Why was Craig Biggio such a lousy base stealer in 1993?

Biggio, on the cusp of being selected to the Hall of Fame, put up solid base-stealing numbers in his career – swiping 414 out of 538 attempts (77 percent).

But in 1993, Biggio was successful in just 15 of 32 attempts for an anemic and historically bad 47 percent.

Which is odd: The next season he bounced back to steal 39 bases in 43 attempts. And his next worst season with at least 15 attempts was 1999, when he managed to steal in 67 percent of his attempts. Without 1993, Biggio successfully stole 79 percent of his attempts throughout his career.

For historical perspective, Biggio’s 1993 season was one of just four since 1926 in which a major league player was caught stealing more frequently than he stole a base (minimum 30 attempts). As you see in the chart below, only Lenny Randle (1975), Dave Parker (1977) and Alfredo Griffin (1980) joined Biggio in pulling off the feat in the last 88 seasons.

Here are the 43 players who have done it since 1901:

That said, Biggio is on a list with Shoeless Joe and Babe Ruth. Can’t be all bad.