How do you steal home?

Answer 1

A steal of home is exciting, but rarely done in modern Baseball. In contrast, Ty Cobb stole home 54 times!

The classic or "pure" steal is where the runner steals with no help from the batter. For example, if the runner notices the pitcher is not holding him close and/or the 3rd baseman is way off the bag, the runner can get a walking lead or a large secondary lead and then take off as the pitcher is still winding up and then try to score. The element of surprise often makes this successful.

There are two squeeze bunt plays that can be called by the coach that allow the runner on 3rd to score. However, if successful, it is due to the hit of the batter and is therefore not technically a steal.

a. Safety squeeze, a play called by the coach. The runner runs home after seeing the batter (who is of course also in on the play) bunt successfully anywhere EXCEPT to the pitcher. That is, if the bunt is left or right of the pitcher, the runner takes off and attempts to score.

b. Suicide squeeze. Here the runner assumes the batter will indeed make contact with a bunt and assumes it will not be hit in the air and caught (opening up double play risks). When the play is called, the runner simply takes off and trusts the batter to bunt successfully. Very risky.

Note that there are 28 ways or situations in which a runner on 3rd can score in baseball. These are 3 of them.