Much has been written in this space about the amazing season Astros second baseman Jose Altuve has been having. Yes, you could say we have a man crush on the star. That's fine. He deserves it. The 24-year-old leads the majors in hits (by 23!), batting average (.343) and paces the AL with 56 stolen bases.
Wondering how many players have ever collected more than 220 hits and 50 steals in a season? Here's the list: Ty Cobb (three times), Tris Speaker, George Sisler, Willie Wilson, Lance Johnson, Ichiro Suzuki and Jose Altuve.
I included that nugget in power rankings this week, and a Twitter buddy of mine (@Crewsett, who is a highly-recommended follow for Cubs fans, by the way) asked about 50 doubles. Altuve has 46 right now.
Here's the entire list of players in MLB history with at least 220 hits, 50 steals and 50 doubles in a season:
Tris Speaker, 1912.
That's it. With four more doubles, Altuve would join the Hall of Famer.
Speaker hit .383/.464/.567 (wow) with 222 hits, 53 doubles, 12 triples, 10 homers, 90 RBI, 136 runs and 52 stolen bases that season for the Red Sox.
Altuve is hitting .343/.379/.455 with 222 hits, 46 doubles, three triples, seven homers, 57 RBI, 84 runs and 56 steals.
Mighty impressive for anyone, let alone a 24 year old. And you know what's funny? That was Speaker's 24-year-old season, too.
