Rickey Henderson

Baseball Player

• Born: December 25, 1958
• Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois

Baseball player

Henderson was one of the best and most feared leadoff hitters in Major League Baseball history. He consistently found ways to get on base, steal bases, and support the efforts of his team. At the time of his retirement, he held records for stolen bases, runs scored, walks, and leadoff home runs.

Area of achievement: Sports: baseball

Early Life

On December 25, 1958, Rickey Nelson Henley Henderson was born to John L. Henley and Bobbie Henley in the back seat of a 1957 Oldsmobile on the way to the hospital. John left the family two years later, and Bobbie moved her five sons to Pine Bluff, Arkansas. In Pine Bluff, Henderson chased chickens around his grandmother’s farm. Bobbie later moved to Oakland, California. While looking for a home and a job, she met and married Paul Henderson. Ten-year-old Rickey and all but one of his siblings moved to Oakland, where the children took the name of Henderson. Bobbie and Paul soon added twin daughters to the family.

Rickey Henderson’s baseball career began when his brother Tyrone signed him up for a Little League team sponsored by a funeral home. A natural left-handed thrower, Henderson saw most of the other kids hitting right-handed, so he copied them; throughout his career, he threw left-handed but batted right-handed. Henderson played at Bushrod Park—now called Billy Martin Field—where he was named athlete of the year in 1968, and in leagues that included other future major league players such as Dave Stewart and Lloyd Moseby. While at Oakland Tech High School, Henderson played on the baseball, basketball, and football teams and briefly ran track. He made the varsity baseball team as a sophomore. Tommie Wilkerson, his godmother and high school guidance counselor, gave Henderson a quarter for each base he stole. He stole thirty-three bases in ten games. As a senior, Henderson stole thirty bases.

However, Henderson was better known for his skills as a running back and drew comparisons to O. J. Simpson. Henderson dreamed of playing for the Oakland Raiders of the National Football League (NFL). When he graduated from high school in 1976, he received more than two dozen scholarship offers to play college football, and the Oakland Athletics selected him in the fourth round of the Major League Baseball (MLB) draft. Henderson followed his mother’s wishes and chose baseball over football. He signed with the Athletics for five hundred dollars a month and a ten-thousand-dollar signing bonus.

Life’s Work

Henderson began his professional baseball career in Boise, Idaho. He played for the Boise A’s in the Northwestern League, a short-season, single-A league. In his first year, Henderson stole 29 bases in 36 attempts and finished with a .336 batting average. The next year he moved to the Modesto A’s, a single-A team in the California League. With a .345 batting average, a near-record 95 stolen bases, and 120 runs scored in 134 games, Henderson continued to develop and improve. He was the team’s most valuable player. In one game, he stole seven bases, only the fourth time that feat had been accomplished. During his years in the minors, Henderson reduced his fielding errors, developing a strong throwing arm, improved his base-stealing, and learned how to slide head-first.

Henderson made his major league debut on June 24, 1979, with the Oakland A’s. In 89 games, he stole a team-high 33 bases. In 1980, the outfielder stole 100 bases, breaking the previous American League single-season record of 96 held by baseball legend Ty Cobb. In Oakland, Henderson played for manager Billy Martin, who developed an aggressive style of play for his players nicknamed “Billy Ball.” The style suited Henderson, and in 1982, Martin encouraged Henderson to try and break Lou Brock’s major league single-season stolen base record of 118. Henderson broke the record on August 27, 1982, and ended the season with 130 stolen bases. In December, 1984, Henderson signed a five-year, $8.5 million contract with the New York Yankees.

While playing for New York he continued to break records but also suffered multiple injuries. During his fifth season as a Yankee Henderson was traded back to the Athletics, who were in first place in their division. With Henderson’s help, the team went on to win the World Series over the neighboring San Francisco Giants. In 1990 Henderson won the American League most valuable player award. The next season, on May 1, Henderson stole third base to become baseball’s all-time stolen base leader, surpassing Brock’s career record. He followed the feat with a controversial speech in which he proclaimed himself "the greatest." He helped the A's reach the World Series again, though they lost to the Cincinnati Reds.

Henderson played for nine teams, some multiple times, during a twenty-five-year MLB playing career. He spent the longest amount of time in Oakland across four separate stints (1979–84, 1989–93, 1994–95, and 1998), but he also played for the Yankees (1985–89), the Toronto Blue Jays (with whom he won his second World Series ring, in 1993), the San Diego Padres (1996–97, 2001), the Anaheim Angels (later the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim) in 1997, the New York Mets (1999–2000), the Seattle Mariners (2000), the Boston Red Sox (2002), and the Los Angeles Dodgers (2003). Henderson was selected to play on the All-Star team ten times and played on World Series championship teams in 1989 and 1993. He won a Gold Glove in 1980 and three Silver Slugger awards.

At the time of his retirement Henderson held multiple MLB records, including career stolen bases (1,406), career runs (2,295), career leadoff home runs (81), and stolen bases in a single season (130). Henderson was also a member of the elite 3,000-hit club. After moving from team to team for a decade, forty-six-year-old Henderson ended his professional baseball career with the San Diego Surf Dawgs of the independent Golden Baseball League. After struggling with the idea of retirement, he officially retired on July 13, 2007. He became eligible for the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2009 and was immediately inducted with one of the highest ballot counts ever recorded.

In addition to his baseball records, Henderson was well known for his flamboyant personality. He often referred to himself in the third person and famously framed a million-dollar bonus check instead of cashing it. Although he drew criticism for his perceived arrogance, he also was beloved as one of the most entertaining characters in baseball. After his playing career was over, Henderson worked as the first-base coach for the New York Mets in 2006 and 2007 and later as a special instructor in the Oakland A's organization.

Henderson and Pamela Parker, his high school sweetheart, began dating when he was seventeen, though they remained unmarried for many years. They had three daughters: Angela, Alexis, and Adriann.

Significance

Henderson was a Hall of Fame player who perfected the art of base stealing and establishing himself as a dominant leadoff hitter. His speed and daring made him a terror on the basepaths and an electric crowd pleaser. His love for this game resulted in a remarkably productive twenty-nine-year career in professional baseball, and he is remembered as one of the greatest and most memorable stars in MLB history.

Bibliography

Bauleke, Ann. Rickey Henderson: Record Stealer. Minneapolis: Lerner, 1991. Print.

Grann, David. “Stealing Time.” The New Yorker 12 Sept. 2005: 52–59. Print.

Henderson, Rickey, and John Shea. Off Base: Confessions of a Thief. New York: HarperCollins, 1992. Print.

"Rickey Henderson." MLB.com, 2021, www.mlb.com/player/rickey-henderson-115749. Accessed 20 July 2021.

"Rickey Henderson." National Baseball Hall of Fame, 2021, baseballhall.org/hall-of-famers/henderson-rickey. Accessed 20 July 2021.

Roensch, Greg. Rickey Henderson. New York: Chelsea House, 2008. Print.