John Cangelosi was the proverbial “spark plug” when inserted into the lineup, often igniting the basepaths a blaze. Originally drafted by the White Sox, he’d notch 50 stolen bases during the 1986 season. That speed would continue to be on display a decade later when he’d land in Houston. In 198 games with the Astros, Cangelosi would steal 38 bases. He’s the 34th entry in our exclusive series at The Crawfish Boxes.
Q: The art of base stealing. What do you think about today’s game and the approach on
the base paths?
A: I was a base stealer, of course, when I played. I feel like the new changes and rules have altered things. My approach today would be to get a big enough lead and force the guy to throw over. If he throws a couple of times, that’s a stolen base. That rule doesn’t make any sense to me because it places more pressure on the pitcher. I’d have a field day forcing throws over to first.
Q: Do you remember where you were when you learned that you’d be joining the Houston Astros?
A: Terry Collins called me. I played for him in AAA in Buffalo when I played for the Pirates, so we had a relationship. He asked me my plans and told me he needed my help off my bench and the rest is history.
Q: Did you like playing for Terry?
A: I did. He’s a player’s manager. He worked his butt off. He’d get out there early with us and did BP, he was a stand-up guy. I felt bad for him because we should’ve gone to the playoffs, but we’d run out of gas the last few months. We would start to press, and we wanted to do it for him, but it didn’t happen.
Q: The turf in the dome was kind to you; you saw an uptick in steals playing half of your games there. Did you feel more comfortable on the turf?
A: Offensively Biggio and I knew each other. Some games he’d lead off, and I’d bat second, other days, I’d start things and he’d follow me. We got on base a lot. I think one year I hit .318 All I wanted to do was reach base and then get my front foot on the turf and I knew I could steal second. We had hitters everywhere. In 1996, I can remember Derek Bell driving in 113 runs on only 17 homers. It was because Biggio and I were on base so often, the Killer B’s would come up, move us over and we’d score and it would be easy RBI’s.
Q: Did you want to leave Houston?
A: I wanted to stay with Houston, no question but dealing with (GM) Gerry Hunsicker wasn’t easy. Even the year that I almost hit .320 and stole 21 bases and walked 48 times, I only received a $50,000 raise. My OBP was .457. It didn’t make any sense. He was always telling my agent to take it or leave it. I liked Houston but wasn’t a fan of the way he conducted business.
