Perhaps this is over due, and perhaps Rickey will play five more years; it's hard to say. I haven't heard his plans one way or another, but it seems to me his career is over, and, love him or hate him, he is worthy of praise as a legendary ball player in many ways, so if you want to see why the self proclaimed "greatest" is great, check it out.
Rickey has now played in all or part of 25 seasons, spanning 4 decades, for nine different teams, most of them (14) with Oakland. Rickey annoyed a lot of baseball fans, teammates, and opponents with his flashy style and strange behavior, but his accomplishments on the diamond cannot be matched.
We all know that he is the alltime stolen base leader, with a current total of 1,406 - almost 500 more than the 2nd place Lou Brock (939). Obviously he stole more bases than anybody in the 80's (838), be he also, from age 32-41, stole more bases than anyother player in the 90's. Kenny Lofton stole 433 bases (Lofton didn't play his first full season until '92), but Rickey stole 463 in the decade. He led the AL in stolen bases 12 times, most recently in 1998 at age 39. He topped the 100 mark three times, including a modern (post 1900) record of 130 in 1982. Of his 25 season, Rickey finished in the top 10 in his league 22 times. Those numbers are in addition to 40 postseason stolen bases in 60 postseason games.
But that's not all. He's the all-time leader in walks (2,179) and runs scored (2,288). He led the league in walks 4 times and finished in the top 10 16 times. In runs, he led 5 times and was in the top 10 12 times. Though he only topped the league in on base percentage once, he ends his career with an astounding .402 mark. He has 3,040 career hits - good for 21st on the list, and 5,316 career times on base - good for 3rd. He has 297 career home runs, including some 60+ to lead off a game.
As for awards, he won his only gold glove in 1981, and an ALCS MVP in 1989. He made the All-Star team 10 times, and finished in the Top 10 in MVP voting 6 times, finishing 3rd in '85, 2nd in '81 and winning the award outright in 1990.
As a lead off man, he has no equal. As a personality, he was bizarre and yet somehow charming. His stolen base mark is likely in the category of untouchable, much like Cy Young's win total or Nolan Ryan's strikeout total. A definite first-ballot Hall of Famer, Rickey Henderson deserves all the credit he can get.
Posted by at October 16, 2003 07:32 PMI couldn't agree with you more. I have been trying to get people to understand this point for years. His stolen base marks will never be touched. Also, most of the people Henderson played with said he was one of the best teammates they played with. I believe Mattingly and McGwire might have said this? He is also very team oriented. The runs record helps support this, as the more runs he scores the better his team does, and someone has to hit him in.
Posted by: Brian Ball at September 24, 2005 04:37 PM