It’s impossible to tell the story of Major League Baseball without a healthy dose of Rickey Henderson. The Oakland-raised Henderson , who died Friday, six days shy of his 66th birthday , was the greatest leadoff hitter in baseball history. Using traditional statistics, new-school metrics or simply the old-school eyeball test, the A’s legend rates as one of the top 20 players of all time.
Not only an iconic player – Henderson is one of only 60 elected to the Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility – he played with personality. Henderson had swagger, oozing cool whether crouched in his signature batting stance, snapping his fingers and bobbing his head during his home run trot around the bases, or collecting a stolen base with a headfirst slide. The MLB record book is filled with Henderson’s name.
Some of his records, such as career marks for stolen bases, runs scored, leadoff home run and even times caught stealing, may never be broken. Of course, Henderson, who played his final MLB game in 2003, looked like a lock to remain the all-time walks leader until pitchers – with good reason – decided it was a bad idea to throw strikes to the Giants’ Barry Bonds. Henderson played 25 seasons in the majors, including parts of 14 seasons (over four different stints) with the A’s on the Coliseum playing surface that later would be named in his honor.
But he was a key player in epic moments that weren’t his alone. Henderson was Nolan Ryan’s historic 5,000th ca.
:upscale()/2025/01/08/840/n/1922794/tmp_CS3Hyk_d03e1c4a00fa6d47_Basic_Collage-3-Main_-_1456x970_35_.jpeg)
