From 1974-1975, Herb was the A’s designated runner. He had no professional baseball experience and wasn’t asked to develop other baseball skills. He played 105 games and had 31 stolen bases, 33 runs scored, and zero at bats. This 1975 Topps baseball card is the only baseball card ever released that uses the “pinch runner” position label.
One of the biggest misconceptions about the art of stealing bases is that it is all about speed. That isn’t the case. If it were, Herb Washington, a world-class sprinter, would have been unstoppable.
In reality, he was thrown out in 16 of his 45 attempts that year, for a pedestrian success rate of 64%. (Modern baseball analysts have concluded that trying to steal ultimately hurts your team if you are under 80%).
