OAKLAND, Calif. — Corridor of Famer Rickey Henderson, the brash speedster who shattered stolen base information and redefined baseball’s leadoff place, has died. He was 65.
Henderson died on Friday. The Athletics mentioned Saturday they had been “shocked and heartbroken by his passing,” however didn’t specify a reason for demise.
Generally known as baseball’s “Man of Steal,” Henderson had a prolonged listing of accolades and accomplishments over his nomadic 25-year profession — an MVP, 10 All-Star choices, two World Collection titles and a Gold Glove award.
“Rickey was merely the most effective participant I ever performed with. He might change the result of a sport in so some ways,” mentioned Don Mattingly, Henderson’s teammate with the New York Yankees from 1985-89. “It places a smile on my face simply desirous about him. I’ll miss my buddy.”
It was stealing bases the place Henderson made his identify and dominated the game like no different.
He broke via with 100 steals in his first full season within the majors in 1980, topping Ty Cobb’s AL single-season document with Billy Martin’s “Billy Ball” Oakland Athletics. He barely slowed taking part in for 9 franchises over the subsequent 20 years. He broke Lou Brock’s single-season document of 118 by stealing 130 bases in 1982 and led the league in steals for seven straight seasons and 12 general.
Henderson surpassed Brock’s profession document when he stole his 939th base on Could 1, 1991, for Oakland, and famously pulled third base out of the bottom and confirmed it off to the adoring crowd earlier than giving a speech that he capped by saying: “Lou Brock was an important base stealer, however at present I’m the best of all time.”
Henderson completed his profession with 1,406 steals. His 468-steal edge over Brock matches the margin between Brock and Jimmy Rollins, who’s in forty sixth place with 470.
“He’s the best leadoff hitter of all time, and I’m unsure there’s a detailed second,” former A’s govt Billy Beane mentioned of Henderson.
In September, Henderson insisted he would have had many extra steals in his profession and within the record-breaking 1982 season if guidelines launched in 2023 to restrict pickoff throws and improve the scale of bases had overlapped along with his profession.
“If I used to be taking part in at present, I’d get 162, proper now, indubitably,” he mentioned. “As a result of if they’d had that rule, you’ll be able to solely throw over there twice, you understand how many occasions they’d be throwing over there twice and so they’d be going, ‘Ah, (shoot), can y’all ship him to 3rd? Give him two bases and ship him to 3rd.’ That will be me.”
He even predicted how he might nonetheless be stealing extra bases than the present main leaguers even 20-plus years post-retirement: “In the event that they’re stealing 40-50 bases proper now I’d lead the league.”
Henderson’s accomplishment that record-breaking day in 1991 was barely overshadowed that night time when Nolan Ryan threw his document seventh profession no-hitter. Henderson already had been Ryan’s 5,000th profession strikeout sufferer, which led him to say, “In the event you haven’t been struck out by Nolan Ryan, you’re no one.”
That was clearly not the case for Henderson. He’s additionally the profession chief in runs scored with 2,295 and in leadoff dwelling runs with 81, ranks second to Barry Bonds with 2,190 walks and is fourth in video games performed (3,081) and plate appearances (13,346). He completed his profession with 3,055 hits over 25 seasons spent with Oakland, the Yankees, Toronto, San Diego, Anaheim, the New York Mets, Seattle, Boston and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
He fittingly completed his profession with the Dodgers at age 44 in 2003 by scoring a run in his last play on a significant league subject.
Henderson is the third outstanding baseball Corridor of Famer with ties to the Bay Space who died this yr, following the deaths in June of former Giants stars Willie Mays and Orlando Cepeda.
Henderson was the uncommon place participant who hit from the precise aspect and threw along with his left arm — however then once more, every thing about Henderson was distinctive.
He batted out of an excessive crouch, making for a tighter strike zone that contributed to his excessive stroll whole. He struck concern in opponents along with his aggressive leads off first, his fingers twitching between his legs inside his batting gloves as he eyed the pitcher and the subsequent base.
Born on Christmas Day in 1958 in Chicago behind his mother and father’ Chevy, Henderson grew up in Oakland and developed right into a star athlete. He performed baseball, basketball and soccer at Oakland Tech Excessive Faculty and was a extremely sought-after soccer recruit who might have performed tailback at Southern California — the place he seemingly would have finally had the prospect to run alongside soccer Corridor of Famer Marcus Allen.
However Henderson mentioned his mom liked baseball and thought it might be the safer profession in a call that proved to be prescient.
“She didn’t need her child to get damage,” Henderson advised the San Francisco Chronicle in 2019. “I used to be mad, however she was sensible. General, with the profession longevity and the success I had, she made the precise determination. A number of the gamers in soccer now have brief careers and so they can barely transfer round after they’re executed.”
Henderson was chosen within the fourth spherical of the 1976 beginner draft by the hometown A’s and made his massive league debut in 1979 with two hits — and, in fact, one stolen base.
He turned a star for the A’s the next season and remained in Oakland via 1984 earlier than being traded to the Yankees. Henderson was a part of some proficient groups in New York that by no means made the postseason. In 1985, he scored 146 runs in 143 video games to go together with a league-leading 80 steals and 24 homers, serving to begin the “80-20 membership” that season with Cincinnati’s Eric Davis.
Henderson was traded again to Oakland in June 1989, resulting in his biggest successes. He topped the AL that season with 113 runs, 126 walks and 77 steals, was named the ALCS MVP and helped lead the A’s to the World Collection title within the earthquake-interrupted Bay Bridge sequence by sweeping the Giants.
Henderson then gained the AL MVP the next season for Oakland earlier than the A’s misplaced the World Collection to Cincinnati.
“I traded Rickey Henderson twice and introduced him again extra occasions than that,” former A’s normal supervisor Sandy Alderson mentioned. “He was the most effective participant I ever noticed play. He did all of it — hit, hit for energy, stole bases, and defended — and he did it with a aptitude that enthused his followers and infuriated his opponents. However everybody was amused by his persona, model, and third-person references to himself. He was distinctive in some ways.
“Rickey tales are legion, legendary, and principally true. However behind his popularity as self-absorbed was an exquisite, type human being who liked youngsters. His true character turned extra evident over time. 9 completely different groups, one unforgettable participant.”
Henderson set the profession steals document in 1991 after which was traded two years later to Toronto, the place he gained his second World Collection. He spent the ultimate decade of his profession bouncing across the majors and nonetheless led the AL with 66 steals and 118 walks at age 39 with Oakland in 1998.
In 2017, the A’s named their taking part in floor “Rickey Henderson Discipline” on the Oakland Coliseum in his honor.
“While you’re outdated and gray, sitting round along with your buds speaking about your profession in baseball, you’re going to discuss Rickey,” mentioned Ron Guidry, one other of Henderson’s former Yankees teammates. “He was simply wonderful to look at. There have been nice outfielders. There have been nice base stealers. There have been nice dwelling run hitters. Rickey was a mix of all of these gamers. He did issues on the market on the sphere that the remainder of us dreamed of.”
