Stealing Every Base
A rare accomplishment
Stealing Every Base
Elly De La Cruz did something remarkable in 2023.
He managed to steal second, third, and home in three pitches in the same at bat.
You can read more about it here — and watch a video of the amazing feat.
What’s even more amazing is that he managed this against the Brewers, who would go on to win the division that year. It’s not like he was playing against the Pirates.
Interestingly enough, the feat has taken place only 55 times in baseball history, and only 47 different men have performed the trick. You can see the full list on Baseball Almanac.
Some of the names on the list shouldn’t surprise you. Ty Cobb and Honus Wagner both repeated the feat no less than 4 times. Shoeless Joe Jackson managed to do it once, as did Eddie Collins, Rod Carew, Paul Molitor, Rogers Hornsby, Pete Rose, and a number of other famous players.
And then there was Jackie Tavener.
The most remarkable thing about Tavener is just how unremarkable he was.
Jackie was the Tigers’ starting shortstop from 1925 through 1928. He wound up in Cleveland in 1929, played a little over half a season, and that was it for his career.
Tavener was never much of an offensive threat:
In fact, with only 46 stolen bases against 36 times caught stealing in a steal-happy era, you’d figure Tavener would be one of the least likely candidates for the three steals in an inning club.
But Jackie did it. In fact, not only did he perform the feat in 1927, but he did so against the 1927 New York Yankees, a team most people would still consider the greatest of them all.
The Detroit Free Press described it like this:
Most other papers ignored the feat, though a paper in Massachusetts at least mentioned it:
The thing that’s even more impressive, though, is that the unhearalded Tavener repeated the feat again in 1928. His victim? The same Yankees.
Unfortunately, the New York papers didn’t make much of the remarkable feat:
Of course, the real highlight from July 26, 1928, comes from this old comic:
I guess Smitty wouldn’t have reacted the same way if he had met Jackie Tavener instead.
Loved the comic!
I've seen a player stealing second and then third but, of course, never all three.