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Larry Lintz: "King of Thieves"
Larry Lintz: "King of Thieves"
Few major league ball players who are not all-stars are able to carve out a real memorable niche within the baseball encyclopedia or within the memory of the average baseball fan. If you were a child from the 1970s playing any table top baseball game, and I asked you to draft a weak-bat position player with blinding speed, a few good men would come to mind. Certainly, towards the top of the list you would find the name Larry Lintz. Ah, the name Lintz stokes still smoldering embers within the psyche of the baseball-minded. Lintz was somewhat of an enigma; he was adept at doing one thing exceptionally well, and was far less than average at performing other skills desirable on the baseball diamond.
Lintz came up within the Montreal Expos system. He was a tiny ball player, measuring only 5’9” and accurate accounts had him weighing in at only 140 lbs when he first arrived with the Expos. Although Lintz had his shortcomings as a player, instantly it was abundantly clear he possessed cheetah-like speed, and he was developing quickly as an impressive base stealer. While in the minors, Lintz was swiping bases at an alarming rate. In 1972, The Sporting News referred to him as the “King of Thieves.”
In 1972 Lintz was 23 years old while playing shortstop for the Quebec City Carnavals. He was a very confident player. During spring training that season Lintz made his prediction that he would steal somewhere between 80 to 85 bases during the upcoming season. This may come across as a very lofty goal indeed. Even so, by the end of August Lintz had already swiped over 80 bases. Thereafter, he said “I guess I’ll have to go for 100.” Although his bat was seriously lacking in production, the speedster made the most of every chance he had while on the basepaths. When the season ended, Lintz had finished with 96 stolen bases. Somehow he managed this while hitting a meek .226. And, it is interesting to note that Lintz’s 96 steals still remain a record today for the Eastern League.
The one dimensional player was extremely popular with the Quebec fans, sparking excitement every time he reached base. Lintz was simply electrifying. Manager of the Quebec team, Karl Keuhl, was especially keen on his speedster. After a game in which Lintz had two consecutive 3-steal games, Keuhl said, “He’s an outstanding ballplayer and definitely a big league prospect. He must improve his hitting and he needs a little more experience, but I would say that he is only one or two years away from the big time.”
Lintz came in as a right-handed batter, but while with Quebec he started experimenting as a switch-hitter. He felt as though his batting average suffered some due to his experimentation. He explained, “I know it would be somewhat higher if I batted righthanded, but I suppose that in the long run switch-hitting will pay off.” Lintz’s manager made favourable comparisons to other successful major leaguers. According to Keuhl, “When Bud Harrelson and Larry Bowa went in for switch-hitting, they weren’t as good as Lintz is at this stage.”
Not surprisingly, Keuhl was particularly impressed with Lintz’s base-stealing. One would have to be blind not to recognize Lintz’s greatest strength. Keuhl made some amazing comparisons of Lintz to a few of baseball’s greatest base-stealers. “Nobody with so little experience, and that includes Maury Wills and Lou Brock, ever has come even close to stealing so many bases,” said Keuhl.
As to Lintz’s future potential, Keuhl summarized his thoughts concerning the lightning-fast prospect: “He’s a real good fielder and he’s constantly improving. He has a good knowledge of the game and he has great instincts. That’s why he is so successful in stealing bases. And he will steal bases in the major leagues. He is determined and has good knowledge of the game. When he gets on base, he makes things happen.”
Larry Lintz did receive the call to enter the major leagues in 1973. With the Expos, Lintz found his way into 52 ballgames. In 116 at-bats Larry managed to hit a respectable .250, albeit with only one extra-base hit (a double). No one ever figured the slight-framed player to hit for power. Lintz was successful stealing 12 bases in 16 attempts. Not a bad initiation at the highest level.
The following season turned out to be Lintz’s finest year as a major league player. He played pretty much regularly for the Expos, mostly at second base and at shortstop. Appearing in a total of 113 games, he committed 18 errors in the field. Offensively, Lintz hit .238 with virtually no power. He did, however, steal an impressive 50 bases in 57 attempts, proving to the entire league that this man was to be taken seriously on the basepaths. Now, if he could just find a way to reach base more often.
Unfortunately, after the 1974 season Lintz’s role would change from everyday player to substitute infielder and pinch-runner. The 1975 season saw Lintz getting very little action with the Expos and before the season was over he was dealt to the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for Jim Dwyer. That season, Lintz had only 150 at-bats and hit only .207 with one extra-base hit (a double). With decreased playing time he was able to steal only 21 bases.
From 1976 through the end of his career (his final year was 1978), Lintz’s action was mostly as a pinch-runner. 1976 turned out to be a very interesting year for Lintz and his new ball club, the Oakland A’s. The A’s had won five consecutive AL West divisional titles going into 1976. This season, however, was not like the prior five. Gone were the likes of Catfish Hunter, Reggie Jackson and Ken Holtzman. Also, that year the A’s brought in a new manager—Chuck Tanner—and a very different offensive philosophy. The 1976 A’s stole bases, ran and stole some more bases. At the close of the season, the A’s stole an all-time AL record of 341 bases.
It seemed everyone on this team had the green light, even players who were not known as base stealers. The A’s had eight players who stole more than twenty bases, which included Lintz. Curiously, on average the A’s offense was the oldest in the American League that season. The top two base stealers were always exceptional on the base paths. Billy North led the team with 75 thefts (a career high for him—45 more steals than he had in 1975), and Bert Campaneris added 54 (30 more than he had stolen the prior year). Not far behind Campy was Don Baylor, who swiped 52 bases. This was a career high for Baylor, the total being 20 steals higher than his next best season. Claudell Washington pilfered 37 bases. Phil Garner stole a career high 35 bases, 31 more than he stole the year earlier.
Larry Lintz was used primarily as a pinch-runner. He appeared in 68 games for the A’s. He had only four plate appearances during the season and only one official at-bat. He did score 21 runs and stole 31 bases. The A’s had two pinch-runners coming off the bench often during the ’76 season. Matt Alexander, who played 9 seasons mostly serving the role as a pinch-runner (he even got a world series ring with the 1979 Pirates), played in 61 games while recording only 30 at-bats, scoring 16 runs and stealing 20 bases.
Somehow, even Sal Bando stole an unthinkable 20 bases playing for the 1976 A’s. It was a career high for Bando, and it was 13 more steals than he notched in ’75. The following season, with Milwaukee, Bando would only steal 4 bases while playing in 159 games. Rounding out the regulars, Joe Rudi stole 6 bases—4 more than the prior season. Cement-footed Gene Tenace chipped in with 5 steals. Finally, 38-year old DH Billy Williams contributed with 4 steals in his final major league season (he had no steals in ’75).
The record-setting 1976 A’s were pennant contenders but fell short of another divisional title by only 2.5 games. But, no one would dare call this club a dull team.
Larry Lintz’s career totals are interesting to take a look at. Over six seasons he played in 350 games and he finished with 616 at-bats. Lintz managed to score 137 runs, hit 13 doubles, 1 triple, 0 homeruns and only 27 RBIs. During his career he garnered 128 steals, while being caught only 38 times. Lintz did show patience at the plate (which was wise) drawing 97 walks. His career batting average is .227. His slugging percentage was a woeful .252 and his career OPS is .588.
Nonetheless, the “King of Thieves” was an exciting player who carved his small niche within the archives of major league baseball statistics.
Written by Jack Phillips, 2010.
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