Rickey Henderson had one thing to supply everybody. He was a Bay Space icon who spent greater than half his profession sporting the inexperienced and gold of the Oakland Athletics, but he was traded away twice, and frolicked with eight different groups scattered from Boston to San Diego, all of them viewing him because the lacking piece of their quest for a playoff spot. For followers of a throwback model of baseball that emphasised velocity and stolen bases, “The Man of Steal” put up numbers that eclipsed the single-season and profession data of Lou Brock and Ty Cobb. To those that seen baseball by way of the new-fangled lens of sabermetrics, he was the platonic superb of a leadoff hitter, an on-base machine who developed appreciable energy. To critics — together with some opponents — he was a showboat in addition to a malcontent who complained about being underpaid and wouldn’t take the sphere as a consequence of minor accidents. To admirers, he was baseball’s most electrifying participant, a fierce competitor, flamboyant entertainer, and inner-circle Corridor of Famer. After a 25-year main league profession stuffed with damaged data (to not point out the fourth-highest complete of video games performed, ahem), Henderson spent his age-45 and -46 seasons wowing followers in impartial leagues, hoping for one final shot on the majors.
It by no means got here, however Henderson’s résumé may have hardly been extra full. A ten-time All-Star, two-time world champion, an MVP and Gold Glove winner, he collected 3,055 hits and set the profession data for stolen bases (1,406), runs scored (2,295), and walks (2,190); the final was eclipsed by Barry Bonds three years later, although Henderson nonetheless has extra unintentional walks (2,129). He additionally holds the single-season report for stolen bases (130), in addition to the single-season and profession data for caught stealing (42 and 335, respectively).
“If you happen to may break up him in two, you’d have two Corridor of Famers. The best base stealer of all time, the best energy/velocity mixture of all time (besides perhaps Barry Bonds), the best leadoff man of all time,” wrote Invoice James for The New Invoice James Historic Baseball Summary in 2001. “With out exaggerating one inch, you might discover fifty Corridor of Famers who, all taken collectively, don’t personal as many data, and as many vital data, as Rickey Henderson.”
Henderson died on December 20 in Oakland as a consequence of problems from pneumonia and bronchial asthma, in accordance to ESPN’s Howard Bryant, the writer of a 2022 biography, Rickey: The Life and Legend of an American Unique. Henderson was 5 days wanting his 66th birthday.
Over the course of a serious league profession that ran — and ran, and ran — from 1979 by way of 2003, Henderson introduced aptitude to each side of his recreation. A pure lefty, he realized to bat right-handed as a baby as a result of that’s what everybody else was doing, and hit from an unorthodox, excessive crouch that made his strike zone “the scale of Hitler’s coronary heart,” because the Los Angeles Instances’ Jim Murray described it. He made snap catches on routine fly balls, as if he have been swatting away pests, and slid headfirst into bases, hitting the dust “like an airplane coming in for a touchdown,” as he advised Sports activities Illustrated’s Ron Fimrite.
Typically Henderson’s swagger and stylistic thrives rankled opponents. Henderson received inside their heads, distracting them from the job at hand. In one other Fimrite story from earlier that season, he described the origin of his crouch:
I discovered that if I squatted down actual low on the plate… I may see the ball higher. I additionally knew it threw the pitcher off. I discovered that I may put my weight on my again foot and nonetheless flip my hips on the swing. I’m down so low I don’t have a lot of a strike zone. Typically, strolling a lot even will get me mad. Final 12 months Ed Ott of the Angels received so pissed off as a result of the umpire was calling balls that may’ve been strikes on anyone else that he stood up and shouted at me, “Arise and hit like a person.” I assume I try this to folks.
“There isn’t sufficient mustard to placed on that sizzling canine,” future Oakland teammate Dennis Eckersley advised Sports activities Illustrated’s Peter Gammons — in admiration.
“Rickey is a once-in-a-lifetime participant,” supervisor Billy Martin wrote of Henderson in his 1987 memoir, Billyball. “You see only a few Rickey Hendersons. You won’t see one other one for 50 years.”
Even past the key data he set, Henderson’s numbers are mind-boggling. He led his league in steals 12 occasions, together with seven in a row from 1980 to ’86, and reached 100 steals 3 times in his first 4 seasons. He scored 100 or extra runs in a season 13 occasions, tied for second all-time, behind Henry Aaron. He’s fourth in occasions on base (5,343), behind solely Pete Rose, Bonds, and Cobb. Although he led his league in on-base proportion solely as soon as, he ranked amongst his league’s prime three 9 occasions, and 16 occasions he completed throughout the prime 10. Of his 297 homers, a report 81 have been leadoff homers. That’s 21 greater than the next-highest complete now (George Springer’s 60), 37 greater than the next-highest complete when he final performed (Brady Anderson’s 44), and 46 greater than the entire he initially surpassed for the report in 1989 (Bobby Bonds’ 35).
As a result of Henderson did so many issues so nicely for therefore lengthy, he’s 14th amongst all place gamers with 111.1 WAR (Baseball Reference model, which might be used all through this piece) and first with 144 baserunning runs. He ranked among the many AL’s prime 5 in WAR 9 occasions from 1980 to ’90, main the league 3 times and ending in a digital tie for first as soon as; in certainly one of his two seasons exterior the highest 5 throughout that run, he positioned ninth. He owns the very best WAR of anybody who debuted between Aaron in 1954 and Barry Bonds in ’86, greater than 38 Corridor of Famers, together with Frank Robinson, Mike Schmidt, Joe Morgan, Carl Yastrzemski, Cal Ripken Jr., and Roberto Clemente.
Past the staggering statistics is the lore. Henderson has extra tales related to his efficiency and persona than simply about any participant this aspect of Babe Ruth. Whether or not they have been tales of superhuman feats, comedian anecdotes, easy malapropisms, or examples of him referring to himself within the third particular person, not all of them are true. Some are too good to examine — the legend of Rickey Being Rickey has been printed many occasions over.
Take the well-known one about John Olerud, who wore a helmet within the area as Henderson’s teammate with the Mets in 1999 and Mariners in 2000, a precaution associated to a mind aneurysm he suffered in school. “I performed with a man identical to that with the Mets,” Henderson is claimed to have advised Olerud upon reuniting with him in Seattle. Bryant traced that individual story to former Mets teammates Robin Ventura, Todd Zeile, and Al Leiter, who have been having a great snort whereas musing about how far it may attain. The story received handed by way of clubhouse personnel in New York and Seattle till it turned ubiquitous.
Relating to Henderson’s penchant for referring himself within the third particular person, he defined in 2003, “I exploit it to remind myself, like, ‘Rickey, what you doing, you silly…’ I’m simply scolding myself.”
As for the oft-told story of Henderson framing certainly one of his large paychecks — mentioned to be a $1 million signing bonus from the Yankees in some tellings, from the A’s in others — as a substitute of cashing it: “The story felt apocryphal, an ingredient seamlessly blended into the legendary gumbo of Rickey’s life,” wrote Bryant. “Rickey tales that have been too good to be true have been additionally too good to dismiss, too good to overlook. Even when they by no means occurred, they may have occurred.” This one, which apparently was true, needed to do with Henderson exerting some monetary self-discipline; if the examine was underneath glass, he wouldn’t spend the cash.
Henderson was frugal, but in addition beneficiant. He hoarded his meal cash in a shoebox, then gave the money away to youngsters from his North Oakland neighborhood who have been doing nicely in class. In his memoir Lengthy Shot, former Mets teammate Mike Piazza wrote about Henderson’s participation in deciding playoff shares:
“Rickey was probably the most beneficiant man I ever performed with, and every time the dialogue got here round to what we should always give one of many fringe folks — whether or not it was a minor leaguer who got here up for a couple of days or the car parking zone attendant — Rickey would shout out, ‘Full share!’ We’d argue for some time and he’d say, ‘Fuck that! You’ll be able to change any person’s life!’”
For as amusing and endearing because the lore could also be, some tales play into disparaging stereotypes. “Rickey was weird and humorous and aloof, however there was a distinction between Rickey being on his personal program and the fictionalized minstrel tales that diminished him and used him to bolster the Black stereotypes so many had spent their careers making an attempt to shed,” wrote Bryant, himself the uncommon Black author in a press corps that was very white throughout Henderson’s heyday. Bryant recognized an early studying incapacity after which Henderson’s supreme athletic prowess as each contributing to a less-than-rigorous training that was on the root of a few of his misunderstandings.
Rickey Nelson Henley Henderson was born on December 25, 1958 in Chicago, within the again seat of a automotive en path to the hospital. His father, John Henley, was out playing on the time, and never current for his start; he left the household earlier than Rickey turned three and died in a automotive accident 10 years later. His mom, Bobbie Earl Henley, was simply 19 years outdated when Rickey was born and already a mom of three. She named her fourth baby after clean-cut white singer/actor Ricky Nelson. When her husband left, Bobbie took Rickey and her different youngsters to Pine Bluff, Arkansas, the place she had grown up. When Rickey was seven, the household moved to Oakland; Bobbie married Paul Henderson when Rickey was a teen, and he took his stepfather’s final title. Bobbie labored as a registered nurse, whereas Paul labored for Basic Motors.
As a baby, Henderson’s old flame was soccer, a lot in order that he was often known as “The Soccer Child,” extra attentive to the Oakland Raiders than to the A’s even whereas the latter was within the midst of its 1972–74 three peat. Baseball was one thing he tolerated, serving as a catch accomplice for his older brother Tyrone. He performed working again and idolized O.J. Simpson. Even at 5-foot-10 and 175 kilos whereas at Oakland Technical Excessive College, he loved the contact side of the game, and obtained over 100 scholarship letters from school packages. Basketball and baseball have been placeholders, methods for him to remain in form within the offseason. That modified as soon as a steering counselor at his faculty, Tommie Wilkerson, recruited him for a baseball match group and supplied to pay him 1 / 4 for each hit and each stolen base — a suggestion she made to different gamers as nicely as a way to give them some spending cash and hold them underneath supervision.
After skipping from eighth grade to tenth, Henderson initially was reduce from Oakland Tech’s varsity group after its new coach, Bob Cryer, basically picked his squad by sight, however bypassed the 15-year-old future Corridor of Famer. “You could not know who I’m,” a brazen Henderson advised Cryer, and his teammates concurred, pleading with the brand new coach to no avail. Henderson received everybody’s consideration by sprinting from the junior varsity outfield to the varsity one (they have been back-to-back) to catch fly balls throughout scrimmages, then talked his approach into taking batting follow with the varsity and hit rocket after rocket. He made the group.
Henderson ended up pursuing baseball out of highschool. “My mom made the choice,” he advised Inside Sports activities’ Glenn Dickey in 1991. “I beloved soccer; I believed I could possibly be an All-American, however she thought baseball was higher for me. I gave her the selection to make and he or she selected baseball.” Soccer’s potential for debilitating accidents was one purpose Bobbie favored baseball; concern over whether or not her son may hold his grades up and stay academically eligible for Division I soccer was one other. On the recommendation of scout Jim Guinn, who noticed Henderson play 20 occasions as a senior and outlasted different scouts who paid much less consideration, the A’s drafted him within the fourth spherical in 1976. Even at 17, Henderson had his sights set excessive, telling Guinn, “I need to be the best basestealer of all time.”
Per week after Henderson was drafted, skinflint proprietor Charlie Finley tried to dismantle his dynasty forward of the daybreak of free company by buying and selling Vida Blue, Rollie Fingers, and Joe Rudi in money offers that commissioner Bowie Kuhn quickly rejected. Henderson and his advisors sought a $100,000 bonus, however he signed for only a $10,000 bonus, all that farm director Syd Thrift claimed to have in his funds for the decide. The slight wouldn’t be forgotten.
Henderson started his skilled profession by hitting .336/.463/.521 with 29 steals in 46 video games at Low-A Boise, but it surely was at his subsequent cease, at Low-A Modesto in 1977, the place he actually started to show heads. Supervisor Tom Trebelhorn, who had additionally overseen him in Boise, not solely gave him the inexperienced gentle however helped him grow to be a pupil of the artwork of basestealing. “We used to sit down up and take a look at movies. I checked out Lou Brock and Ty Cobb, and people have been type of my idols,” Henderson advised Dickey. Trebelhorn “was in all probability the largest affect in my changing into an important basestealer. He took the time to show me.” On a group that ran wild, stealing 372 bases (!), Henderson stole 95, walked 104 occasions, and hit 11 homers whereas batting .345/.466/.468. On Could 26, 1977, the group stole 15 bases, with Henderson tying a league report by swiping seven himself.
At Double-A Jersey Metropolis in 1978, Henderson went homerless and slugged simply .358, however nonetheless stole 81 bases. The subsequent 12 months, he lasted simply 71 video games at Triple-A Ogden (the place this scribe first noticed him play), hitting .309/.430/.448 with 44 steals earlier than getting known as up by the A’s. He debuted on June 24, 1979 in opposition to the Rangers, main off with a hustle double off John Henry Johnson in his first plate look; he was thrown out at dwelling, however later added a single and his first stolen base (in opposition to six-time Gold Glove-winning catcher Jim Sundberg, no much less) within the subsequent one.
Shorn of their stars, the A’s have been on their technique to shedding 108 video games underneath supervisor Jim Marshall, although a younger nucleus that included middle fielder Dwayne Murphy and proper fielder Tony Armas was taking form. The 20-year-old Hernderson hit a modest .274/.338/.336 (88 OPS+) as a rookie, stealing 33 bases.
The subsequent 12 months, Martin took over within the dugout, bringing with him an aggressive model of baseball that was nicely suited to Henderson’s recreation: Billyball. However Martin dictated when Henderson ran. Henderson stole solely seven bases in April, however added 16 in Could, together with a 13-for-13 streak, and was off to the races. He made his first All-Star group, walked 117 occasions due to his impossibly small strike zone, and hit .303/.420/.399 (135 OPS+) with 8.8 WAR, good for second within the league. He entered September with 66 steals, however then Martin, in an try and earn his new star’s belief, let him run wild; he went 34-for-41 in steals that month, breaking Cobb’s American League report of 92 and ending with a fair 100. With the five-man rotation of Rick Langford, Mike Norris, Matt Keough, Steve McCatty, and Brian Kingman combining for an astounding 93 full video games and every throwing over 210 innings, the A’s improved to 83-79.
With a elevate from $30,000 to $185,000, and his first endorsement contract, from Japanese gear maker Mizuno, Henderson’s star was on the rise. Within the strike-torn 1981 season, he led the A’s to a 37-23 first-half report, stole an AL-high 56 bases, hit .319/.408/.437 (151 OPS+) with 6.7 WAR (nearly tied with Dwight Evans for the league lead), and received his solely Gold Glove. The A’s swept the AL West’s second-half winners, the Royals, in a three-game Division Collection, however have been swept by the Yankees in a three-game ALCS; although Henderson hit .364/.417/.727 within the latter sequence, he didn’t rating any runs.
Martin started treating an understandably cautious Henderson like a favourite son, consuming and ingesting with him and filling the father-figure void in his life; their closeness bothered teammates. Henderson was voted into the AL All-Star lineup and set a brand new report with 130 steals.
Sports activities Illustrated put him on the quilt of its September 6, 1982 challenge. Within the accompanying characteristic, about Henderson’s breaking Brock’s single-season report, Fimrite wrote:
There could also be quicker males within the massive leagues — Willie Wilson? Kirk Gibson? Tim Raines? — however none reaches most velocity faster than Henderson, who wants however two steps to take action, and none hits the bottom with such drive. Henderson provides the looks of gaining velocity along with his ferocious headfirst slides which, have been it not for the bottom itself, would possibly carry him to or by way of the fences. “Henderson is available in belly-first, bent on busting proper by way of you,” California supervisor Gene Mauch says. “Most runners who dive need to contact the bottom with their arms. Rickey desires to slip by way of and let his stomach cease him on the bottom.”
Alas, regardless of Henderson’s heroics, the overworked A’s starters crashed, the group sank to 68-94, and Martin received the axe, partially as a result of the Yankees needed him again for what could be his third stint of their dugout. Henderson spent two extra years on sub-.500 A’s groups underneath Steve Boros and Jackie Moore, dazzling followers and rising more and more costly. He had overwhelmed the A’s in arbitration previous to the 1982 season, incomes a rase from $185,000 to $535,000, however misplaced forward of the ’84 season, settling for $950,000 and receiving a deluge of destructive press for having the temerity to need extra ($1.2 million on this case), for being too centered on his statistics, for taking too many day video games off after night time video games, and for usually marching to the beat of his personal drum. Typically the jibes have been nameless, however some have been on the report. Through Sports activities Illustrated’s Henry Hecht:
“[W]hen he misplaced final season and needed to battle together with a $950,000 wage, he let the choice have an effect on his play. Fairly merely, he dogged it at occasions, and of the 20 video games he missed, in all probability half have been for no obvious purpose. In keeping with teammate Steve McCatty, “One recreation he didn’t play he spent the entire time in avenue garments taking part in playing cards. When this man takes a day without work, he takes it actually.”
Together with his free company a 12 months away, A’s proprietor Roy Eisenstadt and common supervisor Sandy Alderson determined to commerce Henderson. With Martin — then an advisor for the Yankees, having been canned as supervisor after the 1983 season — working back-channel to pitch Henderson on New York, the A’s struck a five-for-one cope with the Yankees in early December, with pitchers Tim Birstas, Jay Howell, Jose Rijo, and Eric Plunk, plus outfielder Stan Javier heading to Oakland. The Yankees then hammered out a five-year, $8.6 million extension for Henderson, and moved him into middle area, a place he’d needed to yield to the defensively superior Murphy in Oakland.
“Folks say I’m a showman due to the model I play,” Henderson advised reporters throughout spring coaching. “I prefer to make the folks comfortable. I like to provide them their cash’s price.”
When the Yankees began the 1985 season 6-10, proprietor George Steinbrenner fired supervisor Yogi Berra and… changed him with Martin. The 26-year-old Henderson turned in a stellar marketing campaign, hitting .314/.419/.516 (157 OPS+) with 80 steals in 90 makes an attempt. With assistant hitting coach Willie Horton counseling him to swing with extra of an uppercut, he additionally hit 24 dwelling runs, besting his earlier profession excessive of 16 set simply the 12 months earlier than. He scored 146 runs, the majors’ highest complete since Ted Williams scored 150 in 1949, and led the AL with 9.9 WAR. But he completed third within the MVP voting, with teammate Don Mattingly’s 35 homers and 145 RBI getting the glory. The Yankees received 97 video games, however an eight-game mid-September shedding streak value them their probability to catch the Blue Jays, who’d held at the least a share of the AL East lead from Could 12 onward. Martin once more misplaced his job, partially as a consequence of his September 22 barroom brawl with pitcher Ed Whitson, who broke the supervisor’s arm.
Regardless of his efficiency, Henderson’s lack of deference to the New York media (almost all white) and the Yankees Approach — to not point out Steinbrenner’s willingness to make use of the media to goad even his finest gamers — made his time with the Yankees tumultuous. With Lou Piniella taking on as supervisor, Henderson set one other profession excessive with 28 homers, pairing it with 87 steals and scoring 130 occasions regardless of slumping to .263/.358/.469 (125 OPS+) because the group went 90-72, 5 video games wanting the Pink Sox. Henderson’s hunch was exacerbated by umpires pushing again in opposition to his fixed complaints in regards to the strike zone, with one (Jim McKean) even telling Gammons that umpires have been calling strikes outlined not by Henderson’s crouch, “however by the place he stands when he hits the ball. ‘Lots of people have thought we should always have completed that years in the past,’” mentioned McKean. The press took goal at Henderson’s snap catches as showboating, contrasting them with Willie Mays’ basket catches as if Mays hadn’t endured comparable criticism of his model.
Issues actually started to crumble in New York when Henderson was restricted to 95 video games in 1987 as a consequence of a recurrent proper hamstring pressure; Steinbrenner even quoted Piniella as saying that Henderson was “jaking it,” exaggerating his damage, although an MRI finally confirmed the severity of the pressure. “Wherever the phrase got here from, it completed Lou with Rickey — but it surely additionally completed Rickey with the writers and components of the fan base,” wrote Bryant. Henderson continued to play at a excessive degree regardless of slipping to 6 homers in 1988, his age-30 season; his 6.3 WAR was nonetheless good for fifth within the league, and his 93 stolen bases (in simply 106 makes an attempt) have been his highest complete since 1983.
Henderson entered 1989, the ultimate season of his contract, with the group in disarray; within the wake of an 85-76 end, Steinbrenner was open to the Yankees buying and selling everybody, together with Mattingly and Dave Winfield (whom he’d by no means preferred) — in addition to Henderson, regardless of his no-trade clause. New supervisor Dallas Inexperienced, a notoriously old-school hardass, made quick work of alienating Henderson by telling the writers, “Perhaps Rickey can’t learn,” when he didn’t report for spring coaching on time. When Henderson and the group each began slowly, the Yankees renewed their efforts to commerce him, however he rejected a possible deal to the Giants, who needed him to bat fifth and play proper area. He advised Thrift — by then the appearing GM of the Yankees — that he would solely settle for a deal to the A’s. On June 21, 1989, he received his want, returning to Oakland for Plunk, pitcher Greg Cadaret, and outfielder Luis Polonia, the latter of whom was arrested for (and later convicted of) having intercourse with a 15-year-old woman two months after the commerce.
Inexperienced didn’t make it by way of the season, whereas the green-and-gold received the final snort. Underneath supervisor Tony La Russa, the A’s have been by this level a powerhouse, led by sluggers Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire and pitcher Dave Stewart. They’d received their first pennant in 13 years in 1988, however have been upset by the Dodgers within the World Collection. Henderson delivered 5.1 WAR in simply 85 video games after the 1989 commerce, and led the league with 8.7 WAR, 113 runs scored, and 77 steals. The A’s received the AL West, and within the ALCS in opposition to the Blue Jays, Henderson dominated. He reached base 4 occasions and stole 4 occasions in a 6-3 win in Recreation 2, homered twice and drove in 4 runs in opposition to Mike Flanagan in a 6-5 win in Recreation 4, and scored the primary run and tripled within the second inning in opposition to Dave Stieb in Recreation 5; he was named the sequence MVP. He went 9-for-19 with an .895 slugging proportion within the World Collection, a four-game sweep of the Giants that was interrupted for 11 days by the Loma Prieta earthquake.
Earlier than the tip of November, the A’s re-signed Henderson to a four-year, $12 million contract that made him the sport’s highest-paid participant and in addition included one other no-trade clause. However inside 48 hours of that settlement, Mark Langston’s five-year, $16 million cope with the Angels value Henderson that standing, and a flurry of different offers bumped him additional down the pecking order; even on his personal group, Stewart and Canseco quickly inked extra profitable extensions. Although irked by the flip of occasions, Henderson put collectively an epic season in 1990, hitting .325/.439/.577 with 28 dwelling runs, main the league in OBP, OPS+ (189), runs (119), steals (65), and WAR (9.9) — all in simply 136 video games. On Could 29, 1990, he stole his 893rd base, surpassing Cobb’s AL report. He made the All-Star group and edged Cecil Fielder within the MVP voting. The A’s received 103 video games and the AL West, then swept the Pink Sox within the ALCS earlier than being swept by the Reds within the World Collection.
Henderson, now 32, entered the 1991 season with 936 profession steals, two shy of Brock’s main league report; he had been the quickest to 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, and 900 stolen bases. His personal physique intervened; he stole simply two bases in April whereas lacking half the month as a consequence of a proper calf pressure. On Could 1, 1991, with Brock in attendance on the Oakland Coliseum, Henderson stole third base in opposition to the Yankees. He uprooted the bag in celebration and play was stopped so he may deal with the group. After the perfunctory thank yous, he mentioned, “Lou Brock was the image of basestealing, however at the moment I’m the best of all time.” Rickey being Rickey.
Henderson led the AL in steals with 58, and he additionally made his closing All-Star group. The A’s missed the playoffs that 12 months however returned in 1992; Henderson, who performed in simply 117 video games as a consequence of accidents, nonetheless produced 5.6 WAR. He reached 5.0 WAR for the ultimate time in 1993, however did so whereas splitting his season between the A’s and Blue Jays, who acquired him for Steve Karsay and a participant to be named later (Jose Herrera) on July 31. Henderson completed the season with a .289/.432/.474 (148 OPS+) slash line, 21 homers, and 53 steals regardless of scuffling after the commerce and into the postseason. His massive October spotlight got here within the eighth inning of Recreation 4 of the World Collection in opposition to the Phillies. Going through Mitch Williams with the bases loaded, he singled in two runs to trim the result in 14-13, then scored the decisive run on Devon White’s triple. The Blue Jays received in six video games, and Henderson had his second World Collection ring.
Regardless of being traded by the A’s in the course of the 1993 season, Henderson returned to Oakland as a free agent on a two-year, $8.6 million deal earlier than the ’94 marketing campaign. It will be the final time he’d spend back-to-back full seasons with the identical group, and even on this stint, that distinction got here with the asterisk of the 1994 gamers’ strike and ’95 lockout. In 199 video games throughout the 2 campaigns, he compiled 6.4 WAR, however the A’s have been now in a rebuilding section, and his relationship with La Russa had frayed. Days after his thirty seventh birthday, Henderson signed a two-year, $4 million cope with the Padres, taking him to the NL for the primary time. He spent all of 1996 with San Diego, serving to the Padres win the NL West, however on August 13, 1997, he was despatched to the Angels in a waiver-period deal. He returned to Oakland as a 39-year-old in 1998, turned the oldest participant to guide a league in steals (66), after which was on his merry technique to the Mets (1999-2000), Mariners (2000), Padres once more (’01), Pink Sox (’02), and Dodgers (’03). By far the perfect of these seasons was his first in New York, when he hit .315/.423/.466 (128 OPS+) with 12 homers and 37 steals whereas serving to the group come inside one win of a visit to the World Collection.
Henderson’s 2001 season, which started with a mid-March minor league cope with the Padres, was stuffed with milestones. On April 26, 2001, he broke Ruth’s report along with his 2,063rd stroll, in opposition to the Phillies’ Jose Mesa. On August 25, he overtook Zack Wheat for probably the most video games performed in left area, with 2,329. On October 4, with a wall-scraping dwelling run off the Dodgers’ Luke Prokopec, he overtook Cobb with the two,246th run scored of his profession, punctuating it with a feet-first slide into dwelling plate as his teammates surrounded him. Tony Gwynn then introduced him with a gold-plated reproduction of dwelling plate.
“Scoring so many runs, it’s not simply a person report. It’s a report that you just’ve received to have your teammates allow you to out,” Henderson mentioned afterward. Three days later, with a double off the Rockies’ John Thomson, he joined the three,000 hit membership.
If time didn’t precisely heal all of Henderson’s wounds, each he and the general public perspective towards him softened significantly by the tip of his profession. The gamers and media whom he’d rubbed the flawed approach along with his on-field antics and clubhouse foibles had been changed by a technology that seen him as a residing legend. From Invoice James by way of Baseball Prospectus and the nascent motion in Oakland that may quickly be branded “Moneyball” — overseen by former teammate and clubhouse neighbor, Billy Beane — Henderson was honored by statheads.
Earlier than signing with the Dodgers in 2003, the 44-year-old Henderson performed 56 video games for the Atlantic League’s Newark Bears, incomes $3,000 a month and hitting .339/.493/.591. “If I really feel I don’t have the abilities, I’d be comfortable to hold up my sneakers and go be with my children,” he advised Sports activities Illustrated’s Tom Verducci for a characteristic longer on lore than reporting, one during which Verducci positioned Henderson’s surrounding mythology on par with these of Johnny Appleseed and Davy Crockett. “However I do know I’ve the talent. The velocity guys who can rating runs? I believe I’m higher than the fellows within the main leagues. Will I get the prospect?”
After taking part in sparingly for the Dodgers, Henderson returned to Newark in 2004, then returned to the West Coast to play for the San Diego Surf Dawgs of the impartial Golden League, whom he helped to a championship in ’05. His taking part in profession kind of met its finish when he accepted a job as a particular teacher for the Mets for 2006. There, he helped José Reyes enhance as a leadoff hitter and basestealer, although in the course of the season he admitted he missed taking part in. Bypassing a suggestion from Beane to affix the A’s for a one-game farewell, he introduced his retirement on July 13, 2007. He spent that 12 months because the Mets’ first base coach, however was not retained for 2008.
In 2009, Henderson was elected to the Baseball Corridor of Fame in his first 12 months of eligibility; he obtained 94.8% of the vote, on the time the Thirteenth-highest share in historical past however nonetheless about three factors shy of what the extra universally beloved Gwynn obtained two years earlier. On August 1, the A’s retired his no. 24. He retained visibility throughout the group as a particular assistant to group president Dave Kaval, and was readily available together with Stewart to throw out a ceremonial first pitch on the A’s closing recreation on the Coliseum on September 26, 2024.
Had Henderson come alongside in a more moderen decade, a peer of Ken Griffey Jr., say, or Bryce Harper, he may need had a better time gaining acceptance along with his colourful model, as a substitute of dealing with criticism. Definitely, the contracts would have been larger — think about Henderson’s deal if he’d hit the market after his 9.9-WAR age-26 season in 1985! Then once more, one may sand his edges down solely a lot with out turning him into another person, with out shedding the important drive that made Rickey be Rickey. He contained multitudes, and achieved sufficient to fill two Corridor of Fame plaques, however he was certainly one of a form.
