That stolen base was Bell’s first since Sept. 27, 2018. Bell went 978 games -- 2,785 days! -- between stolen bases, the longest streak by a batter in between two stolen bases since at least 1900, according to Elias.
"I didn’t have it in my playbook, but there are certain times when the situation calls for it," said manager Derek Shelton. "Josh is a big guy, but he’s actually a pretty good athlete."
The 2018 swipe came against Cubs left-hander Jon Lester, who was not known for holding runners on, and there was no throw. Eight years later, he chose another opportune time to take off, this time with two outs and a runner on third base. Marlins catcher Joe Mack took a look to third before throwing down to second, giving Bell just enough time to get in safely.
At long last.
In between the two steals, Bell was caught seven times. The longtime first baseman also played for seven different MLB teams during that span. Wednesday’s swipe was just the fifth of his career, with four of those coming in his first three seasons in the bigs.
"I had some attempts, but they were unsuccessful," said Bell. "But yeah, just talking with [first-base coach] Grady [Sizemore] in camp he was like, 'We're going to get some bags this year.' So shook some dirt off against [Aroldis] Chapman in spring and happy to get the first one out of the way."
Although nobody has gone longer between steals than Bell since 1900, there have been longer streaks either to start or end a career. Cecil Fielder played 1,096 games before stealing his first career base (from 1985-1996). He stole one more bag in '96, and those were the only two he ever recorded. Tony Clark went 1,080 games from his sixth and final stolen base until the end of his career, and Del Rice had a 983-game drought without a steal to finish off his career.