76 Facts About Rickey Henderson

Rickey Henderson holds the major league records for career stolen bases, runs, unintentional walks and leadoff home runs.

Rickey Henderson is the all-time stolen base leader for the Oakland Athletics and previously held the New York Yankees' franchise record from 1988 to 2011.

Rickey Henderson was among the league's top ten base stealers in 21 different seasons.

Rickey Henderson was named the AL's Most Valuable Player in 1990, and he was the lead-off hitter for two World Series champions: the 1989 Oakland Athletics and the 1993 Toronto Blue Jays.

Rickey Henderson was further known for his unquenchable passion for playing baseball and a buoyant, eccentric, and quotable personality that both perplexed and entertained fans.

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Rickey Henderson was born on December 25,1958, in Chicago, Illinois, in the back seat of an Oldsmobile on the way to the hospital.

Rickey Henderson lived with his grandmother in Pine Bluff, Arkansas from when he was two until he was seven, when he migrated to Oakland with his family.

Rickey Henderson's father died in an automobile accident 10 years after leaving home.

Rickey Henderson's mother married Paul Henderson in Rickey Henley's junior year of high school and the family adopted the Henderson surname.

In 1976, Rickey Henderson graduated from Oakland Technical High School, where he played baseball, basketball and football, and was an All-American running back with a pair of 1,000-yard rushing seasons.

Rickey Henderson ran track, but did not stay with the team as the schedule conflicted with baseball.

Rickey Henderson received over a dozen scholarship offers to play football.

Rickey Henderson was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the fourth round of the 1976 Major League Baseball draft.

Rickey Henderson spent the first season of his minor league career with the Boise A's of the Northwest League.

Rickey Henderson spent the 1978 season with the Jersey City A's of the Eastern League.

Rickey Henderson played in six games for the team, which won its first championship.

In 1979, Rickey Henderson started the season with the Ogden A's of the Pacific Coast League.

Rickey Henderson made his major league debut with Oakland on June 24,1979, getting two hits in four at-bats, along with a stolen base.

In 1980, Rickey Henderson became the third modern-era player to steal 100 bases in a season.

Winter, Rickey Henderson played in the Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League; his 42 stolen bases broke that league's record as well.

Rickey Henderson was an MVP candidate a year later, in a season shortened by a players' strike.

Rickey Henderson later became known for his showboat "snatch catches", in which he would flick his glove out at incoming fly balls, then whip his arm behind his back after making the catch.

In 1982, Rickey Henderson broke Lou Brock's major league single season record by stealing 130 bases, a total which has not been approached since.

Rickey Henderson stole 84 bases by the All-Star break; no player has stolen as many as 84 bases in an entire season since 1988, when Henderson himself stole 93.

Rickey Henderson's increasing power-hitting ability eventually led to a record for home runs to lead off a game.

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In December 1984, Rickey Henderson was traded to the New York Yankees along with Bert Bradley for five players: Tim Birtsas, Jay Howell, Stan Javier, Eric Plunk, and Jose Rijo.

Rickey Henderson won the Silver Slugger Award, and was third in the voting for the MVP award.

Rickey Henderson became the first player in major league history to reach 80 stolen bases and 20 home runs in the 1985 season.

On May 28,2011, Rickey Henderson's total was surpassed by Derek Jeter, who had played 1,700 more games as a Yankee than Rickey Henderson.

Rickey Henderson had a remarkably consistent season, with his batting average falling below.

Rickey Henderson won the AL's MVP award and helped Oakland to another pennant.

On May 1,1991, Rickey Henderson broke one of baseball's most noted records when he stole the 939th base of his career, one more than Lou Brock's total compiled from 1961 to 1979, mainly with the St Louis Cardinals.

In 1993, Rickey Henderson was having another outstanding season when he was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays at the trade deadline.

On July 16,1993, Rickey Henderson broke the world stolen base record by stealing his 1,066th base, thus going past the record which was previously held by Yutaka Fukumoto.

Nevertheless, Rickey Henderson was involved in the final play of the World Series that year in one fashion for which he was most known, as he and Paul Molitor scored on Joe Carter's Series-ending home run.

In 1994 and 1995, Rickey Henderson finished in the top 10 in the league in walks, steals and on-base percentage.

Rickey Henderson signed with the San Diego Padres in the offseason, where he had another respectable year in 1996, again finishing in the top ten in the National League in walks, OBP, steals and runs.

In January 1998, Rickey Henderson signed as a free agent with the Athletics, the fourth time he played for the franchise.

Rickey Henderson was voted the 1999 National League comeback player of the year by The Sporting News.

Rickey Henderson wore number 24, which—although not officially retired—had not been regularly worn by a Mets player since Willie Mays' retirement in 1973.

In May 2000, Rickey Henderson was released by the Mets, and he signed as a free agent with the Seattle Mariners.

Rickey Henderson broke Babe Ruth's record of 2,062 career walks, Ty Cobb's record of 2,245 career runs, and Zack Wheat's record of 2,328 career games in left field, and on the final day of the season collected his 3,000th career hit, a leadoff double off Rockies pitcher John Thomson in San Diego.

That final game was Tony Gwynn's last major league game, and Rickey Henderson had originally wanted to sit out so as not to detract from the occasion, but Gwynn insisted that Rickey Henderson play.

At the age of 42, in his last substantial major league season, Rickey Henderson finished the year with 25 stolen bases, ninth in the NL; it marked his 23rd consecutive season with more than 20 steals.

In February 2002, Rickey Henderson signed as a free agent with the Boston Red Sox, where at age 43 he became the oldest player to play center field in major league history when he replaced Johnny Damon for three games in April and another in July.

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Rickey Henderson played in the independent Atlantic League with the Newark Bears, hoping for a chance with another major league organization.

Rickey Henderson played his last major league game on September 19,2003; he was hit by a pitch in his only plate appearance, and came around to score his 2,295th run.

On May 9,2005, Rickey Henderson signed with the San Diego Surf Dawgs of the Golden Baseball League, an independent league.

NBC and ESPN reported that Rickey Henderson had announced his much-delayed official retirement on December 6,2005, but his agent denied the report the following day.

In July 2006, Rickey Henderson discussed an offer he'd received to rejoin the Surf Dawgs for the 2006 season, which would have been his 31st in professional baseball, but suggested he'd had enough.

Rickey Henderson was elected as part of the 2009 Hall of Fame vote, in his first appearance on the ballot.

Rickey Henderson's impact was noticeable on Jose Reyes, the Mets' former leadoff hitter.

Rickey Henderson has periodically been a special instructor in the Athletics' spring training camps.

Rickey Henderson uses it to remind himself, like, 'Rickey Henderson, what you doing, you stupid.

Rickey Henderson was so proud of a $1 million signing bonus that he framed it instead of cashing it, thus losing several months' interest.

Similarly, Rickey Henderson refused to spend his per diem money that all players receive on road trips: instead, he would put the envelopes containing the cash in a box, and when one of his children performed well in school he would invite them to choose an envelope out of the box and keep its contents.

On May 1,1991, Rickey Henderson stole his 939th base to pass Lou Brock and became the sport's all-time stolen base leader.

Rickey Henderson thanked God and his mother, as well as the people that helped him in baseball.

Rickey Henderson said at one time, quote, 'I am the greatest, ' end of quote.

In 1993, Rickey Henderson stole his 1,066th base, surpassing the record established ten years earlier by Yutaka Fukumoto for the Hankyu Braves in Japan's Pacific League.

Rickey Henderson had one more league-leading season after that stretch, when his 66 steals in 1998 made him the oldest steals leader in baseball history.

On July 29,1989, Rickey Henderson stole five bases against the Mariners' left-handed Randy Johnson, his career high, and one shy of the single-game major league record.

Baltimore Orioles third baseman Floyd Rayford described the confusion he felt during a particular game, when Rickey Henderson was leading off first base and signalling him with two fingers.

Rickey Henderson quickly stole second base, then third, and Rayford understood the gesture.

I'm about to give you one of my all-time favorite statistics: Rickey Henderson walked 796 times in his career LEADING OFF AN INNING.

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Rickey Henderson walked more times just leading off in an inning than Lou Brock, Roberto Clemente, Luis Aparicio, Ernie Banks, Kirby Puckett, Ryne Sandberg and more than 50 other Hall of Famers walked in their entire careers.

In September 2008, Rickey Henderson discussed his base-stealing technique at length with Sports Illustrated:.

Rickey Henderson stole all those bases and scored all those runs and played all those years not because of his body, but because of his brain.

Rickey Henderson could tell from the faintest, most undetectable twitch of a pitcher's muscles whether he was going home or throwing over to first.

Rickey Henderson understood that conditioning isn't about strength, but about flexibility.

Rickey Henderson has the second-highest career power–speed number, behind Barry Bonds, at 490.

Rickey Henderson holds the record for most home runs to lead off a game, with 81; Alfonso Soriano and Craig Biggio are tied for a distant second, each with 53 career lead-off home runs.

At the time of his last major league game, Rickey Henderson was still in the all-time top 100 home run hitters, with 297.

Rickey Henderson is the only American League player to steal more than 100 bases in a single season, and he is the all-time stolen base leader for the Oakland A's.

In 1999, before breaking the career records for runs scored and walks, Rickey Henderson was ranked number 51 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and was a nominee for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.

On January 12,2009, Rickey Henderson was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year on the ballot, receiving 94.