Rickey Henderson, MLB's career leader in stolen bases and runs scored who is widely considered the greatest leadoff hitter in MLB history, passed away on Friday, just five days before his 66th birthday. Henderson stole 1406 bases, 468 more than former record-holder Lou Brock; to put that gap in perspective, 468 stolen bases is a number that would tie for 48th on the career stolen base list! Henderson holds the single season stolen bases record (130 in 1982), and he is the only player in AL history to post at least 100 stolen bases in a season, a feat that he accomplished three times (1980, 1982, 1983). He led the AL in stolen bases a record 12 times (1980-86, 1988-91, 1998), snaring his last stolen base crown when he was 39 years old.
Henderson's 2295 career runs scored surpassed Ty Cobb's record total by 50, and is 121 better than the number posted by both Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron (unlike MLB, I am not counting the number posted by the most famous PED cheater of all-time, who played a major role in turning MLB's treasured record book into a work of fiction).
When Henderson retired in 2003, he ranked first in career walks and he ranked in the top 100 in career home runs (297, including a record 81 to lead off a game); if you don't count the numbers of the most famous PED cheater of all-time then Henderson still ranks first in career walks. Henderson ranks fourth in MLB history in games played (3081), trailing only Pete Rose (3562), Carl Yastrzemski (3308), and Hank Aaron (3298).
Henderson is one of just 33 members of baseball's prestigious 3000 hit club, and he also had a significant impact defensively, ranking second in career putouts as a left fielder, a category in which he finished in the AL top five 11 times (including first in 1980-81, 1989-90).
Henderson played in the postseason eight times, and he participated in the World Series three times (1989-90, 1993). He played on two World Series championship teams (Oakland 1989, Toronto 1993), and he won the 1989 ALCS MVP during Oakland's title run. He posted a .284 career postseason batting average, logging five home runs, 20 RBI, and 33 stolen bases (which ranks second all-time to Kenny Lofton's 34, but Henderson played in 60 postseason games while Lofton played in 95 postseason games). Henderson won the 1990 AL regular season MVP, earned 10 All-Star selections, received three Silver Slugger awards, and won one Gold Glove (1981).
Henderson was a first ballot Hall of Famer, receiving 94.8% of possible votes (the 20th highest percentage all-time).
Henderson's combination of speed, power, and a discerning eye at the plate (demonstrated not only by his record setting walk total but also by his seven seasons hitting at least .300) made him a nightmare for opposing teams; he got on base, wreaked havoc on the basepaths, and scored runs. Of all of his records, he was most proud of his record for runs scored, sensibly noting that you have to score runs to win games.
Henderson's critics sometimes griped that he did not play hard and was hurt too often, but the great Ralph Wiley provided the definitive refutation to those grumblings: if Henderson was loafing while he set all of the records mentioned above, then he must have been the greatest baseball player of all-time! Henderson played in at least 134 games in 13 seasons. He missed that total in 1981 because of the strike, and he did not reach that total in each of his last five seasons, when he was 40-44 years old, so the record shows that for well over a decade he was pretty durable, particularly considering how active he was on the basepaths.
Henderson played for nine MLB teams (Oakland A's, New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays, San Diego Padres, Anaheim Angels, New York Mets, Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox, and L.A. Dodgers), but he will forever be most associated with the Oakland A's, with whom he had four different tours of duty accounting for 14 of his 25 MLB seasons.
Henderson's numbers are incredible, but his impact and legacy go beyond the numbers, as is the case with the select few athletes who are transcendently great.
The May 4, 1987 issue of Sports Illustrated featured a series of cover stories about the incomparable Julius "Dr. J" Erving, and in one of those stories John Papanek penned a line about Erving that has always stuck with me and that I quoted as the epigraph to one of my articles about Erving: "You had to see the man and hear the music." In other words, statistics tell a story, but they don't tell the whole story. The numbers speak to Henderson's greatness, but they don't convey what it felt like to watch him play (or what I presume it must have felt like to play against him). I am old enough to remember Rickey Henderson's entire career, and I will say without question or hesitation that he is one of the most exciting baseball players of my lifetime, on my short list with (in chronological order) Reggie Jackson, Eric Davis (who joined Henderson as the only players in MLB history to post at least 20 home runs and at least 80 stolen bases in the same season), and Bo Jackson. When Rickey Henderson strode to the plate, fans were mesmerized, and when Henderson made it on base fans were even more mesmerized.
Those of us who saw Henderson and heard the music were blessed. May he rest in peace, and may his family--including his three daughters--be consoled at this difficult time.
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