Trend Spotting: SB > Hits

Here is a topic I am 100% none of you have ever thought about. Remember in the 2004 ALCS when Dave Roberts was put in as a pinch runner and stole second in the 9th, scoring the tying run? Dave Roberts recorded no hits that post season and one stolen base.  Jump ahead to this year - Brent Lillibridge, yes the Brent Lillibridge, has recorded six steals to his four hits putting him on pace for forty-four (44) steals and twenty-nine (29) hits.

This triggered my thinking - given a larger sample size, say, an entire season, have there been any instances of elite base stealers grabbing more steals than hits? Baseball Reference to the rescue! I set the bar at the prorated Lillibridgian (sp?)  44 steals and ventured deep into the catacombs.  In 1978, Willie Wilson, seen here with his game-used fungo, swiped 46 bags while blooping 43 hits. Impressive Willie, no wonder you later became the first player to serve jail-time mid season for attempting to buy cocaine.  Aaaaaany who - after another couple hundred clicks I found myself staring at the holy grail of Lillibridgesque (sp?) stat lines:

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	H	SB	CS
1976	26	OAK	AL	68	4	1	0	31	11

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com

That's right. ZERO hits and Thirty-one steals. If the first throwback didn't have enough consonance for you how about Larry Lintz. Pictured here holding a bat as if he had any idea how to use it, Larry is the only player in history to record 30+ steals in a season without recording a single hit. He also holds the title as the only player to have more steals than hits in his career (min 100 steals). Given these facts, I will concede that perhaps it is not Lintz who was Lillibridgish, but Lillibridge may be Lintz-like*.

*Of course I saved the best alliterative consonance for last.