Rickey Henderson, the greatest leadoff hitter and base stealer in Major League Baseball history, has died at age 65. He died in Oakland, California, on Friday after battling pneumonia. He passed away just five days before what would have been his 66th birthday.
Henderson was one of the best and most unique players in baseball history and inarguably the greatest leadoff hitter of all time; nobody else comes remotely close. After debuting at age 20 in 1979 with the Oakland A’s, he became a star in 1980 when he stole 100 bases, making him just the third player in the modern era (1901 and beyond) to swipe at least 100 bags (the others being Hall of Famer Lou Brock and Maury Wills).
Henderson stole 100 or bases twice more in the next three years, setting the all-time single-season record in 1982 with 130 steals.
A leadoff man who stood at the plate with an exaggerated crouch, creating a tiny strike zone, Rickey understood that a walk was almost as good as a triple; Henderson drew more than 100 walks in three of his first five campaigns and walked 90+ times in eleven seasons. His 2,190 career bases on balls are the second most in MLB history (behind Barry Bonds).
“He had a strike zone the size of a thimble, and had never seen anyone run the way he did, with powerful strides that were fluid and violent at the same time.”
“Rickey Henderson is the reason there’s no excuse for someone who grew up in the 80s not realizing drawing walks was a skill. Rickey was the player pitchers were MOST frightned of putting on base, yet they did it anyway.”
Henderson, a player so iconic that he is better known simply as “Rickey,” not only set the all-time stolen base record, he obliterated it. Henderson was only 32 years old when, in 1991, during his second tour of duty in Oakland, he swiped his 939th base, besting Brock’s all-time mark of 938. During the on-field ceremony, Rickey channeled his inner Muhammad Ali by proclaiming, “Today I am the greatest of all time.”
“He was a showman out on the field. He made snap catches with his glove, pranced around the bases, beat his chest, and was noted as a hot dog. But he felt the fans were paying to see him play, so they should be entertained.”
Rickey played for nine different teams in 25 seasons, stealing over 30 bases in three separate seasons in his 40s. The Man of Steal finished his career with 1,406 stolen bases, 468 more than Brock. Those steals helped lead to 2,295 career runs scored, the most all-time (Ty Cobb is second with 2,245). He also finished his career with 3,081 games played, the 4th most in baseball history, behind Pete Rose, Carl Yastrzemski, and Hank Aaron.
Even though he walked 2,190 times, the right-handed hitting Henderson also rapped 3,055 hits, the 27th most in history.
Despite his slight size (5 feet, 10 inches), Rickey had power, hitting 297 home runs in his career. 293 of those taters were as his team’s leadoff man, by far the most for a leadoff hitter in baseball history (Mookie Betts is second with 228). He also has the most home runs to lead off the game with 81 (George Springer is next with 60).
From Ryan Spaeder, Henderson had three seasons with at least 20 HR and 65 SB. The other 23,369 players in baseball history combined for four (Joe Morgan, Eric Davis, Ronald Acuna Jr., and Elly De La Cruz). Here’s another fun note from my friend Jim Miloch on BlueSky: “In order to break Rickey Henderson’s career stolen bases record, a player would need to average 70.3 steals per season for 20 seasons. I don’t care how big they make the bases…Henderson’s record is safe.”
By WAR (Wins Above Replacement), Rickey’s career total (111.1) puts him third all-time for left fielders, behind Bonds and Ted Williams.
Although he played for nine different teams, Henderson is best known for his years in Oakland, the city in which he starred in high school and in Major League Baseball, for whom he had four tours of duty. In 2017, the team named the playing surface at the Coliseum “Rickey Henderson Field.”
It’s sadly ironic that the A’s played their final game in Oakland just a few months before the death of the franchise’s most iconic player. (The team is scheduled to play in Sacramento for the next few seasons until a new stadium is ready in Las Vegas).
“It’s a damn shame. Heartbreaking. I’m a native of Oakland and we’ve lost everything. It’s almost like it’s going to be a ghost town. That’s the sad thing about it.”
In 2009, Henderson was a first-ballot inductee into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Stunningly, he got “only” 94.8% of the vote by the BBWAA (Baseball Writers Association of America). Yes, that means that 28 writers looked at Rickey’s career and said, “Nah, his career doesn’t look Hall-worthy to me.”
“For all his controversy, you have to say that Rickey Henderson was one of the greatest players of all-time, if not the greatest… And while he may have given many a manager headaches, and he had his issues with the media, when he got into the Hall of Fame he was like a new man. He loved everyone, the fans and media alike. I think everyone who knew him will greatly miss him.”
“When you’re old and grey, sitting around with your buds talking about your career in baseball, you are going to talk about Rickey. He was just amazing to watch. There were great outfielders. There were great base stealers. There were great home run hitters. Rickey was a combination of all of those players. He did things out there on the field that the rest of us dreamed of.”
— Ron Guidry (Rickey’s teammate in New York)
“I’d argue that no player in baseball history was ever more alive than Rickey Henderson, which is why his shocking death just days before his 66th Christmas hits so hard. Rickey played a cautious sport with abandon. Rickey played a timid sport with flash. Rickey irritated and thrilled and frustrated and dominated and left us all wanting more.”
“Rickey Henderson’s Baseball Reference page will tell a Hall of Fame story, but there was nothing like being in the park to witness not just his talent, flair and confidence, but the utter fear he put into the opponent when he reached first base. He was a human run — power, patience speed. Fun to cover. #RIP.”
10-time All-Star, 3-time Silver Slugger Award winner, won the Gold Glove in 1981
Led the American League in Stolen Bases 12 times
Scored over 100 runs in 13 seasons (tied for the 2nd most seasons with 100+ runs all-time)
Won the 1990 A.L. MVP (.325 BA, .439 OBP, 28 HR, 61 RBI, 65 SB, 119 Runs, 9.9 WAR)
Two-time World Series Champion (with the 1989 Oakland A’s and the 1993 Toronto Blue Jays)
(cover photo: NBC Sports Bay Area)
Rickey Henderson: Before the Majors
Rickey Henderson was born Rickey Nelson Henley on December 25, 1958, in Chicago, Illinois. He was the second son of John and Bobbie Henley. He was born in the back seat of an Oldsmobile on the way to the hospital and later joked, “I was already fast. I couldn’t wait.”
John Henley left the family when Rickey was two years old. Bobbie moved her family to Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Rickey lived there with his grandmother until he was seven and then moved to Oakland, where Bobbie had relocated when he was two. When Rickey was a junior in high school, Bobbie married Paul Henderson, who adopted Rickey and his four brothers. As you’ve no doubt guessed, Rickey and his brothers took his adopted father’s surname.
Rickey was a three-sport star at Oakland Technical High School, with football his greatest love. He was an all-American running back with two 1,000-yard rushing seasons and got over a dozen college scholarship offers to play football. His mother, however, talked him into pursuing a baseball career instead. She was worried that Rickey was too small for football and made the case that football players had shorter careers.
Henderson was drafted by the Oakland A’s in the 4th round of the 1976 June amateur draft. He hit over .300 at every level of the minor leagues. At the age of 17, playing in Boise, Idaho, in the Northwest League, he hit .336 with a .463 OBP and 29 stolen bases in just 46 games.
Rickey hit .345 with 11 HR, 69 RBI, 104 walks (leading to a .466 OBP), and 95 SB in his first full minor league campaign with Modesto in the California League. He credits Modesto manager Tom Trebelhorn (who would later manage the Milwaukee Brewers) with turning him into a premier base stealer.
“We used to sit up and look at films. I looked at Lou Brock and Ty Cobb, and those were kind of my idols. Trebelhorn was my manager in rookie ball and then he moved up with me to Class A ball. He was probably the biggest influence in my becoming a great base-stealer. He took the time to teach me. He took me out individually and looked at the things I was good at. He took me and made me better. Plus, he also let me steal whenever I thought I could make it, and that gave me a lot of confidence.”
— Rickey Henderson (as told to Glenn Dickey), SABR Bio
In 1978, at Jersey City in the Eastern League, he hit .310 with 81 steals but went homerless. He started the 1979 season in Ogden, Utah (in the Pacific Coast League). He .309 (with a .430 OBP) and 44 stolen bases in 71 games. He was promoted to the big club in Oakland in late June.
Early Years in Oakland (1979-81)
Rickey Henderson made his Major League Baseball debut at the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum on June 24, 1979. He was only 20 years old. Rickey went 2 for 4, doubling in his first at bat, while singling in his second turn at the plate. He recorded the first stolen base of his career off the Texas Rangers’ John Henry Johnson in the bottom of the 3rd inning after the single.
Playing for a dreadful team under manager Jim Marshall, Henderson started all but one game for the rest of the season after his call-up, batting at the top of the order for every game. The left-handed throwing Henderson played mostly in left field, but also appeared in center and right. Perhaps a bit overmatched at first, Henderson did manage to hit .274 but only walked 34 times in 89 games (for a .338 OBP, which would be the lowest of his career until his final campaign).
Rickey did lead the team with 33 stolen bases (he was caught 11 times). However, thanks to limited power (only one home run) and poor defensive metrics, he started his career with a negative WAR (-0.9). His first career homer was his first while leading off the game for the team; it was in mid-September in Oakland against Texas.
Rickey hit his second career home run on Opening Day in 1980 (against veteran reliever Mike Marshall). As previously noted, Henderson blossomed into a star in 1980, playing for new manager Billy Martin. Touting his “Billy Ball” style, Martin encouraged Henderson’s aggressiveness. Rickey hit .299 with a .415 OBP and 34 steals in the first half of the season, leading to the first of his ten All-Star appearances.
In the second half of the season, Henderson ran constantly, swiping a whopping 66 bags after the break. He finished the season with 100 steals to go with a .303 BA, .420 OBP, and 111 runs scored. With 100 a clear goal, Rickey stole 34 bases in the team’s final 28 games.
Overall, today’s metrics credit Rickey with an 8.8 WAR, 2nd best in the league, to George Brett, who won the MVP with his .390 batting average.
Surprisingly, despite the gaudy .303 BA and 100 SB, Henderson finished only 10th in the MVP voting. The voters at the time didn’t know about WAR, which wouldn’t be invented for another several decades, but they did understand batting averages and stolen bases.
The 1981 season was unusual because of the player strike that wiped out over 50 games for every team. The A’s were leading the A.L. West (with a 37-23 record) when the strike hit, so they automatically made the playoffs, which were expanded to eight teams to give all 26 teams a shot at the playoffs with a “second half” division title when the season resumed on August 10th.
In just 108 games, Henderson still managed to steal 56 bases. He also hit .319 and led the American League with 89 runs and 135 hits. He won his first (and only) Gold Glove, his first (of three) Silver Slugger Awards, and wound up 2nd in the MVP vote, behind Rollie Fingers (28 saves, 1.04 ERA). Today, Rickey is credited with a 6.7 WAR, tied for the best in the league with Boston’s Dwight Evans.
In the first-ever A.L. Divison Series, Oakland swept the Kansas City Royals in three games, setting up a matchup in the ALCS against the New York Yankees, the team with whom Martin had won two pennants and a World Series. Rickey hit .364 with a pair of doubles, a triple, and two steals, but his teammates never drove him in. The A’s scored only four runs in three games and were swept by the Yankees.
Man of Steal: Final Years in Oakland (1982-84)
Now an established superstar, Rickey Henderson ran with abandon in his record-setting 1982 campaign. In the first half of the season (88 games), Henderson stole a remarkable 84 bases and scored 78 runs. Despite hitting only .276, Rickey had a .422 OBP thanks to 81 first-half walks. He was selected as the starting left fielder in the All-Star Game and went 3 for 4 with a stolen base.
Rickey slowed down in the second half of the season, hitting just .254 with a .359 OBP and 46 stolen bases. Still, when the season was over, he had a whopping 130 steals, while also leading the A.L. with 116 walks.
Rickey didn’t even wait until September to break Lou Brock’s single-season record. On August 26th at County Stadium in Milwaukee, Henderson drew a one-out walk against Doc Medich in the top of the third; he beat the throw of Hall of Famer Ted Simmons to steal 2nd base for #119, on a pitchout! For good measure, Rickey swiped three more bases off Medich and Simmons in what was ultimately a losing effort.
“There may be faster men in the big leagues… but none reaches maximum speed quicker than Henderson, who needs but two steps to do so, and none hits the base with such force. Henderson gives the appearance of gaining speed with his ferocious headfirst slides which, were it not for the base itself, might carry him to or through the fences.”
Worn down from the pounding on his body and with the A’s out of contention, Henderson only started 18 of the A’s final 33 games, stealing eight more bases for 130.
Despite the record-setting campaign, Henderson again finished 10th in the MVP voting, thanks in part to his low BA (.267) and that the A’s sagged to a 68-94 record; Martin was fired after the season. Incidentally, besides setting the single-season stolen base record, Rickey also set an all-time record by getting caught stealing 42 times for a 75.6% success rate.
Henderson followed up with 108 steals in 1983, this time with higher proficiency; he was caught only 19 times for an 85% success rate. He hit .292 with a league-leading 103 walks, leading to a .414 OBP.
This was the third full campaign in a row (excluding the strike-shortened 1981 season) in which Rickey scored over 100 runs, walked over 100 times, and stole over 100 bases. He’s the only player in the modern game ever to achieve this 100/100/100 trifecta (Billy Hamilton also did it in 1891 and 1894, but the stolen base rule was more liberal in the 19th century, giving players credit for a steal if they went first to third on a single).
Rickey slowed down a bit in 1984, stealing “only” 66 bases, though this was still enough to lead the A.L. for the fifth straight season. He hit .293, scored 113 runs, and set new career highs with 16 HR and 58 RBI.
Rickey in the Bronx: New York Yankees (1985-89)
In December 1984, Rickey Henderson was traded to the New York Yankees in a seven-player deal that brought Jose Rijo, Eric Plunk, Jay Howell, and Stan Javier to Oakland. The Yankees promptly inked their new star to a five-year, $8.6 million contract.
With the Yankees, Henderson joined a team of stars: first baseman Don Mattingly (who would win the 1985 A.L. MVP Award), second baseman Willie Randolph, future Hall of Fame right fielder Dave Winfield, designated hitter Don Baylor (the 1979 A.L. MVP), future Hall of Fame starter Phil Niekro, and Ron Guidry (the 1978 A.L. Cy Young Award winner).
With Winfield in right field and 35-year-old Ken Griffey in left, Henderson played center field for the Yankees. However, the start of his season was delayed due to a sprained ankle. When he finally hit the diamond (on April 23rd), he started the season slowly, hitting just .120 in his first six contests. The Yankees overall got off to a slow start (6-10), prompting team owner George Steinbrenner to fire manager Yogi Berra and replace him with Billy Martin (for his fourth tour of duty in the Bronx).
Reunited with his former skipper in Oakland, Henderson heated up, hitting .417 in his next 14 games. Overall, Rickey had a fabulous first half of the season, hitting .357 with a .993 OPS and 41 steals (while getting caught just once). He was the starting center fielder in the All-Star Game. Overall, Rickey slashed .314/.419/.516 in his first season in Pinstripes, setting career highs with 24 HR, 72 RBI, and 146 runs scored, all while swiping 80 bags (against 10 times getting caught).
With a 9.9 WAR (best in the league), Rickey finished third in the MVP vote to Mattingly (.324 BA, 35 HR, 145 RBI) and Brett (.335 BA, 30 HR, 112 RBI). The Yankees finished with 97 wins, but that was two games less than the division-winning Toronto Blue Jays.
In 1986, Rickey led the league again in steals (87) and runs (130) but sagged to a .263/.358/.469 slash line. On the positive side of the ledger, he set new career bests with 28 HR and 74 RBI. The Yankees, under new management again (Lou Piniella was the skipper) won 90 games but finished five games behind the Boston Red Sox.
In 1987, for the first time in his career, Henderson missed significant playing time; it was due to a hamstring injury. Rickey still managed to steal 41 bases (in 95 games) and slashed .291/.423/.497, while scoring 78 runs in 95 games. The Yankees won 89 games and finished fourth in the East.
Because of the injury, for the first time since 1979, Henderson did not lead the league in stolen bases. That honor belonged to Seattle’s Harold Reynolds, who swiped 60 bags and got a call from Rickey on the day after the season.
“He called me up and said, ‘Henderson here, you know he always talks in the third person. 60 stolen bases? You ought to be ashamed. Rickey has 60 at the All-Star break.’ Click. He hung up.”
The Yankees managerial soap opera continued in 1988. Martin was back but only lasted half the season before Piniella returned. Now back in left field on defense, Rickey stole 93 bases, his highest total since 1983. He slashed .305/.394/.399, the latter figure notable due to a power outage (6 home runs in 140 games). Rickey did make his 7th straight All-Star game.
The 1989 Yankees, under Dallas Green, were out of contention fairly early and traded Henderson (slumping with a .247 BA) back to the A’s in June for Plunk, Greg Cadaret, and Luis Polonia.
The Return to Oakland (1989-93)
In Rickey Henderson’s first tour of duty with the Oakland A’s, he was the leader of a rag-tag group of over-achievers in the Billy Ball era. In 1989, he joined a juggernaut under Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa. The A’s had a pair of young sluggers (Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco), a veteran Dave Parker (now a Hall of Famer) with a strong rotation (Dave Stewart, Mike Moore, Bob Welch, Storm Davis) and a lights-out closer (Dennis Eckersley).
Henderson went from a middling team to the defending A.L. champs, who were leading the A.L. West at the time of Rickey’s arrival on June 22.
In 85 games with Oakland, Henderson slashed .294/.425/.438 with 52 steals (6 times caught) and 72 runs. Overall, he led the A.L. with 77 SB, 126 walks, 113 runs, and a 8.7 WAR.
In the playoffs for the first time since 1981, Rickey was the MVP of the ALCS. He slashed .400/.600/1.609 in the A’s five-game series victory over the Blue Jays, hitting two home runs with five RBI, eight SB, and eight runs scored.
In Game 4 (at the SkyDome, with the A’s down two games to one), Henderson hit a two-run home run off Mike Flanagan in the top of the third to give Oakland a 2-0 lead. Later, in the 5th, he tagged Flanagan for another two-run blast; the A’s hung on for a 6-5 win.
Next, in Game 5, Rickey set the pace with a leadoff walk and stolen base, scoring on an RBI single by Canseco. Then, in the top of the 3rd, he tripled off Dave Stieb to score Walt Weiss from 2nd, giving Oakland a 2-0 lead; the A’s hung on for a 4-3 victory, setting up a date in the World Series with the crosstown San Francisco Giants.
The A’s easily won the earthquake-delayed World Series, sweeping the Giants in four games. Henderson slashed .474/.524/.895 with three stolen bases and four runs scored. The King of Steal, who was also the king of leading off games with home runs, did precisely that in the clinching Game 4, leading off the game with a homer to left.
Henderson had the best year of his career in 1990 and won his first and only MVP Award while earning his third Silver Slugger nod. He slashed .325/.439/.577, matching his career high of 28 home runs. With his legs, Rickey stole 65 bases (caught stealing 10 times) and led the majors with 119 runs scored. Modern metrics credit Henderson with a 9.9 WAR and 189 OPS+. In winning the MVP, Henderson bested Detroit’s Cecil Fielder, who led the majors with 51 HR and 132 RBI.
With 103 wins, the A’s easily rolled to their third straight A.L. West title and then swept the Boston Red Sox in the ALCS. In the World Series, heavily favored against Lou Piniella’s Cincinnati Reds, the A’s were swept in four games. Henderson slashed .333/.444/.667 with a solo HR and three SBs in the losing effort.
The A’s and Henderson both regressed in 1991. The A’s finished fourth in the A.L. West, while Rickey produced “only” a 4.6 WAR, the lowest total since his rookie year, due to poor fielding metrics. His slash line was .268/.400/.423. He still hit 18 HR with 57 RBI and led the league in steals for the 11th time with 58 thefts. He was an All-Star for the 10th and final time.
As we noted at the top of the piece, it was in May 1991 that Henderson stole the 939th base of his career, in Oakland, beating the throw of Yankees catcher Matt Nokes in a steal of third base. Lou Brock was in attendance and told Rickey, “Today, you are the greatest competitor that ever ran the bases in the big leagues.”
Oakland returned to the postseason in 1992, winning the A.L. West with 96 wins. Henderson made two trips to the disabled list, limiting him to 117 games, but still managed a 5.6 WAR, thanks to a .426 OBP and 48 stolen bases, which was only 6th best in the A.L. (Kenny Lofton swiped 66 bags). The A’s lost the ALCS in six games to the Blue Jays, who went on to win the World Series (Henderson slashed .261/.370/.261 with five runs scored and two steals).
The 1993 A’s slumped badly. At the end of July, Oakland was in 6th place in the West, 13.5 games out of first place. Henderson was having a big year, however (.327 BA, .469 OBP, 31 SB, 77 runs in 90 games) and was due to become a free agent in the offseason.
Thus, he was traded for the third time in his career, this time to the Blue Jays for pitcher Steve Karsay and a player to be named later.
Three Months in Toronto (1993)
Just as it was when he rejoined the A’s in 1989, Rickey Henderson’s new team had won the A.L. pennant the year before (and the World Series). The 1993 Blue Jays were led by first baseman John Olerud and future Hall of Famers Roberto Alomar and Paul Molitor.
Ironically, Henderson slumped during his tenure in Toronto. In 44 regular season games, he hit only .215 with 4 HR and 12 RBI, though he did steal 22 bases (getting caught only twice). He did score 37 runs, thanks to a .356 OBP.
The Jays beat the Chicago White Sox in six games in the ALCS (despite Rickey slashing .120/.241/.200) and then prevailed over the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series; Rickey slashed .227/.393/.318 with six runs scored.
Rickey Henderson, now 35 years old, returned home to Oakland for the 1994 campaign, signing a two-year, $8.5 million contract. The ’94 season was shortened (and the World Series canceled) due to the most devastating player strike in baseball history. In 87 games, Henderson hit .260 (.411 OBP) with 6 HR, 20 RBI, and a mere 22 stolen bases, a career low.
The strike continued early into 1995 before being settled in early April. In 112 games, Rickey slashed .300/.407/.447. He stole 32 bases and scored 67 runs. Baseball-Reference credits him with a 2.9 WAR, the lowest number since his rookie year. The A’s, in what was La Russa’s last year in Oakland, finished 4th in the new five-team A.L. West.
A free agent again, Henderson joined the National League for the first time by signing a two-year, $6.2 million contract with the San Diego Padres. Rickey, now 37, showed his age, hitting only .241 in 148 games with the Padres. Still, thanks to 125 walks, he posted a .410 OBP and scored 110 runs. On the basepaths, he stole 37 bases but was caught 15 times.
In 1997, Henderson was hitting .274 (with 29 steals) in 88 games but was traded for the fourth time in his career, this time to the Anaheim Angels. Rickey struggled in Anaheim, hitting just .183 in 32 games, with 16 steals out of 20 attempts.
A free agent yet again, Henderson went back home to Oakland for his fourth tour of duty with the A’s. At 39, Rickey started running again. He led the A.L. with 66 stolen bases (he was caught 13 times) and also led the league with 118 walks. His OBP was only .376, however, thanks to a .236 batting average. Still, he led the team with 101 runs scored.
Henderson returned to New York in 1999, signing a two-year, $3.9 million deal with the Mets. He was the Sporting News Comeback Player of the Year thanks to a .315 batting average (with a .423 OBP). He stole 37 bases while getting nabbed 14 times. Rickey had a big series in the NLDS (against the Arizona Diamondbacks), hitting .400 with six stolen bases and five runs scored. He slumped, however, to a .174 BA in the NLCS; the Mets lost in six games to the Atlanta Braves.
In 2000, in his first 31 games, Henderson hit just .219 (with just a pair of RBI) and was released on May 13th (after going into a home run trot on a ball that did not leave the yard). Six days later, he joined the Seattle Mariners, giving him a reunion with Lou Piniella. He slashed .238/.362/.327 in 92 games, stealing 31 bases while getting caught nine times.
The M’s were the Wild Card entry in the American League. After defeating the Chicago White Sox in the ALCS, Seattle lost to the New York Yankees in the ALCS. In his final postseason at bat, a Game 5 victory, Henderson popped up with the bases loaded against Dwight Gooden.
Henderson was back in San Diego in 2001 at the age of 42. He hit .227 in 123 games, with 25 steals and 70 runs scored. On April 25th, Henderson drew the 2,063rd walk of his illustrious career, putting him #1 on the all-time list for free passes, surpassing Babe Ruth.
He spent 2002 with the Boston Red Sox, hitting .223 (with eight steals) in 72 games. In an interesting note from Jason Woncho’s SABR biography of Henderson, Woncho notes that, when he joined the Red Sox, Rickey had 1,395 career stolen bases from 1979-2001, which was 13 more than the entire Red Sox franchise during those same years.
Henderson started the 2003 campaign playing for the independent Newark Bears before hooking up with the Los Angeles Dodgers, where he hit .208 with three steals in 30 games.
The 1,406th and final stolen base of his career was on August 29 at Dodger Stadium when he swiped 2nd base off the Rockies’ pitcher Cory Vance and catcher Gregg Zaun. In his final at bat, on September 19th against the San Francisco Giants, Rickey was hit by a pitch as a pinch hitter (by Jason Christiansen). Later in the inning, he scored the 2,295th and final run of his 25-year career on a single by Shawn Green.
Six years later, in 2009, Henderson was inducted into the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.
The baseball world has lost several all-time great players in recent years. Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Frank Robinson, Joe Morgan, Willie McCovey, Orlando Cepeda, Lou Brock, Brooks Robinson, Tom Seaver, Bob Gibson, Phil Niekro, Gaylord Perry, Don Sutton, and Whitey Ford have all passed away in the last five or six years.
The loss of Rickey Henderson is different. To use a terrible pun, this came out of left field. It wasn’t known that he was ill. And, unlike the others, Henderson was relatively young, only 65 years old.
Henderson was one of the greatest players in the history of baseball. He is unquestionably the greatest leadoff hitter and base-runner in the game’s history.
“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. He possessed so many talents that could positively impact the outcome of a game. I’m going to trasure the memories Rickey and I shared together. He was a special man.”
— Willie Randolph, Rickey’s teammate in New York and Oakland
“I’m heartbroken and devastated. Rickey Henderson was an incredibly talented player but an even better human. I’ll never forget all the incredible memories we created together. Memories I’ll never forget. Rest easy my friend.”
“Words cannot express how saddened I was to hear about my friend and former teammate, Rickey Henderson. Rickey was simply the best player I ever played with. He could change the outcome of a game in so many ways.”
— Don Mattingly, Henderon’s teammate from 1985-89
X
“Rickey Henderson was a dream to hit behind as a teammate and a nightmare for a catcher as an opponent. He was one of the most generous, hysterical and gracious human beings..He will be sorely missed. Prayers for his soul and family.”
“I’m very sad about the loss of my friend, teammate and fellow Hall of Famer. We were two Bay Area boys. I was proud to play with him. He was the greatest player I ever played with. I cherished our recent times together both in Cooperstown and at the Oakland Coliseum. My condolences to his family.”
— Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley (Rickey’s teammate in Oakland), on X
“My profound condolences to the family, friends, and teammates on the passing of Rickey Henderson. He was truly a one-of-a-kind talent and an all-time great.”
— Hall of Famer Tim Raines, 5th most stolen bases all-time (with 808) (on X)
John Henley left the family when Rickey was two years old. Bobbie moved her family to Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Rickey lived there with his grandmother until he was seven and then moved to Oakland, where Bobbie had relocated when he was two. When Rickey was a junior in high school, Bobbie married Paul Henderson, who adopted Rickey and his four brothers. As you’ve no doubt guessed, Rickey and his brothers took his adopted father’s surname.
With the Yankees, Henderson joined a team of stars: first baseman Don Mattingly (who would win the 1985 A.L. MVP Award), second baseman Willie Randolph, future Hall of Fame right fielder Dave Winfield, designated hitter Don Baylor (the 1979 A.L. MVP), future Hall of Fame starter Phil Niekro, and Ron Guidry (the 1978 A.L. Cy Young Award winner).