Rickey Henderson
From BR Bullpen
Rickey Nelson Henley Henderson (Man of Steal)
- Bats Right, Throws Left
- Height 5' 10", Weight 195 lb.
- Debut June 24, 1979
- Final Game September 19, 2003
- Born December 25, 1958 in Chicago, IL, USA
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[edit] Biographical Information
"I always believed I was going to be safe." - Rickey Henderson, on his philosophy of stealing bases
". . . it wasn't until I saw Rickey that I understood what baseball was about. Rickey Henderson is a run, man!" - Mitchell Page
Rickey Henderson felt that the public never properly appreciated him. He tended to talk himself up, and that did not go over well with the sportswriters. However, eventually, his career numbers became so impressive that everyone had to recognize his substantial accomplishments.
Henderson set several major league standards during his 25-season career; he is the all-time leader in runs (2295), stolen bases (1406), and times caught stealing (335). He was also the leader in walks at the time of his final major-league game (2190). He also holds the single season records for steals (130), times caught stealing (42), and steal attempts (172), all in 1982. Finally, he led the American League in steals a record 12 times.
Although known primarily for his stolen bases and career totals in runs scored and walks, he also had some power: he was a decent home run hitter with 297 home runs, and he accumulated 510 doubles in his career.
He was MVP once, and was also second once in the MVP voting and third once.
Statistician Bill James was once asked if he thought Rickey Henderson was a Hall of Famer. James' reply: "If you could split him in two, you'd have two Hall of Famers."
Rickey Henderson played in four different decades. He broke into the American League when Carl Yastrzemski was still active in the league, and finished up in the National League when Miguel Cabrera was a rookie in the league, but still was not finished with playing baseball: he helped lead the 2005 San Diego Surf Dawgs of the Golden Baseball League to become the league's inaugural champions.
Recently, he has considered returning to the major leagues again. After the 2007 All-Star Game, he was appointed as first base coach by the New York Mets, following the firing of hitting coach Rick Down (Howard Johnson, who was the first base coach, was appointed hitting coach).
He was known for habitually speaking of himself in the third person.
[edit] Tales
There is a story that once a team called to ask why his signing bonus check - a very sizable one - hadn't been cashed. The team was concerned there was a problem. They called his agent - whose former job had been towel boy in the A's locker room - and were told that Henderson was waiting for the interest rates to go up before cashing it. Another has him taking his first million dollar check and framing it on the wall -- until the team called to tell him he had to cash it first.
Another one - once he saw John Olerud playing first base with a batting helmet and said, "Hey, Rickey used to have a teammate with the Mets who played first with a helmet." Olerud then informed Rickey that they were teammates with the Mets. This story is widespread but false.[1]
Another Henderson goes that he once missed a game in August with frostbite because he left an ice pack on his foot too long.
[edit] Famous Teammates
His main teammates included Mark McGwire (3283), Dwayne Murphy (3236), Jose Canseco (2369), Carney Lansford (2323), Dennis Eckersley (2188), Tony Armas (1668) and Mike Heath (1250). In New York, one teammate was Don Mattingly, who was lionized by Yankee fans. In 1986, when Mattingly hit .352 with 31 homers and 113 RBI and finished second in the MVP voting, Bill James asked why Mattingly had only driven in 113 RBI when he had Rickey Henderson batting leadoff on the team and scoring 130 runs.
Based on the similarity scores method, the most similar player is Craig Biggio, with a similarity score of only 721.
Henderson set records with 1 or more home runs and 1 or more stolen bases in each of 25 consecutive years.
[edit] Notable Achievements
- 10-time AL All-Star (1980, 1982-1988, 1990 & 1991)
- AL MVP: (1990)
- 1989 ALCS MVP
- AL Gold Glove Winner (1981)
- 3-time AL Silver Slugger Award Winner (1981, 1985 & 1990)
- 1999 NL Comeback Player of the Year Award
- AL On-Base Percentage Leader (1990)
- AL OPS Leader (1990)
- 5-time AL Runs Scored Leader: (1981, 1985, 1986, 1989 & 1990)
- AL Hits Leader (1981)
- 4-time AL Bases on Balls Leader: (1982, 1983, 1989 & 1998)
- 12-time AL Stolen Bases Leader: (1980-1986, 1988-1991 & 1998)
- 20-Home Run Seasons: 4 (1985, 1986, 1990 & 1993)
- 100 Runs Scored Seasons: 13 (1980, 1982-1986, 1988-1991, 1993, 1996 & 1998)
- 50 Stolen Bases Seasons: 14 (1980-1986, 1988-1991, 1993, 1995 & 1998)
- 100 Stolen Bases Seasons: 3 (1980, 1982 & 1983)
- Won two World Series with the Oakland Athletics (1989) and the Toronto Blue Jays (1993)
| AL MVP | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1989 | 1990 | 1991 |
| Robin Yount | Rickey Henderson | Cal Ripken, Jr |
[edit] Records Held
- Runs, career, 2295
- Runs, right handed batter, career, 2295
- Stolen bases, career, 1406
- Stolen bases, season, 130, 1982
- Stolen base attempts, career, 1731
- Stolen base attempts, season, 172, 1982
- Times caught stealing, career, 325
- Times caught stealing, season, 42, 1982
- Walks, right handed batter, career, 2190
- Home runs to lead off the game, career, 81
