenia Mayol , is a former professional baseball player who played in the Major Leagues primarily as a catcher from 1987 to 1993. He played college baseball at the University of Miami....
in a game at Olympic Stadium
Olympic Stadium
The Olympic Stadium is the name usually given to the big centrepiece stadium of the Summer Olympic Games. Traditionally, the opening and closing ceremonies and the track and field competitions are held in the Olympic Stadium. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words Olympic...
. The next night, July 29, 1989, Coleman was called out twice for interference on the base paths - first by using his hands to hit a ball foul, and then tugging at the uniform of Expos second baseman Damaso Garcia
Dámaso García
Dámaso Domingo García Sánchez is a former Major League Baseball player best known for his time spent with the Toronto Blue Jays in the 1980s....
to break up a double play.
After leaving St. Louis for the Mets via free agency, Coleman tripled his salary, but his career took a quick downward spiral. Coleman was one of three Met players named in a complaint filed by a 31-year-old woman in Florida, although prosecutors did not pursue charges in the case. In April 1993, Coleman injured Dwight Gooden
Dwight Gooden
Dwight Eugene Gooden , nicknamed "Doc Gooden" or "Dr. K", is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. He was one of the most dominant and feared pitchers in the National League in the middle and late 1980s.-Career:...
's arm by recklessly swinging a golf club in the clubhouse. Three months later, Coleman was charged with endangerment when he threw a lit firecracker
Firecracker
A firecracker is a small explosive device primarily designed to produce a large amount of noise, especially in the form of a loud bang; any visual effect is incidental to this goal. They have fuses, and are wrapped in a heavy paper casing to contain the explosive compound...
into a crowd of baseball fans waiting for autographs in the Dodger Stadium
Dodger Stadium
Dodger Stadium, also sometimes called Chavez Ravine, is a stadium in Los Angeles. Located adjacent to Downtown Los Angeles, Dodger Stadium has been the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers team since 1962...
parking lot. The explosion injured three children, including a two-year-old, Amanda Santos. He was sentenced to 200 hours of community service for the incident, and was suspended by the Mets for the rest of the season. At the end of the season, the Mets traded him, with cash, to the Kansas City Royals for Kevin McReynolds
Kevin McReynolds
Walter Kevin McReynolds is a former Major League Baseball outfielder with a 12-year career from 1983 to 1994...
.
He recorded 76 steals in 179 games as a Royal before being traded to the Seattle Mariners in mid-1995. 1996 found Coleman with the Cincinnati Reds, where he was ineffective. Released by the team in June, he signed with the California Angels but never played a game for the team. Coleman finished his active career with 14 unproductive at-bats for the 1997 Detroit Tigers.
He ranks sixth in all-time career steals, with 752.
Accomplishments
- Sixth all-time for career stolen bases (752)
- National League Rookie of the Year (1985)
- Most stolen bases in a season by a rookie, with 110 in 1985
- Holds three of the top six stolen base seasons: #3 (110 in 1985), #4 (109 in 1987) and #6 (107 in 1986). The three seasons were consecutive.
- The last man to steal 100 bases in a season, in 1987.
- Two-time All-Star (1988–89)
- Led the Major Leagues in stolen bases four times (1985–87, 1990)
- Led the National League in stolen bases six consecutive years (1985–90)
- Holds an MLB record with 50 consecutive stolen bases without being caught stealing (September 18, 1988 through July 26, 1989)
See also
- List of Major League Baseball stolen base records
- List of MLB individual streaks
- List of Major League Baseball leaders in career stolen bases
- List of Major League Baseball stolen base champions
- Major League Baseball titles leadersMajor League Baseball titles leadersAt the end of each Major League Baseball season, the league leaders of various statistical categories are announced. Leading the league in a particular category is referred to as a title....