Rest In Peace To Baseball's Greatest Leadoff Hitter Ever, Rickey Henderson
Mercury News - Rickey Henderson, the Oakland kid who became the greatest leadoff hitter in baseball history and his hometown A’s biggest star, has died.
Henderson would have turned 66 on Christmas Day.
After a frenzy of social media speculation overnight, multiple sources confirmed to the Bay Area News Group on Saturday morning that Henderson had died. The family is expected to make an announcement later in the day. Henderson had been in the hospital battling pneumonia, a source told the Bay Area News Group.
The left fielder with the unmistakable crouched batting stance and affable swagger set MLB career records with 2,295 runs and 1,406 stolen bases and is the single-season stolen base king. He was enshrined into the Hall of Fame in 2009, his first year of eligibility.
“My favorite hero was Muhammad Ali,” Henderson said during his induction speech in Cooperstown, New York. “He said one time, quote, I am the greatest, end of quote. That was something I always wanted to be, and now that the (Baseball Writers’ Association of America) has voted me into the Baseball Hall of Fame, my journey as a player is complete. I am now in the class of the greatest players of all time, and at this moment, I am very, very humbled.”
Henderson played for the A’s in parts of 14 seasons over four different stints during his 25-year career and he is considered the greatest player in Oakland franchise history.
Henderson was just 20 when he made his major league debut with Oakland on June 24, getting two hits in four at-bats, along with his first career stolen base. He batted .274 as a rookie and stole 33 bases in 89 games.
In 1980, Henderson became the first player in the history of the American League to steal 100 bases in a season. Two years later he stole 130 bases, breaking Lou Brock’s MLB record of 118 set in 1974.
Henderson led the American League in stolen bases 12 times, including in 1998 when, at the age of 39, he stole 66 bases with the A’s. Henderson also had power to go with his speed, hitting 297 career home runs, including a MLB-record 81 to lead off a game.
Born on Christmas Day in Chicago, Henderson was a larger than life personality in a sport known for being anything but flashy. He grew up on the sandlot baseball fields in Oakland, dreaming of one day playing for his hometown team. He not only accomplished that feat, but he left an indelible mark on the entire sport.
The news of Rickey Henderson's passing today, at just 65 years old, feels like a punch to the gut. For a man who was so synonymous with vitality, speed, and swagger, it seems impossible that he could be gone. But just as the man himself was a living, breathing legend, so too will his legacy endure far beyond his time on the diamond.
Rickey wasn’t just a leadoff hitter; he was the leadoff hitter, the very definition of what it meant to disrupt a game from the moment the first pitch was thrown. The debate over greatness is constant in sports- who’s the greatest quarterback of all time? (Answer- another Bay Area legend, TB12). Who’s the best 3-pt shooter ever? Who's the greatest pitcher ever? But when it comes to leadoff hitters, the answer is as simple and certain as the name on the back of Rickey’s jersey. There was no argument, no question. Rickey was the greatest to ever do it.
He arrived on the scene in 1979, and from that moment, baseball was never quite the same. He was a walking spectacle—his crouch in the batter’s box, his lightning-quick first step, his unrelenting aggression on the basepaths. Every time Rickey reached first, it was a threat, an inevitability that pitchers and managers feared. He didn’t just steal bases- he commanded the game.
Watch this -
They say a lot of players were before their time.
But it's a fair argument to make that Henderson in his prime, would be just as, if not even more dominant were he playing in today's game than 30 years ago.
He intimidated pitchers into giving him nothing to swing at, and if they did, they knew they might as well have thrown him a fastball down the middle. He was so dangerous, he was the game’s first real human cheat code. Pitching to Rickey wasn’t just a decision, it was a high-stakes gamble. One wrong move, and he was on second, or third, or rounding home.
When Rickey broke Lou Brock’s stolen base record in 1991, it wasn’t just a milestone- it was a resounding statement. At 32 years old, in the prime of his career, he did something no one had ever done before, and then he did it again- swiping a total of 1,406 bases before he hung up his spikes. Who the hell breaks an All-Time record in the middle of their career? That is insane.
No one has come close in the 21 years since. Rickey didn’t just steal bases; he redefined the art of stealing bases.
Rickey was also a character, in the best possible way. He had the kind of swagger and self-confidence that drew eyes wherever he went.
His legendary statements, his larger-than-life persona, and his irrepressible spirit were all part of the Rickey package. He wasn’t just a player; he was an event. The crowd would lean forward when he stepped to the plate, as if something magical was about to happen. And more often than not, it did.
He was beloved by his teammates and opponents alike.
My dad sent me an article a few years ago, from way back in 2003, that Tom Verducci wrote about Henderson refusing to hang up his cleats, still playing independent league ball for a team in Newark, NJ.
It was equally funny and sad. Henderson was the kind of guy you could tell didn't know what to do with himself besides play baseball. He would do whatever it took to be involved in the game somehow, someway- even if it meant schlubbing around in a beatup coach bus, playing with a bunch of kids who weren't even born when he was setting single season steals records, and setting the record for all time.
In a sport full of true greats- Mays, Mantle, Aaron, Williams, Ruth- Rickey carved out his own niche, blending skill with charisma in a way that left his mark forever. His 81 leadoff home runs. His 1,406 stolen bases. His Hall of Fame induction on the first ballot. These aren’t just stats- they are statements of a man who lived for greatness, who chased it down and made it his own.
Bill James, the father of modern baseball analysis, once said that "if you could split Rickey into two players, you’d have two Hall of Famers." It’s hard to imagine a more fitting tribute to a man who did everything at an elite level.
I think this sums up Henderson perfectly, and is how we should remember him-
Here's an awesome article Peter Gammons wrote for Sports Illustrated during Henderson's MVP 1990 season.
Here's a great documenatry on Rickey's life and career.
Here are some great Rickey tributes and stories -
Rickey's HOF Induction Speech
Some of the best Henderson stories from over the years -
– In the early 1980s the A’s couldn’t balance their accounts until they discovered Henderson had failed to cash a $1 million check, instead framing it on his wall at home. A’s insiders insist this did happen. Henderson also sat on a reported six-figure check during his time with the Yankees, saying at the time there was no problem, he was just “waiting for the money market rates to go up” before cashing it.
– Henderson played for the Mariners in 2000 and, according to legend, walked up to John Olerud at the batting cage and asked the Seattle first baseman why he wore a batting helmet in the field. Olerud explained he suffered a brain aneurysm as a college player at Washington State and wore the helmet for protection and Henderson responded, “Yeah, I used to play with a guy that had the same thing.” Olerud, who previously was Henderson’s teammate with the Mets and the Blue Jays, said, “Yeah, that was me.” Both players say the exchange never happened, but wished it had.
– A major star since the early 1980s, Henderson was known for using fake names when he checked into hotels around the league to avoid attracting attention from fans and the media. One of the names he used: Richard Pryor.
— Henderson complained a lot about being underpaid. His recourse often was be the last player on the team to report to spring training. He also once told reporters, “If they’re going to pay me like (light-hitting middle infielder Mike) Gallego, I’m going to play like Gallego.”
- In 2003, at the age of 44, Henderson turned a stint with the independent league Newark Bears into a 30-game run with the Los Angeles Dodgers. In what turned out to be his final game in the majors, Henderson pinch hit against the Giants and scored a run after being hit with a pitch thrown by reliever Jason Christiansen.
Rickey being Rickey, he didn’t officially accept he was retired until he was named the Mets first-base coach in 2007 – the same year A’s then-general manager Billy Beane, a former teammate, said earlier in the spring he’d consider activating Henderson for a day when the rosters expanded at the end of the season so he could end his career as an Athletic.
But even at the age of 48, Henderson left open the door for a potential return to the field when he took the Mets coaching job.
“If it was a situation where we were going to win the World Series and I was the only player that they had left, I would put on the shoes,” Henderson told reporters. “I haven’t submitted retirement papers to MLB, but I think MLB already had their papers that I was retired.”
Rest In Peace