Goodbye to Rickey Henderson – Over the Monster

There are such a lot of nice tales to inform about Rickey Henderson. Lots of them point out “cockiness” or “showboating” proper off the bat, which is a putdown Rickey heard many instances throughout his profession. Who cares? I say to that, but in addition, if anybody earned the fitting to strut as a lot as he needed, absolutely it was Rickey Henderson.

Some fast stats:

• MLB data for profession stolen bases, runs, unintentional walks, and leadoff house runs
• Gold Glove winner
• AL MVP
• He was an influence hitter who walked a ton and had velocity to spare on the basepaths (what a combo)
• Single-season MLB file of 130 stolen bases
• Stole 100 or extra bases in a season thrice
• Third participant to hit a house run in 4 completely different a long time (And the corporate he retains! Ted Williams and Willie McCovey had been first and second)
• Two World Series championships
• Oakland Athletics all-time stolen base chief
• Former New York Yankees all-time stolen base chief (Derek Jeter finally broke his file, however it took him 1700 additional games to best Rickey)
• First-ballot Hall of Famer

So why shouldn’t Rickey be cocky if he needed to be; he earned it!

However there are additionally sufficient tales to counterbalance that “cocky” picture—ones that demonstrate his generosity, humility, or thoughtfulness—that I’ve puzzled if perhaps Rickey was forward of his time in creating a task he slipped out and in of. Perhaps there was Rickey Henderson, after which additionally “Rickey Henderson,” who referred to himself within the third individual. Among the tales are fairly comical, too, so perhaps we shouldn’t be so fast to imagine that he took himself critically.

Just like the time he known as up Harold Reynolds, the 1987 stolen base chief, after the season. Rickey had handled accidents all yr and didn’t win the title that yr—the one time that occurred throughout a stretch between 1980 and 1991. With no preamble aside from to announce himself by identify, he mentioned that Reynolds needs to be ashamed of himself for successful the title with such a low quantity, left little question that in a traditional yr, Rickey himself would’ve stolen that many by the All Star break, after which ended the decision. Reynolds seems to get a kick out of telling it; are we certain Rickey additionally hasn’t been laughing about all of it alongside? I imply, within the annals of prank calls, that’s a traditional proper there.

I really like this man.

Writers who’ve painted him as a showboater make him sound like a puffed-up cartoon braggart, however for me, the trace of thriller over his true intentions solely provides to the legend. And he was definitely legendary, even rising to the extent of superhero: the Man of Steal. Keep in mind these muscular thighs. And the way in which he triumphantly yanked second base out of the bottom and raised it over his head when he broke Lou Brock’s stolen base file in 1991. That’s archetypal stuff.

Photograph by Brad Mangin/Sports activities Illustrated by way of Getty Photographs

Each superhero wants an origin story. One of many issues I keep in mind most fondly about this over-the-top, larger-than-life man is that his origin story was merely that he needed to impress his mom. I can’t discover the place I discovered this story, however I’ve cherished it for years; perhaps it was batted round Oakland after I lived there. I’m paraphrasing right here, but it surely goes like this: it was a requirement that her son was going to work exhausting at all the pieces he did, and she or he let Rickey know that. When Rickey got here house from baseball apply, his mom didn’t take into account that he had labored very exhausting except his uniform was soiled. The dirtier it was, the more durable he will need to have labored. Fast-thinking Rickey determined that the quickest, most sure-fire strategy to get his uniform soiled was to slip head-first into second base, so he started to try this straight away in a sport, to type of examine off the field. He made {that a} behavior, and a legend was born.

Rickey performed for a lot of groups. There have been 9 within the main leagues, a number of extra within the minors, a pair in Mexico and Puerto Rico, after which a pair extra in impartial leagues. He briefly performed for the close to the very finish of his MLB profession, and we will see his DNA within the 2024 workforce, and presumably transferring ahead. It’s a enjoyable sport, the working sport, and I’m glad the have embraced a few of Rickey’s fashion.

Photograph by Jim Davis/The Boston Globe by way of Getty Photographs

Many assume Rickey’s record of 1,406 stolen bases won’t be broken. We all know that data are made to be damaged, and most of them do appear to fall, a method or one other, given sufficient time. However this one, particularly, appears particularly otherworldly.

To place this in perspective, in 2024, MLB’s stolen base chief was Elly De La Cruz, with 67. Listed below are the 2024 season totals from our personal speedsters:

• Jarren Duran: 34
• David Hamilton: 33
• Ceddanne Rafaela: 19
• Connor Wong: 8

And these got here within the new period of encouraging extra steals, with bigger baggage and restricted pick-offs. Do you think about that even De La Cruz or Duran might come near 130 in a season? I’d wish to say sure, however in truth, I must say no.

I beloved Rickey, notably throughout his time with the Oakland A’s. I lived in Oakland throughout school and noticed him loads of instances, particularly when the got here to city. I used to be not an A’s fan; I used to be a Rickey fan. I’ve written about Rickey a number of instances on this Red Sox column, and I’m not promising this would be the final time, both. I’ve written that the closest I’ve ever come to catching a foul ball was one of Rickey’s zingers, a line drive excessive up on the fitting discipline line on the Oakland Coliseum. It got here inside a few seats of mine, however as an alternative of chasing it I let another person get it, and I’ve regretted it ever since. If I say it’s certainly one of my life’s regrets, please take that as a measure of my deep admiration for Rickey, not as some shallow or unconsidered assertion. As a result of I’ve thought of that ball. Rather a lot. I don’t want to take a look at it on a shelf to consider Rickey, but it surely certain could be good.

Marcus Thompson II wrote a beautiful tribute that fleshes out the legend of Rickey Henderson. Including to Rickey’s origin story, Thompson II factors out that his start can also be a Christmas story as a result of he was born behind a automotive on the way in which to the hospital. A manger-less child on Christmas Day. (Rickey himself had a distinct tackle it, saying that he was at all times in a rush, even then—and there’s that prankster I used to be speaking about earlier.) However Thompson II additionally calls consideration to what Rickey dropped at Oakland. Thompson II lays the context for Oakland’s Black delight and the entry of many Black folks into the center class throughout Rickey’s lifetime, after which how a lot of this was eroded by the drug commerce within the ’80s. That’s the Oakland I acknowledge from my years there, a metropolis that just about at all times took a backseat to big-brother San Francisco throughout the bay. As a Black man and native son of Oakland, like Rickey, even a fellow graduate from Rickey’s highschool, Thompson II tells Oakland’s story, and Rickey’s place in it, in a means I can’t. However that’s the Oakland I felt as I moved by way of the streets, again after they known as it the “homicide capital” and there was a taking pictures within the house proper under mine. Rickey lifted up Oakland and Black delight within the space from some fairly severe depths at that time limit, the identical means he lifted up year-end totals and workforce statistics.

I write this with nice unhappiness. Not solely is 65 too younger to die within the twenty first century, however in some way dying feels prefer it’s getting nearer with this one. That well-worn saying, that Father Time is undefeated, is true, after all. However how can a bodily gifted superhero have wasted away in a hospital mattress from pneumonia? These are the contradictions of life, even for superheroes who’re susceptible beneath their powers.

I hate to put in writing this additionally due to all that Oakland has endured not too long ago. Rickey was raised in Oakland and performed there—4 instances, for fourteen years—for its main league workforce. In fact, Oakland doesn’t have a workforce anymore, but it surely’s not for lack of attempting or lack of followers.

Thanks Rickey, for bringing a championship to your hometown, to a franchise that has since misplaced its means. Thanks for bringing your self—all of your self—to the sport for therefore a few years, and I thank your mother too.