| You can say it's age all you want, the real correlation with steals is MONEY. As in, look when the steals drop off for a lot of these guys, look when annual on the list guys disappear. Beltran disappears right after he signs his Mets contract. Vlad, right after the Angels. Soriano right after the Cubs. It's a pretty damning bit of information for the whole sport, I think. The guys who continue to do it annually, money or not, tend to be guys who couldn't get by without it, who would have difficulty justifying their place without the stolen base numbers. In the modern game, at least, this is a useless and somewhat corrupt stat - it doesn't help a team win, in the long run, but it keeps some guys employed, and helps others win monster contracts (after which they promptly drop it from their repertoire). |
MLB Stolen Base Leaders by Team 
Baseball Team RBI Leaders (2000s) 
NFL Team Leaders Since 2000
