1963 Topps NL Stolen Base Leaders: Wills, Davis, Javier, Pinson, Taylor

This is a card that I'm sure Topps wished they could have made. In 1962 Maury Wills (who was famously not under contract with Topps) broke Ty Cobbs long-standing stolen base record and ushered in a new era of base running.

Stolen bases were more common in the dead ball era. But when Babe Ruth changed the way games were played stolen bases lost their popularity. In 1955 the Al and the NL leaders both had a paltry 25 SB each. In 1950 Dom DiMaggio led the AL with only 15 stolen bases.

 But you don't even need to go back that far. In the same season that Wills set the modern record for stolen bases at 104, the average stolen base total for an American League team was 56.

Rounding out the top 5 are Tommy Davis with 32, Julian Javier and Vada Pinson with 26, and Tony Taylor with 20.

1961 Topps NL Stolen Base Leaders

After leading the league in stolen bases from 1956-59, Willie Mays handed the crown to Wills. Mays stole 25 bases in 1960, he wouldn't steal more than 20 in a season until 1971, his final full season in San Francisco.

Tony Taylor started the 1960 season on the Cubs but was traded to the Phillies to make room for their Bonus Baby, Jerry Kindall. Taylor represented the Phillies on the 1960 All Star team and continued his MLB career until 1976. Kindall, a career .213 hitter, was out of the game in 1965.

Vada Pinson had a career high 32 stolen bases (also a career high 12 times caught stealing). It was his second straight year with 20 homers and 20 stolen bases. It was also the second straight year he was selected to the All Star team.

In just his second season, Maury Wills led the NL in stolen bases. Famously, Wills would not have his own Topps card until 1967. Had this card actually been made it still would not have been his first appearance on a Topps card.  He appeared on this 1960 World Series card: