A mass psychosis infected major league baseball in the 1970s, and it cost Larry Whisenton a major league career.
The installation of artificial turf in several ballparks in the ‘70s (with the attendant assumption that turf emphasized the value of speed), along with Lou Brock’s high-profile pursuit of both the single-season and career stolen base records (he achieved the former in ’74, the latter in ’77) sent the game into full-blown stolen base mania. Some teams attempted to install speedy players throughout the lineup, and many of those who didn’t ran anyway (true fact – the Indians attempted 1017 SBs from ’72-’78, and were caught 497 times, for a whopping 51% team success rate).