Tom Pagnozzi throws out Vince Coleman - A Retro Hunt and Peck

I cannot take credit for finding this treasure — if you know, you know that this has Danup’s fingerprints all over it. When I saw the video he shared of Cardinals Tom Pagnozzi battling Mets base-stealer Vince Coleman it occurred to me this might be relevant to your — yes you specifically! — interests too. So you can thank the incomparable Dan Moore for this clip.

There are a few things to unpack here so let’s quickly do that. First of all is this obvious — Vince Coleman famously played for the Cardinals from 1985 through 1990 and signed as a free agent with the New York Mets in the December of 1990. He topped the National League in stolen bases every year he was a member of the St. Louis Cardinals. 1992 was probably the worst season of his career for stolen bases — he only stole 24 in 71 games played — but he still ranked in the top ten ever year following.

Behind the plate was Tom Pagnozzi, one of the top defensive catchers in Cardinals history. He ended his career with a 37% caught stealing rate and over his career was worth 94 runs with his defense in just under 6,700 innings, per Fangraphs.

What happens when two players do opposing things they are considered one of the best at? This, I guess:

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