Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson, the brass speedster who shattered stolen base records and redefined baseball's leadoff position, has died. He was 65.
Henderson died on Friday. The Athletics said Saturday they were “shocked and heartbroken by his passing,” but did not specify the cause of death.
Known as baseball's “Man of Steel,” Henderson had a long list of accolades and accomplishments during his 25-year journeyman career — an MVP, 10 All-Star selections, two World Series titles, including one with the Toronto Blue Jays in 1993, and a Gold Glove Award.
“Ricky was just the greatest player I ever played with. He could change the outcome of a game in so many ways,” said Don Mattingly, Henderson's teammate with the Yankees from 1985-89. “Just thinking about him brings a smile to my face. I miss my friend.”
It was stealing bases where Henderson made his name and dominated the game like no other.
He broke through with 100 steals in his first full season in the majors in 1980, topping Ty Cobb's AL single-season record with Billy Martin's “Billy Ball” Oakland Athletics. He barely missed playing for nine franchises over the next two decades. He broke Lou Brock's single-season record of 118 by stealing 130 bases in 1982 and led the league in hitting for seven consecutive seasons and 12 overall.
Henderson surpassed Brock's career record when he stole his 939th base on May 1, 1991 for Oakland, and famously took third base off the field and showed it to an adoring crowd before giving a speech in which he said: “Lou Brock. Was a great base stealer, But today I am the greatest of all time.”
Henderson finished his career with 1,406 steals. His 468-steal edge over Brock matches the margin between Brock and Jimmy Rollins, who ranks 46th with 470 points.
“He's the greatest leadoff hitter of all time, and I'm not sure there's a close second,” former A's executive Billy Beane said.
'I get 162'
Henderson said in September that he would have had more steals in his career and the record-breaking 1982 season had overlapped with his career if rules were implemented in 2023 to limit pick off throws and increase the size of the bases.
“If I had played today, I would have got 162 by now, no doubt,” he said. “Because if they had that rule, you could only throw out there twice, you know how many times they're going to throw out there twice and they're going, 'Hey, (Shoot), are you all going to send him in? Give him two bases on third and on third. Send it.' That would be me.”
He also predicted how he would still steal more bases than the big leaguers 20 years after retirement: “If they're stealing 40-50 bases now, I'll be leading the league.”
Henderson's accomplishment was slightly overshadowed by a record-breaking day in 1991 when Nolan Ryan threw his seventh career no-hitter. Henderson had already been the 5,000th strikeout victim of Ryan's career, leading him to say, “If you ain't hit by Nolan Ryan, you ain't nobody.”
That was clearly not the case for Henderson. He is also the career leader in hits with 2,295 and in leadoff home runs with 81, second only to Barry Bonds in walks with 2,190, and fourth in games played (3,081) and plate appearances (13,346). He finished his career with 3,055 hits in 25 seasons spent with Oakland, New York Yankees, Toronto, San Diego, Anaheim, New York Mets, Seattle, Boston and Los Angeles Dodgers.
He fittingly ended his career in 2003 at the age of 44 by scoring a run in his last game on a major league field.
Henderson is the third prominent baseball Hall of Famer with ties to the Bay Area to die this year, following the deaths of former Giants stars Willie Mays and Orlando Cepeda in June.
Henderson was a rare position player who batted from the right side and bowled with his left hand – but then again, everything about Henderson was unique.
He batted from an extreme crouch, creating a tight strike zone that contributed to his high walk total. He first struck fear into opponents with his aggressive lead, his fingers curling between his legs inside his batting gloves as he eyed the pitcher and next base.
Born in the back of his parents' Chevy in Chicago on Christmas Day in 1958, Henderson grew up in Oakland and developed into a star athlete. He played baseball, basketball and football at Oakland Tech High School and was a highly sought after football recruit who could play tailback at Southern California, where he would eventually play with Football Hall of Famer Marcus Allen.
Mom loved baseball
But Henderson said his mother loved baseball and thought it would be a safe career in a decision that proved to be a foregone conclusion.
“She didn't want her baby to get hurt,” Henderson told the San Francisco Chronicle in 2019. I was crazy, but she was smart. Overall, she made the right decision with career longevity and the success I have had. Some football players now have short careers and can just hang around when they're done. “
Henderson was selected by the hometown A's in the fourth round of the 1976 amateur draft and made his big league debut in 1979 with two hits – and, of course, a stolen base.
He became a star for the A's the following season and remained in Oakland until 1984 before being traded to the New York Yankees. He was part of some of New York's most talented teams that never made the postseason. In 1985, he scored 146 runs in 143 games and had a league-leading 80 steals and 24 homers, helping start the “80-20 club” that season with Cincinnati's Eric Davis.
He was traded back to Oakland in June 1989, leading to his greatest success. He topped the AL with 113 runs, 126 walks and 77 steals that season, was named the ALCS MVP and helped the A's win the World Series title in the Bay Bridge Series against the Giants.
Henderson then won the AL MVP the following season for Oakland before the A's lost the World Series to Cincinnati.
He set the career steals record in 1991 and was then traded two years later to Toronto, where he won his second World Series. He spent the last decade of his career bouncing around the majors and still led the AL with 66 steals and 118 walks in 1998 as a 39-year-old with Oakland.
In 2017, the A's named their playing surface at the Oakland Coliseum “Rickey Henderson Field” in his honor.
“When you're old and gray, sitting around with your buds talking about your career in baseball, you're going to talk about Ricky,” said Ron Guidry, another former Yankees teammate of Henderson's. “He was amazing to watch. There were great outfielders. There were great base stealers. There were great home run hitters. Ricky was a combination of all those players. He did things on the field that we all dreamed of. Who.”
