He is correct to say that the "Rickey being Rickey" thing is blown out of proportion to the point of caricature. I had the opportunity to interview him when he was with the Mets. I think he only agreed because I had conveyed I wanted to talk about his pursuit of Cobb's career record for runs, which was a big deal to him but very few people were noticing or taking it seriously. He was extremely smart and focused, very sharp and knowledgable. He was, I believe, 41 years old at the time and in incredible condition. Looked great.
Rickey got to reign as Greatest Living Ballplayer for only six months, since Willie Mays’s death in June.
Who inherits the title now? Are Bonds and Clemens and A-Rod all disqualified by steroids?
Mike Schmidt is widely considered the greatest ever at his position. Bench and Ripken are arguably the best at theirs. Trout and Ohtani and Judge have the potential, but we haven’t seen the full shape of their careers.
Rickey was on the bus one time when his teammates were talking about where they were when Joe Carter hit his World Series-winning home run. When they finally got to Rickey, he said
I'll update something that Bill wrote in the New Historical Baseball Abstract.
Only 18 players stole 400 bases at age 29 or earlier:
Rickey (794), Ty Cobb, Billy Hamilton, Vince Coleman, Tim Raines, Cesar Cedeno, Eddie Collins, Hugh Duffy, Willie Wilson, John McGraw, Curt Welch, George Davis, Carl Crawford, Clyde Milan, Jack Doyle, Omar Moreno, Jose Reyes, and Bill Lange.
Only 19 players stole 300 bases at age 30 or later:
Rickey (612), Lou Brock, Otis Nixon, Honus Wagner, Davey Lopes, Harry Stovey, Tom Brown, Maury Wills, Ichiro, Billy Hoy, Arlie Latham, Joe Morgan, Brett Butler, Max Carey, Ozzie Smith, Patsy Donovan, Bid McPhee, Eric Young Sr, and Ron LeFlore.
So who's on both lists? Rickey's in first place, twice. And...no-one else.
Rickey’s legacy is so much more than numbers, but man, those numbers. Tim Raines was a great player and one of the greatest base stealers of all time and played almost as long as Rickey at roughly the same time. Rickey stole 598 more bases than Raines. Or you could combine the careers of a couple other great base stealers of Rickey’s heyday - Vince Coleman (6th all time) and Willie Wilson (12th) - they’d only have 14 more steals than Rickey, even with 7 more seasons. That’s insane.
Rickey is to steals like Jerry Rice is to receiving yards. Or almost like Nolan Ryan is to strikeouts.
I’m glad that as a baseball fan I was able to see someone so amazing as a player and such a fun personality.
Joe summed his career up, and your post here adds to it. In view of your last statement, Rickey Henderson was one of those MLB players where fans of opposing teams relished watching him - not as a defiant challenge, rather as someone who "electrified the game" they watched.
Character he certainly was, but he seemsd beloved by all the other players in his brief time with the Mariners. Dave Henderson, part of our broadcast team, loved telling Rickey Henderson stories. It was obvious from the way he told them that he loved Rickey. From a many of Dave's character that was high praise indeed. R.I.P. Rickey. Often imitated but never, ever, ever duplicated.
Hendu was five months older than Rickey, and died almost exactly nine years before him. We didn't get as much Henderson as we should have, from either of them.
This stat jumps out at me: sure, he is the career leader in runs, but the guy had some power too. Shocked that his runs scored is more than double his RBI. Is there anyone else even close?
HOFer Sliding Billy Hamilton scored 2.3 runs for every RBI, a much higher ratio than Rickey. There are others if you look. Eddie Stanky had greater than 2:1.
Just a note that you need to take Billy Hamilton's RBI totals with at least a few grains of salt. Ribbies weren't an official stat at the time and his totals were recreated by researchers much later, so there could well be some errors in either direction.
He pretty much batted leadoff every game in his career. So except for his leadoff home runs (a record, of course), who's he driving in? Catchers and light hitting middle infielders and in his couple of NL years, pitchers. If someone wanted to take a deep dive, comparing his number of times on base to his number of times coming up with guys on base, I'll bet the ratio is a record for anyone with a long career.
When he made his MLB debut in 1979 I was already 32, married with two kids. This pleased me with the opportunity to follow his whole career. It was absolutely shocking how much better he was at the things he did best than anyone before or since.
Here's a rabbit hole to demonstrate his dominance. Rickey is best remembered for stealing 1,406 bases. That leads second place Lou Brock by a whopping 368. He also hit 297 home runs as a lead off man. That's good enough for 165th place all time.
Here are the new 8 career HR leaders following Rickey, with their career SB totals
Chris Davis 19.
Magglio Ordóñez 94
Robin Ventura 24.
Kent Hrbek 37
Pat Burrell 7.
Rusty Staub 47.
Craig Biggio* 414.
Jimmy Wynn 225.
Total 1,067
Rickey has 339 more stolen bases than these 8 sluggers combined.
Love the write up. I live in the Bay Area where Rickey is a continuous presence. Henceforth, I should say”was” but won’t. Rickey will always be around. I was surprised to learn of his passing because everyone expects Rickey to always be around.
A local mattress company advertises that you can sleep on the same mattress as Rickey Henderson. I always imagine showing up at his house about 10 PM and asking where the bedroom is...
More Rickey stories! Please!
Man of Steal indeed.
Not that it matters, but I think 2024 would have been his 67th Christmas.
He is correct to say that the "Rickey being Rickey" thing is blown out of proportion to the point of caricature. I had the opportunity to interview him when he was with the Mets. I think he only agreed because I had conveyed I wanted to talk about his pursuit of Cobb's career record for runs, which was a big deal to him but very few people were noticing or taking it seriously. He was extremely smart and focused, very sharp and knowledgable. He was, I believe, 41 years old at the time and in incredible condition. Looked great.
Rickey got to reign as Greatest Living Ballplayer for only six months, since Willie Mays’s death in June.
Who inherits the title now? Are Bonds and Clemens and A-Rod all disqualified by steroids?
Mike Schmidt is widely considered the greatest ever at his position. Bench and Ripken are arguably the best at theirs. Trout and Ohtani and Judge have the potential, but we haven’t seen the full shape of their careers.
Who’s your candidate?
Great tribute, great thread. RIP to a unique great.
Rickey was on the bus one time when his teammates were talking about where they were when Joe Carter hit his World Series-winning home run. When they finally got to Rickey, he said
'I WAS ON SECOND BASE!'
I'll update something that Bill wrote in the New Historical Baseball Abstract.
Only 18 players stole 400 bases at age 29 or earlier:
Rickey (794), Ty Cobb, Billy Hamilton, Vince Coleman, Tim Raines, Cesar Cedeno, Eddie Collins, Hugh Duffy, Willie Wilson, John McGraw, Curt Welch, George Davis, Carl Crawford, Clyde Milan, Jack Doyle, Omar Moreno, Jose Reyes, and Bill Lange.
Only 19 players stole 300 bases at age 30 or later:
Rickey (612), Lou Brock, Otis Nixon, Honus Wagner, Davey Lopes, Harry Stovey, Tom Brown, Maury Wills, Ichiro, Billy Hoy, Arlie Latham, Joe Morgan, Brett Butler, Max Carey, Ozzie Smith, Patsy Donovan, Bid McPhee, Eric Young Sr, and Ron LeFlore.
So who's on both lists? Rickey's in first place, twice. And...no-one else.
I'm standing by something I typed on the MLB Facebook page: To say Rickey was unique is accurate, but also an understatement.
We will never see his like again. Not because the game has changed, but because no one will have his combination of skills and blind spots and heart.
Rickey’s legacy is so much more than numbers, but man, those numbers. Tim Raines was a great player and one of the greatest base stealers of all time and played almost as long as Rickey at roughly the same time. Rickey stole 598 more bases than Raines. Or you could combine the careers of a couple other great base stealers of Rickey’s heyday - Vince Coleman (6th all time) and Willie Wilson (12th) - they’d only have 14 more steals than Rickey, even with 7 more seasons. That’s insane.
Rickey is to steals like Jerry Rice is to receiving yards. Or almost like Nolan Ryan is to strikeouts.
I’m glad that as a baseball fan I was able to see someone so amazing as a player and such a fun personality.
Joe summed his career up, and your post here adds to it. In view of your last statement, Rickey Henderson was one of those MLB players where fans of opposing teams relished watching him - not as a defiant challenge, rather as someone who "electrified the game" they watched.
Character he certainly was, but he seemsd beloved by all the other players in his brief time with the Mariners. Dave Henderson, part of our broadcast team, loved telling Rickey Henderson stories. It was obvious from the way he told them that he loved Rickey. From a many of Dave's character that was high praise indeed. R.I.P. Rickey. Often imitated but never, ever, ever duplicated.
Hendu was five months older than Rickey, and died almost exactly nine years before him. We didn't get as much Henderson as we should have, from either of them.
This stat jumps out at me: sure, he is the career leader in runs, but the guy had some power too. Shocked that his runs scored is more than double his RBI. Is there anyone else even close?
HOFer Sliding Billy Hamilton scored 2.3 runs for every RBI, a much higher ratio than Rickey. There are others if you look. Eddie Stanky had greater than 2:1.
Just a note that you need to take Billy Hamilton's RBI totals with at least a few grains of salt. Ribbies weren't an official stat at the time and his totals were recreated by researchers much later, so there could well be some errors in either direction.
He pretty much batted leadoff every game in his career. So except for his leadoff home runs (a record, of course), who's he driving in? Catchers and light hitting middle infielders and in his couple of NL years, pitchers. If someone wanted to take a deep dive, comparing his number of times on base to his number of times coming up with guys on base, I'll bet the ratio is a record for anyone with a long career.
Thanks Joe. I love the Harold Reynolds story. Sixty stolen bases? Rickey would have stolen sixty by the All-star break.
what a unique guy, what a talent- and passed WAY too young, he was 2 yrs younger than i am...
When he made his MLB debut in 1979 I was already 32, married with two kids. This pleased me with the opportunity to follow his whole career. It was absolutely shocking how much better he was at the things he did best than anyone before or since.
Here's a rabbit hole to demonstrate his dominance. Rickey is best remembered for stealing 1,406 bases. That leads second place Lou Brock by a whopping 368. He also hit 297 home runs as a lead off man. That's good enough for 165th place all time.
Here are the new 8 career HR leaders following Rickey, with their career SB totals
Chris Davis 19.
Magglio Ordóñez 94
Robin Ventura 24.
Kent Hrbek 37
Pat Burrell 7.
Rusty Staub 47.
Craig Biggio* 414.
Jimmy Wynn 225.
Total 1,067
Rickey has 339 more stolen bases than these 8 sluggers combined.
Quibble: Brock stole 938, almost 500 behind Rickey.
Most amazing thing in that list is Hrbek's 37 (!!) SBs. What the hell???
I can only assume the catchers were laughing too hard to even try throwing.
Back end of double steals I guess. Or the short stop didn't want to stand in front of him to take the catch.
Love the write up. I live in the Bay Area where Rickey is a continuous presence. Henceforth, I should say”was” but won’t. Rickey will always be around. I was surprised to learn of his passing because everyone expects Rickey to always be around.
I hope they force them to have a memorial service in the only stadium it could possibly be held in. The old place would be rocking!
A local mattress company advertises that you can sleep on the same mattress as Rickey Henderson. I always imagine showing up at his house about 10 PM and asking where the bedroom is...