Vince Coleman circles the bases

With his first career home run an inside-the-park one, the Braves had no chance against the speed of Vince Coleman on this night, May 21, 1985.

[@bocephus1911]

Old Busch stadium, it kept the heat in real well

[@turtleflegel6816]

I never saw an athlete like Coleman. Fastest guy I ever saw, but also the way he would obsess the psyche of the opposing team. Pitchers would throw to first over and over. He'd call time and dust himself off. A game inside a game. They'd pitch out, he'd start and come back. After all that he'd steal anyway. In addition to his speed he was so physical on the base paths and fielders. The mental chaos he created was unrivalled and amazing to see.

[@edwardmarks3483]

Willie Mcgee was actually faster

[@turtleflegel6816]

Straight line speed it's possible though I'd say not likely because Coleman was timed at 9.5 in the hundred yard dash. But rounding the bases no chance.

[@raypratt-bw9ib]

I wouldn't say he was unrivaled,RICKEY HENDERSON was EXACTLY like that and the OG of speed on the diamond,loved em both and I am Red Sox fan,but people for whatever reason forget just how amazing VINCE COLEMAN was,probably the only guy EVER that could have seriously given RICKEYs records a shot

[@ronkali5365]

Nothing but switch hitters were in that starting lineup ,gotta love it

[@mikemallery913]

Glad I watched the whole video-who remembered Jack Clark as a speedster. He almost beat that out.

[@LDehaut]

Those three batter's, always doing damage vs the Expos, I was so tired of them lol

[@petehodge3460]

Absolutely priceless. Lived in St. Louis during the 80s and will always look back on the best baseball I ever witnessed. Whiteyball, I should say.

[@mathew3267]

What a racist comment!

[@larrycopeland2413]

In Philly, we used the term "Runnin' Redbirds" to describe the mid/late-80's Cardinals.

[@medguy12]

Whitey’s turf teams were built for pure speed & defense. Completely changed the way baseball was played in the 80s.

[@crkmt]

I remember watching this live at home. It was electrifying.

[@kevinpayton2664]

The Whitey Herzog Cardinals were fun to watch. They played baseball unlike any other team at that time.

[@DCussen]

He got around the bases in like 3 seconds..

[@markbrown6066]

DCussen 😂😂

[@batmanforpresident9655]

I have watched Baseball for a long time and believe me....there has NEVER been anybody faster than Coleman.. NOBODY!!!!

[@batmanforpresident9655]

@@cityhawk hang up the phone. .tell him no dice..

[@batmanforpresident9655]

@@cityhawk Now,maybe the ORIGINAL Billy Hamilton was faster.....but obviously,nobody alive today ever saw him play.

[@anthonychiulli7736]

Miss that speed team cards my fav team

[@joekoe97]

It took him 14 seconds to run the bases. My God.....

[@michaelfitting1164]

That's a 12.75 100 meter dash with a slow start and angled turns!

[@johnathanlewis2049]

The Braves had a bad night playing St Louis

[@kevinpayton2664]

I thought that the Cardinals were good enough to win the 1985 World Series without Vince Coleman. That tarp roller incident that injured him was about as freakish as anything that I had ever seen or heard.

[@richardmiller3919]

Kevin Payton Exactly!!!!!

[@blakkat4126]

Although I’m not a Cardinal fan, I remember Vince Coleman well. If he walked, you just as well gave him a double. Not a Braves fan either but I loved Skip Carey.

[@easye4038]

That brings back some good memories

[@dhornjr1]

How fun those days were.

[@maxberglind3275]

He might be faster than Henderson around the bases

[@batmanforpresident9655]

He was much faster than Henderson..and a better base stealer.

[@batmanforpresident9655]

He was much faster than Henderson..and a better base stealer.

[@francisqchristopher8684]

@@batmanforpresident9655 He was definitely faster but how was he a better base-stealer? If he was a better base-stealer, he would have...stolen more bases, right? In a career, in a season even. Rickey was a better base-stealer than anyone who's ever played. That's why he's got hundreds more stolen bases than anyone else.

[@batmanforpresident9655]

@@francisqchristopher8684 Your statement is based on the premise that quantity is the only thing of importance.. Henderson played 25 years......Coleman only 13 an he was injured a lot as well....Henderson played in over 3,000 games.....Coleman a little more than 1,300!! Give Coleman 3,000 games and he probably has more than Henderson. Considering the fact that both men have almost exactly the same career stolen base percentage (Coleman: 80.947; Henderson: 80.758 ),it is logical to assume Coleman would have had at least as many had he played the same amount of games.. Add to that Coleman was UNQUESTIONABLY the fastest player of all-time,he might have been considered the best base stealer ever. Quantity DOES NOT always supercede quality. I hope I have presented my case well.

[@francisqchristopher8684]

@@batmanforpresident9655 This is all very reasonable, except to say that part of the game is being on the field, another part is hitting and fielding well enough to be valuable enough to stick, and another part is base-stealing in a smart way rather than just by way of pure speed. All that said, I can't disagree that if Coleman had stayed healthy and productive for as long as Henderson did - a huge if, given the latter's longevity and quality performance even at an advanced age - he could very well have finished with a similar number of steals.

[@jackson5116]

Goes to show how formidable the Cardinals were when he was healthy. Had he been healthy for the World Series, game 6 is likely never played, Cards won in either 4 or 5 games.

[@johnolson5538]

A stand up 4-bagger. When’s the last time that happened?

[@anthonychiulli7736]

Speed don’t slump

[@KnickKnack07]

Yoenis Cespedes wouldn't evne have been at FIRST BASE yet in the time it took Coleman to cross home plate. Hell...pretty much NO player today would have gotten more than a double on that since they all would have gone into their ESPN pose thinking it was a home run. The faster guys would have probably been thrown out at third trying to "stretch" their inside the park home run into a triple.

[@milesman347]

KnickKnack07 Byron Buxton probably would have scored on this

[@charlesoldani88]

I was going to say the same thing till I read your reply.

[@natch27]

KnickKnack07 Yes but Cespedes the outfielder throws home on the fly to either nab Vince or keep him at third.

[@KnickKnack07]

@@natch27 I'll take someone who hustles...and actually plays than a guy that every 3 weeks or so throws someone out. Keep in mind that Cespedes' first Mets injury was a DIRECT result to him not running. He his a shot off the wall that he THOUGH was a home run. So he posed. Then, when it hit the wall, he had to run like hell to try to get a double where if he had just been running from the start, he would have had an easy stand up double. And as a result of having to try to beat the throw, he had an awkward slide and caught his spikes. Meanwhile, Vince Coleman, despite all those stolen bases tiring him out, averaged 152 games a year in his first several seasons.

[@gabe9346]

That was the epitome of an Astroturf team.. put the ball in the ground and run for days

[@muzikdude1188]

Coleman was a perfect fit on those Whitey Herzog-managed Cardinal teams of the 1980s. After leaving St. Louis he was never able to recapture his early glory and seemed to just quietly fade away.

[@erinmsomers]

muzik dude cocaine is a hell of a drug

[@redsox141978]

Artificial,turf dude Give us a break

[@kevinpayton2664]

Remember when he signed a minor league contract with the Cardinals before the 1996 season? He was talking about how great it was to be back in the organization. I was thinking about how fun it is to see him, Ozzie Smith, and Willie McGee reunited. I don't know what happened but not only Vince didn't make it to St. Louis, I don't think that he was in spring training with them. 1996 turned out to be a great season for the Cardinals and it was Ozzie's last season.

[@roberthaizlip7143]

Coleman was the fastest of all time. would have crushed Henderson's record had he stayed healthy

[@mrmacross]

For a few years, Coleman was as good as there ever was, but Henderson had the distinct advantage of being able to get on base at an elite level his entire career, and Henderson played forever. Henderson generated a lot more opportunities to steal bases by reaching safely far more often. Now if prime Coleman somehow managed to get a .400 OBP, he'd probably have the single-season record. I think if he had 172 stolen base attempts like Rickey did in 1982, he'd have stolen more than 130, maybe 140+.

[@drowssapma]

@@mrmacross To counter that, Henderson became more of a power hitter (297 HR), so if he didn't, he may have had an additional 100-200 steals. Both amazing players. A joy to watch

[@Paul19807]

The 85 Cards were the most exciting team of all time. There's never been another one like them, and I'm not even a Cardinals fan. This was the Golden Age of baseball.

[@cards1985]

My favorite all time team and year. My username is cards1985.

[@trucvylucky852]

Paul19807 for sure. i miss these days.

[@robvonk9131]

+Paul19807 A tragedy that we couldn't bring home the World Championship.

[@crocodile1313]

Rob Vonk-- Yes, but thank you for not blaming the game 6 first base umpire! The Cards had an entire game 7 to put down KC, but they never showed up.

[@x00p3]

314 stolen bases for the team that year.

[@treygray2817]

I think Coleman's '86 season is the best SB season ever. 100+ SBs with an 88% success rate. Yea, Rickey had seasons where he stole more but his success rate was significantly lower. Coleman was without a doubt faster and a superior basestealer to Rickey. Too bad he was one-dimensional.

[@batmanforpresident9655]

Coleman was UNQUESTIONABLY the fastest player ever. But he was not necessarily a better base stealer. Their respective career stolen base percentages are almost identical: COLEMAN: 80.947 HENDERSON: 80.758. It's safe to say Coleman was faster and Henderson may have been a SMARTER base stealer ...in any case,they are two of the best,along with Brock.

[@Guiltless765]

One helluva player in a great lineup.

[@Statman80]

Len Barker was shell of his former self by then.

[@NicanTlacaWarrior1]

Coleman was a great player when he wasn't tossing lit firecrackers at kids

[@scottweber6789]

And he wasn't even running hard out of the box. He didn't turn it on until he was at 1st base. Lol! I miss the Runnin Redbirds. Loved that style of baseball. Was raised on it.

[@bradleyr.6385]

Loved him and watching him play, but didn’t want any of Ricky’s records to be broken.

[@ExposClassics94]

This reminds me of Byron Buxton

[@rustyturner8294]

WOrst trade ever Braves

[@kerrytodd3753]

Len Barker is still getting paid by the Braves. He pitched a perfect game for Milwaukee? …… and Atl signed him to a lifetime deal, he was out of baseball in two years after that I believe. Worst contract ever in baseball…..

[@ThisIsWhereYouFindBaseball]

The perfect game was for Cleveland, and it can be viewed here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/sH3IfWB7gdWkoK8

[@Eddie_Schantz]

This game was played on MAY 21, 1985 in Atlanta. Coleman is the only player to steal 100+ bases in three consecutive seasons.

[@Iamacardinalfan]

This was in Busch Stadium, not Fulton County Stadium. Besides he got a curtain call. Most opposing players never get that for just a home run. And besides even that. St. Louis is in their white uni's. Their road jerseys back then were the powder blue color.

[@Eddie_Schantz]

@@Iamacardinalfan Your right, it was played in Busch. When I finally found the date it happened, I misread where it was played.

[@otbliveson1]

brewers had 300 few years later..the running brewcrew !!

[@jdwright10000]

Nah--only 256. Only time they ever had more than 200. Cardinals had 200+ 7 years straight and 10 out of 11, including 314 in 1998! Not to knock the Brewers--but the number of bases the Cards stole in the 1980's into the early 1990's was incredible.

[@chrischar9428]

​@@jdwright10000 314 in 1985

[@jdwright10000]

@@chrischar9428 Whoops! No idea what I was thinking back when I said 1998.

[@Mashachlk]

Len Barker is LOUSY!!!

[@travisweir2477]

Raines was faster

[@geraldfarr8279]

Travis Weir Wrong. Vince Coleman was the fastest man in the game for many years. He was definitely faster than Tim Raines.

[@redsox141978]

Boring. Artificial turf bounces, Homing umps

[@x00p3]

It didn't even land on the turf, it hit the dirt warning track.

[@samueladorno478]

Don't watch.