1970 Topps AL Stolen Base Leaders: Tommy Harper, Bert Campaneris, Cesar Tovar

The 1969 Seattle Pilots didn't have much to celebrate. The team had an old stadium with poor attendance and an older team. With an average age of over 28 years, they were older than most established MLB teams and considerably older than the other 1969 expansion teams.  But Tommy Harper provided Seattle fans with a reason to cheer. The lead-off hitter got the Pilots first hit ever and also scored their first run. Harper also led the Majors with 73 stolen bases.

After leading the AL in stolen bases for 4 consecutive years, Bert Campaneris fell to 2nd place. His 62 swipes still matched his career high from the 1968 season. Additionally he was only caught 8 times compared to 22 in 1968.

Cesar Tovar stole 52 bases in the regular season and 1 in the NLCS for the Minnesota Twins. 

1969 Topps AL Stolen Base Leaders: Bert Campaneris, Jose Cardenal, Cesar Tovar

Bert Campaneris led the league in stolen bases for the 4th consecutive time in 1968. He also earned himself his first All Star Game appearance. He had a career high 62 stolen bases. 

Jose Cardenal was traded from the Angels to the Indians after the 1967 season. The Angels got Chuck Hinton, who had been a threat on the basepaths. But Hinton was 34 and clearly on the downward side of his career. At 24 year, Cardenal stole a career high 40 bases for the the Indians in 1968.

Cesar Tovar had 35 stolen bases in 1968. But that was not his most impressive feat that year. He mimicked Bert Campaneris's 1965 act by playing all 9 positions in one game. On September 22nd, with the Twins 26 games out, He played all nine positions against Campaneris and the Oakland A's. He actually was the starting pitcher for the Twins and didn't surrender a hit or a run. In fact, nobody hit a ball in play. He got Campy to foul out, then struck out Reggie Jackson! Next he issued a walk to Danny Cater then balked to send him to second. Finally he got Sal Bando to pop out in foul territory. He then moved to catcher in the second, then 1st, 2nd, SS, 3rd, LF, CF and RF all for 1 inning each.  At the plate he walked, singled, stole a base and scored a run in 4 plate appearances. In a game with 3 fielding errors, none went to Tovar. 

**********

Update:

My last version had a shot of Luis Tiant instead of Jose Cardenal. Fortunately, it was caught by one of the readers. Thanks Greg!