Rickey Henderson, Baseball's Career Steals Leader, Dies at 65
He was not on the list.
Hall of Famer and Major League Baseball's career steals leader Rickey Henderson has died at the age of 65, according to multiple reports, and confirmed by the New York Post.
Henderson, who is widely considered to be one of the greatest leadoff hitters and base stealers in the history of the sport, played for nine different teams in his 25-year career, compiling 3,055 hits, 297 home runs and 1,115 RBI. His 2,295 career runs and 1,406 stolen bases remain Major League records.
Henderson was a 10-time All-Star, and won the league MVP in 1990 with the Oakland Athletics, when he hit .325 with 28 home runs, 61 RBI and 65 stolen bases. He also boasted a 1.016 OPS (on-base plus slugging) that season and a .439 OBP. He won two World Series titles in his Hall of Fame career, one with the Athletics in 1989 and another with the Toronto Blue Jays in '93.
He was inducted into Cooperstown as a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 2009.
He played 25 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for nine teams from 1979 to 2003, including four separate tenures with his original team, the Oakland Athletics. He is widely regarded as baseball's greatest leadoff hitter and baserunner. He holds MLB records for career stolen bases, runs, unintentional walks, and leadoff home runs. At the time of his last major league game in 2003, the ten-time American League (AL) All-Star ranked among the sport's top 100 all-time home run hitters and was its all-time leader in walks.
Henderson holds the single-season record for stolen bases (130 in 1982) and is the only player in AL history to steal 100 bases in a season, having done so three times (in 1980, 1982, and 1983). His 1,406 career steals is 50% higher than the previous record of 938 by Lou Brock. Henderson is the all-time stolen base leader for the Oakland Athletics and previously held the New York Yankees' franchise record from 1988 to 2011. He was among the league's top ten base stealers in 21 different seasons.
Henderson was named the AL's Most Valuable Player in 1990, and he was twice the lead-off hitter for World Series champions: the 1989 Oakland Athletics and the 1993 Toronto Blue Jays. A 12-time stolen base champion, Henderson led the league in runs five times. His 25-season career elevated him to the top ten in several other categories, including career at-bats, games, and outfield putouts and total chances. His high on-base percentage, power hitting, and stolen base and run totals made him one of the most dominant and innovative players of all time. He was further known for his unquenchable passion for playing baseball and a buoyant, eccentric, and quotable personality that both perplexed and entertained fans. Once asked if he thought Henderson was a future Hall of Famer, statistician Bill James replied, "If you could split him in two, you'd have two Hall of Famers."
Henderson was born on December 25, 1958, in Chicago in the back seat of an Oldsmobile on the way to the hospital. Henderson later joked, "I was already fast. I couldn't wait." He was named Rickey Nelson Henley, after singer-actor Ricky Nelson, and is the son of John L. Henley and Bobbie Henley. When he was two years old, his father moved to Oakland, California. Rickey lived with his grandmother in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, from when he was two until he was seven, when he migrated to Oakland with his family. His father died in an automobile accident 10 years after leaving home. His mother married Paul Henderson in Rickey Henley's junior year of high school and the family adopted the Henderson surname. As a child learning to play baseball in Oakland, Rickey Henderson developed the ability to bat right-handed although he was a naturally left-handed thrower—a rare combination for baseball players, especially non-pitchers. In the entire history of Major League Baseball through the 2008 season, only 57 position players are known to have batted right and thrown left, and Henderson is easily the most successful player to do so. Henderson later said, "All my friends were right-handed and swung from the right side, so I thought that's the way it was supposed to be done."
In 1976, Henderson graduated from Oakland Technical High School in Oakland, California, where he played baseball, basketball and football, and was an All-American running back with two 1,000-yard rushing seasons. He also ran track, but did not stay with the team as the schedule conflicted with baseball. Henderson received over a dozen scholarship offers to play football. Despite a childhood dream to play for the Oakland Raiders, he turned down the scholarships on the advice of his mother, who argued that football players had shorter careers.
Henderson was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the fourth round of the 1976 Major League Baseball draft. For the first season of his minor league career he was with the Boise A's of the Northwest League. In 46 games, Henderson batted .336 and hit three home runs and two triples. Henderson spent the following season with the Modesto A's. He batted .345 in 134 games during his record-setting season with Modesto. Henderson, along with Darrell Woodard, nearly broke the league record for team stolen bases. The Modesto A's finished the season with 357 stolen bases, just shy of the league record of 370. While Woodard tied the single-season player record with 90 stolen bases, Henderson beat the record by stealing 95 bases, and was awarded the Sundial Trophy, given to the Modesto A's Most Valuable Player.
Henderson spent the 1978 season with the Jersey City A's of the Eastern League. After the minor league season ended, he played the 1978–1979 winter season for the Navojoa Mayos of the Mexican Pacific League. He played in six games for the team, which won its first championship. In 1979, Henderson started the season with the Ogden A's of the Pacific Coast League. In 71 games for Ogden, he had a batting average of .309 and stole 44 bases.
Henderson made his major league debut with Oakland on June 24, 1979, getting two hits in four at-bats, along with a stolen base. He batted .274 with 33 stolen bases in 89 games. In 1980, Henderson became the third modern-era player to steal 100 bases in a season (Maury Wills 104 in 1962 and Lou Brock's 118 in 1974 had preceded him). His 100 steals broke Eddie Collins' franchise record of 81 in 1910 with what were then the Philadelphia Athletics and set a new American League (AL) record, surpassing Ty Cobb's 96 set in 1915. He also batted .303, had 179 hits (tied for ninth in AL), scored 111 runs (fourth in AL), drew 117 walks (second in AL), had a .420 on-base percentage (third in AL) and led the AL by reaching base 301 times.
That winter, Henderson played in the Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League; his 42 stolen bases broke that league's record as well.
Henderson was an MVP candidate a year later, in a season shortened by a players' strike. He hit .319, fourth in the AL, and led the league in hits (135), runs (89) and in steals (56). Henderson was also third in on-base percentage (.408), tied for second in triples (7), fourth in walks (64), eighth in total bases (185) and second in times reaching base (201). In so doing, he became the emblematic figure of Oakland manager Billy Martin's aggressive "Billy Ball" philosophy, which received much media attention. Finishing second to the Milwaukee Brewers' Rollie Fingers in the MVP voting, Henderson's fielding that season also earned him his only Gold Glove Award. He later became known for his showboat "snatch catches", in which he would flick his glove out at incoming fly balls, then whip his arm behind his back after making the catch.
Inspired by Dodgers leadoff hitter Rudy Law, Henderson adopted an exaggerated crouch as his batting stance, which reduced his strike zone without sacrificing much power. Sportswriter Jim Murray described Henderson's strike zone as being "smaller than Hitler's heart". In 1982, he described his approach to Sports Illustrated:
I found that if I squatted down real low at the plate... I could see the ball better. I also knew it threw the pitcher off. I found that I could put my weight on my back foot and still turn my hips on the swing. I'm down so low I don't have much of a strike zone. Sometimes, walking so much even gets me mad. Last year Ed Ott of the Angels got so frustrated because the umpire was calling balls that would've been strikes on anybody else that he stood up and shouted at me, "Stand up and hit like a man." I guess I do that to people.
As the baseball world began to mourn Henderson, an outpouring of tributes and heartfelt messages came in from former teammates and players, and others in baseball. On social media, fellow Hall of Famer Dave Winfield wrote, "I still cannot believe I've lost one of my favorite teammates and great friend Rickey Henderson. Rest in peace."
Wade Boggs, who competed against Henderson throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and stood alongside him at Hall of Fame induction weekend many times over the years, called Rickey one of the greatest to ever play the game. Hall of Famer Mike Piazza shared a similar sentiment.
Don Mattingly, a teammate of Henderson's with the Yankees, called him the "best player" he ever played with.
"Rickey was simply the best player I ever played with. He could change the outcome of a game in so many ways. It puts a smile on my face just thinking about him. I will miss my friend," Mattingly said in a statement.
Willie Randolph, another teammate of Henderson with the Yankees, said the same.
"People always ask me who was the best player I've played with. I played with so many tremendous players through the years that I hate picking just one. But pound for pound, Rickey Henderson was the greatest player I ever played with," Randolph said. "He possessed so many talents that could positively impact the outcome of a game. I'm going to treasure the memories Rickey and I shared together. He was a special man."
Longtime MLB manager Buck Showalter said Henderson was "one of a kind."
"I played against Rickey when he was with Jersey City in the Eastern League in 1978. He batted .310 but didn't hit a home run in 133 games. People don't realize how dedicated he was to being the best he could be. He took great care of his body and was ahead of his time in nutrition and conditioning. In my opinion, he was the best leadoff hitter of all time," Showalter said.
"He was in my first big league camp, and my first time throwing to big league hitters was to his batting group. He had a strike zone the size of a thimble, and I had never seen anyone run the way he did, with powerful strides that were fluid and violent at the same time. As a young coach working with the outfielders, Rickey laughed easily and made me feel comfortable. I can't believe he's gone. He was one of a kind."
Others such as Dave Stewart, Jose Canseco, Dennis Eckersley, Jim Palmer, Frank Thomas, Alex Rodriguez, Bob Kendrick and booby Valentine also paid their respects.
On May 9, 2005, Henderson signed with the San Diego Surf Dawgs of the Golden Baseball League, an independent league. This was the Surf Dawgs' and the Golden Baseball League's inaugural season, and Henderson helped the team to the league championship. In 73 games he had a .456 OBP, with 73 walks while striking out 43 times, and 16 steals while being caught only twice. It would be his final professional season.
Teams
As player
Oakland Athletics (1979–1984)
New York Yankees (1985–1989)
Oakland Athletics (1989–1993)
Toronto Blue Jays (1993)
Oakland Athletics (1994–1995)
San Diego Padres (1996–1997)
Anaheim Angels (1997)
Oakland Athletics (1998)
New York Mets (1999–2000)
Seattle Mariners (2000)
San Diego Padres (2001)
Boston Red Sox (2002)
Los Angeles Dodgers (2003)
As coach
New York Mets (2007)
Career highlights and awards
10× All-Star (1980, 1982–1988, 1990, 1991)
2× World Series champion (1989, 1993)
AL MVP (1990)
ALCS MVP (1989)
Gold Glove Award (1981)
3× Silver Slugger Award (1981, 1985, 1990)
12× AL stolen base leader (1980–1986, 1988–1991, 1998)
Athletics No. 24 retired
Athletics Hall of Fame
MLB records
1,406 career stolen bases
2,295 career runs
130 stolen bases, single season
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