Jose Reyes tied his career high last night of 64 stolen bases. It looks like he'll leave that number in the dust over the rest of the season.

17 August 2007: New York Mets shortstop Jose Reyes (7) steals second base in the 5th inning against the Washington Nationals. The Mets defeated the Nationals 6-2 at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C.

Photo: Mark Goldman/Icon SMI

Devon Young sends along this bit of research to put Jose's base running season into context:

I thought you'd like this reference list I made for myself. This list shows everyone who had 65 or more steals at the end of August...covering between 1957-2006.

65 Steals by the end of August, 1957-2006

Season	Runner	Steals through Aug. 31
1992	Marquis Grissom	66
1991	Otis Nixon	67
1990	Vince Coleman	76
1988	Rickey Henderson	74
	Vince Coleman	69
1987	Vince Coleman	90
1986	Vince Coleman	88
	Rickey Henderson	74
	Eric Davis	65
1985	Vince Coleman	95
1983	Rickey Henderson	92
1982	Rickey Henderson	123
1981	Tim Raines*	71
1980	Ron LeFlore	86
	Omar Moreno	79
	Rickey Henderson	66
1979	Ron LeFlore	66
	Willie Wilson	65
1974	Lou Brock	94
1965	Maury Wills	83
1962	Maury Wills	73

*(in only 88 games)

Not a very long list, and most of that was done by only a few men (11) and not since 15 years ago. It's an even shorter list if you only count 70 or more (7), and nobody's done that since 17 years ago. So Reyes is already in some exclusive company even before September starts. I think Reyes wants to end August at 70+.

Between 1920 and 1957, steals were much rarer and in some season a guy with 20 steals could lead the league. So there's really nobody in those years who had 65 by the end of August. I didn't check the deadball era stats, but I imagine it would be similar to the 1980's.

The increase in offense over the last 15 years made the steal a less valuable strategy. Why risk being thrown out if the next batter is somewhat likely to get a long hit? But Reyes keeps his caught stealing very low, so for the Mets this strategy adds to their run production and diversifies their offense.