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 hung out 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 pace 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 considered baseball by the new-fangled lens of sabermetrics, he was the platonic ideally suited 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 result 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 might 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 document for stolen bases (130), in addition to the single-season and profession data for caught stealing (42 and 335, respectively).
“For those who might break up him in two, you’d have two Corridor of Famers. The best base stealer of all time, the best energy/pace mixture of all time (besides possibly 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 possibly can 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 result of issues from pneumonia and bronchial asthma, in accordance to ESPN’s Howard Bryant, the creator of a 2022 biography, Rickey: The Life and Legend of an American Authentic. 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 2003, Henderson introduced aptitude to each side of his sport. 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 filth “like an airplane coming in for a touchdown,” as he instructed Sports activities Illustrated’s Ron Fimrite.
Typically Henderson’s swagger and stylistic thrives rankled opponents. Henderson bought 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 might see the ball higher. I additionally knew it threw the pitcher off. I discovered that I might 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 bought so annoyed as a result of the umpire was calling balls that will’ve been strikes on anyone else that he stood up and shouted at me, “Get up and hit like a person.” I suppose I try this to folks.
“There isn’t sufficient mustard to placed on that scorching canine,” future Oakland teammate Dennis Eckersley instructed 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 most important 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 thrice 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 high three 9 occasions, and 16 occasions he completed inside the high 10. Of his 297 homers, a document 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 full he initially surpassed for the document in 1989 (Bobby Bonds’ 35).
As a result of Henderson did so many issues so properly for thus lengthy, he’s 14th amongst all place gamers with 111.1 WAR (Baseball Reference model, which can be used all through this piece) and first with 144 baserunning runs. He ranked among the many AL’s high 5 in WAR 9 occasions from 1980 to ’90, main the league thrice and ending in a digital tie for first as soon as; in considered one of his two seasons outdoors the highest 5 throughout that run, he positioned ninth. He owns the 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 facet 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 individual, not all of them are true. Some are too good to verify — 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 subject 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 similar to that with the Mets,” Henderson is alleged to have instructed Olerud upon reuniting with him in Seattle. Bryant traced that specific story to former Mets teammates Robin Ventura, Todd Zeile, and Al Leiter, who have been having an excellent snicker whereas musing about how far it might attain. The story bought handed by clubhouse personnel in New York and Seattle till it grew to become ubiquitous.
Relating to Henderson’s penchant for referring himself within the third individual, usually he was verbalizing his inside monologue. As he defined in 2003, “I exploit it to remind myself, like, ‘Rickey, what you doing, you silly…’ I’m simply scolding myself.” In a single well-known story, A’s teammate Terry Steinbach found him within the clubhouse whereas the nationwide anthem was enjoying, bare and psyching himself up. “Rickey’s gonna have a sport… Rickey’s gonna have an excellent day… Rickey’s able to go!”
About 30 seconds earlier than first pitch, Henderson donned his uniform. “He walks down the tunnel,” Steinbach recalled “Will get his bat. Hits a house run.”
As for the oft-told story of Henderson framing considered one of his big paychecks — stated to be a $1 million signing bonus from the Yankees in some tellings, from the A’s in others — as an alternative 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 neglect. Even when they by no means occurred, they might have occurred.” This one, which apparently was true, needed to do with Henderson exerting some monetary self-discipline; if the verify was below 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 properly at school. In his memoir Lengthy Shot, former Mets teammate Mike Piazza wrote about Henderson’s participation in deciding playoff shares:
“Rickey was essentially the most beneficiant man I ever performed with, and at any time when the dialogue got here round to what we must always give one of many fringe folks — whether or not it was a minor leaguer who got here up for a number 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 anyone’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 strengthen the Black stereotypes so many had spent their careers attempting 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 schooling 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 Common Motors.
As a baby, Henderson’s past love was soccer, a lot in order that he was referred to 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 Faculty, 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 steerage counselor at his faculty, Tommie Wilkerson, recruited him for a baseball match crew and provided to pay him 1 / 4 for each hit and each stolen base — a suggestion she made to different gamers as properly with a view to give them some spending cash and maintain them below supervision.
After skipping from eighth grade to tenth, Henderson initially was reduce from Oakland Tech’s varsity crew after its new coach, Bob Cryer, basically picked his squad by sight, however bypassed the 15-year-old future Corridor of Famer. “You need to not know who I’m,” a brazen Henderson instructed Cryer, and his teammates concurred, pleading with the brand new coach to no avail. Henderson bought 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 manner into taking batting observe with the varsity and hit rocket after rocket. He made the crew.
Henderson ended up pursuing baseball out of highschool. “My mom made the choice,” he instructed Inside Sports activities’ Glenn Dickey in 1991. “I beloved soccer; I believed I may very well be an All-American, however she thought baseball was higher for me. I gave her the selection to make and she or he selected baseball.” Soccer’s potential for debilitating accidents was one purpose Bobbie favored baseball; concern over whether or not her son might maintain 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 wish to be the best basestealer of all time.”
Every 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 finances 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, nevertheless it 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 mild however helped him turn out 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 sort of my idols,” Henderson instructed Dickey. Trebelhorn “was most likely the most important affect in my changing into an excellent basestealer. He took the time to show me.” On a crew 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 crew stole 15 bases, with Henderson tying a league document by swiping seven himself.
At Double-A Jersey Metropolis in 1978, Henderson went homerless and slugged simply .358, however nonetheless stole 81 bases. The following 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 towards the Rangers, main off with a hustle double off John Henry Johnson in his first plate look; he was thrown out at house, however later added a single and his first stolen base (towards 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 method to shedding 108 video games below supervisor Jim Marshall, although a younger nucleus that included heart 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 following 12 months, Martin took over within the dugout, bringing with him an aggressive model of baseball that was properly suited to Henderson’s sport: 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 crew, walked 117 occasions because of 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 document 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 increase 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 document, stole an AL-high 56 bases, hit .319/.408/.437 (151 OPS+) with 6.7 WAR (just about 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 Sequence, 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 consuming 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 document with 130 steals.
Sports activities Illustrated put him on the duvet of its September 6, 1982 subject. Within the accompanying characteristic, about Henderson’s breaking Brock’s single-season document, Fimrite wrote:
There could also be sooner males within the huge leagues — Willie Wilson? Kirk Gibson? Tim Raines? — however none reaches most pace faster than Henderson, who wants however two steps to take action, and none hits the bottom with such power. Henderson provides the looks of gaining pace together with his ferocious headfirst slides which, have been it not for the bottom itself, may carry him to or by the fences. “Henderson is available in belly-first, bent on busting proper by you,” California supervisor Gene Mauch says. “Most runners who dive wish to contact the bottom with their palms. Rickey desires to slip by and let his stomach cease him on the bottom.”
Alas, regardless of Henderson’s heroics, the overworked A’s starters crashed, the crew sank to 68-94, and Martin bought the axe, partly as a result of the Yankees wished him again for what can be his third stint of their dugout. Henderson spent two extra years on sub-.500 A’s groups below Steve Boros and Jackie Moore, dazzling followers and rising more and more costly. He had crushed 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 detrimental 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 evening video games, and for typically marching to the beat of his personal drum. Typically the jibes have been nameless, however some have been on the document. 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, most likely half have been for no obvious purpose. In accordance with teammate Steve McCatty, “One sport he didn’t play he spent the entire time in avenue garments enjoying playing cards. When this man takes a time without work, he takes it actually.”
Along with his free company a 12 months away, A’s proprietor Roy Eisenstadt and basic 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 heart subject, a place he’d needed to yield to the defensively superior Murphy in Oakland.
“Individuals say I’m a showman due to the type I play,” Henderson instructed reporters throughout spring coaching. “I wish to make the folks joyful. I like to present 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 house 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 price them their likelihood to catch the Blue Jays, who’d held no less than a share of the AL East lead from Could 12 onward. Martin once more misplaced his job, partly as a result 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 (practically all white) and the Yankees Method — 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 up 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 crew went 90-72, 5 video games wanting the Crimson Sox. Henderson’s droop was exacerbated by umpires pushing again towards his fixed complaints concerning 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 must always have executed that years in the past,’” stated McKean. The press took purpose at Henderson’s snap catches as showboating, contrasting them with Willie Mays’ basket catches as if Mays hadn’t endured comparable criticism of his type.
Issues actually started to collapse in New York when Henderson was restricted to 95 video games in 1987 as a result of a recurrent proper hamstring pressure; Steinbrenner even quoted Piniella as saying that Henderson was “jaking it,” exaggerating his harm, although an MRI ultimately confirmed the severity of the pressure. “Wherever the phrase got here from, it completed Lou with Rickey — nevertheless it additionally completed Rickey with the writers and elements of the fan base,” wrote Bryant. Henderson continued to play at a excessive stage 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 crew 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, “Possibly Rickey can’t learn,” when he didn’t report for spring coaching on time. When Henderson and the crew each began slowly, the Yankees renewed their efforts to commerce him, however he rejected a possible deal to the Giants, who wished him to bat fifth and play proper subject. He instructed Thrift — by then the performing GM of the Yankees — that he would solely settle for a deal to the A’s. On June 21, 1989, he bought 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 the season, whereas the green-and-gold bought the final snicker. 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 Sequence. 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 towards the Blue Jays, Henderson dominated. He reached base 4 occasions and stole 4 occasions in a 6-3 win in Sport 2, homered twice and drove in 4 runs towards Mike Flanagan in a 6-5 win in Sport 4, and scored the primary run and tripled within the second inning towards Dave Stieb in Sport 5; he was named the sequence MVP. He went 9-for-19 with an .895 slugging proportion within the World Sequence, 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 price Henderson that standing, and a flurry of different offers bumped him additional down the pecking order; even on his personal crew, 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 house 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 document. He made the All-Star crew and edged Cecil Fielder within the MVP voting. The A’s received 103 video games and the AL West, then swept the Crimson Sox within the ALCS earlier than being swept by the Reds within the World Sequence.
Henderson, now 32, entered the 1991 season with 936 profession steals, two shy of Brock’s main league document; 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 result of a proper calf pressure. On Could 1, 1991, with Brock in attendance on the Oakland Coliseum, Henderson stole third base towards the Yankees. He uprooted the bag in celebration and play was stopped so he might tackle the group. After the perfunctory thank yous, he stated, “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 remaining All-Star crew. The A’s missed the playoffs that 12 months however returned in 1992; Henderson, who performed in simply 117 video games as a result 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 huge October spotlight got here within the eighth inning of Sport 4 of the World Sequence towards 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 Sequence 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 might be the final time he’d spend back-to-back full seasons with the identical crew, 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 part, 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, grew to become the oldest participant to guide a league in steals (66), after which was on his merry method to the Mets (1999-2000), Mariners (2000), Padres once more (’01), Crimson Sox (’02), and Dodgers (’03). By far one of the best 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 crew come inside two wins of a visit to the World Sequence.
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 document together with his 2,063rd stroll, towards the Phillies’ Jose Mesa. On August 25, he overtook Zack Wheat for essentially the most video games performed in left subject, with 2,329. On October 4, with a wall-scraping house 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 house plate as his teammates surrounded him. Tony Gwynn then offered him with a gold-plated reproduction of house plate.
“Scoring so many runs, it’s not simply a person document. It’s a document that you just’ve bought to have your teammates aid you out,” Henderson stated 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 angle towards him softened significantly by the tip of his profession. The gamers and media whom he’d rubbed the mistaken manner together with his on-field antics and clubhouse foibles had been changed by a technology that considered him as a dwelling legend. From Invoice James by Baseball Prospectus and the nascent motion in Oakland that will 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 joyful to hold up my footwear and go be with my youngsters,” he instructed 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 pace guys who can rating runs? I believe I’m higher than the fellows within the main leagues. Will I get the prospect?”
After enjoying 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 enjoying 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 enjoying. Bypassing a suggestion from Beane to hitch 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 inside the group as a particular assistant to crew president Dave Kaval, and was readily available together with Stewart to throw out a ceremonial first pitch on the A’s remaining sport 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 might need had a neater time gaining acceptance together with his colourful type, as an alternative of dealing with criticism. Actually, 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 might 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 considered one of a form.