OAKLAND — Rickey Henderson, the Oakland kid who became the greatest leadoff hitter in baseball history and his hometown A’s biggest star has died.
Henderson would have turned 66 on Christmas Day.
After a frenzy of social media speculation overnight, multiple sources confirmed to the Bay Area News Group on Saturday morning that Henderson had died. The family is expected to make an announcement later in the day. Henderson had been in the hospital battling pneumonia, a source told the Bay Area News Group.
The left fielder with the unmistakable crouched batting stance and affable swagger set MLB career records with 2,295 runs and 1,406 stolen bases and is the single-season stolen base king. He was enshrined into the Hall of Fame in 2009, his first year of eligibility.
“My favorite hero was Muhammad Ali,” Henderson said during his induction speech in Cooperstown, New York. “He said one time, quote, I am the greatest, end of quote. That was something I always wanted to be, and now that the (Baseball Writers’ Association of America) has voted me into the Baseball Hall of Fame, my journey as a player is complete. I am now in the class of the greatest players of all time, and at this moment, I am very, very humbled.”
Henderson played for the A’s in parts of 14 seasons over four different stints during his 25-year career and he is considered the greatest player in Oakland franchise history.
News of his death is another emotional blow to A’s fans whose team is leaving Oakland after 57 seasons. They are headed to West Sacramento before, if all goes according to plan, relocating permanently in Las Vegas. Former franchise stars Sal Bando, Ken Holtzman and Vida Blue also died since January 2023. It was just six months ago that Willie Mays, the greatest player in the history of the cross-bay San Francisco Giants, died at the age of 93.
Rickey Nelson Henley Henderson was born in Chicago in the back seat of an Oldsmobile before his mother could get to the hospital. He often joked of his arrival that Christmas Day in 1958 that, “I was already fast.”
Henderson’s family relocated to Oakland, where he became a star athlete at Oakland Technical High. Another often-shared story was that Henderson, a high school All-American running back, dreamed of playing for Oakland’s other team – the Raiders. But his mother, Bobbie, persuaded him to turn to the baseball diamond because he was less likely to get hurt.
Despite his trademark headfirst slides, Henderson played a quarter-century in the majors and mostly avoided serious injury. Only Pete Rose, Carl Yastrzemski and Hank Aaron played more games in the majors than Henderson.
“I guess Mom do knows best,” Henderson noted during his induction speech. “Thanks, Mom.”
The Oakland A’s drafted Henderson in the fourth round of the 1976 draft, just as the Swingin’ A’s who won three straight World Series titles from 1972-74 were being broken up.
In 1979, the A’s lost more than 100 games for the first time since it arrived from Kansas City 11 years earlier.
But that was also the year Henderson arrived, and became a fan favorite.
Henderson was just 20 when he made his major league debut with Oakland on June 24, getting two hits in four at-bats, along with his first career stolen base. He batted .274 as a rookie and stole 33 bases in 89 games.
All of that was just an appetizer.
In 1980, Henderson became the first player in the history of the American League to steal 100 bases in a season. Two years later he stole 130 bases, breaking Lou Brock’s MLB record of 118 set in 1974.
Henderson led the American League in stolen bases 12 times, including in 1998 when, at the age of 39, he stole 66 bases with the A’s. Henderson also had power to go with his speed, hitting 297 career home runs, including a MLB-record 81 to lead off a game.
Henderson played for nine different franchises during his career, but always had a home with the A’s in Oakland. In 2017, the playing surface at the Coliseum was dedicated as Rickey Henderson Field.
“Growing up in Oakland as a kid, playing in the parks around the ballpark, I had no idea that this chance would ever come,” he told reporters at the dedication ceremony. “The first thing was getting the opportunity to play for the Oakland A’s and being from Oakland, and now this has happened. So it’s a special, great moment.”
Henderson and fellow Oakland star Dave Stewart threw out simultaneous ceremonial first pitches before the A’s final game at the Coliseum on Sept. 26.
The “Man of Steal” had four different stints with the A’s and six of his 10 All-Star Game appearances came with him in Green and Gold.
Henderson left Oakland for the first time after the 1984 season, when he was traded to the New York Yankees. He made a triumphant return to the East Bay midway through the 1989 season, and helped the A’s beat the San Francisco Giants in the Bay Bridge Series for the franchise’s first – and last – World Series title since 1974.
In 85 games with the A’s that season, Henderson scored 72 runs, drew 70 walks and stole 52 bases. He was even more dominating in the playoffs, winning the MVP of the American League Championship Series against Toronto and batting .474 in the World Series sweep of the Giants.
Henderson was named the AL MVP in 1990, when he batted .325, scored 119 runs, hit 28 home runs, with 65 RBIs and stole 66 bases to help the Bash Brothers A’s return to the World Series for a third straight season. Henderson also was second in the MVP voting in 1981, and was third in 1985 with the Yankees.
Henderson also won a World Series ring with the Toronto Blue Jays in 1993. He was on second base when Joe Carter hit his Series-winning walk-off home run off Mitch Williams. Henderson helped set the stage for the iconic moment with a walk, which was not a big surprise. Only Barry Bonds drew more regular-season walks in MLB history than Henderson, and the only other players with more than 2,000 career walks are Babe Ruth and Ted Williams.
In 1989, Henderson was Nolan Ryan’s 5,000th career strikeout victim. Henderson’s response: “If he ain’t struck you out, then you ain’t nobody.”
Two seasons later, the pair of future Hall of Famers made more history together when on the same day – but 1,700 miles apart – Henderson became the all-time career stolen base leader and Ryan pitched his record seventh no-hitter.
Henderson often referred to himself in the third person, and throughout his career there was no shortage of “Rickey” stories. Some were confirmed, others simply enhanced his mythical stature as one of baseball’s most entertaining characters.
Among the most often told stories about Henderson:
– In the early 1980s the A’s couldn’t balance their accounts until they discovered Henderson had failed to cash a $1 million check, instead framing it on his wall at home. A’s insiders insist this did happen. Henderson also sat on a reported six-figure check during his time with the Yankees, saying at the time there was no problem, he was just “waiting for the money market rates to go up” before cashing it.
– Henderson played for the Mariners in 2000 and, according to legend, walked up to John Olerud at the batting cage and asked the Seattle first baseman why he wore a batting helmet in the field. Olerud explained he suffered a brain aneurysm as a college player at Washington State and wore the helmet for protection and Henderson responded, “Yeah, I used to play with a guy that had the same thing.” Olerud, who previously was Henderson’s teammate with the Mets and the Blue Jays, said, “Yeah, that was me.” Both players say the exchange never happened, but wished it had.
– A major star since the early 1980s, Henderson was known for using fake names when he checked into hotels around the league to avoid attracting attention from fans and the media. One of the names he used: Richard Pryor.
— Henderson complained a lot about being underpaid. His recourse often was be the last player on the team to report to spring training. He also once told reporters, “If they’re going to pay me like (light-hitting middle infielder Mike) Gallego, I’m going to play like Gallego.”
In 2003, at the age of 44, Henderson turned a stint with the independent league Newark Bears into a 30-game run with the Los Angeles Dodgers. In what turned out to be his final game in the majors, Henderson pinch hit against the Giants and scored a run after being hit with a pitch thrown by reliever Jason Christiansen.
Rickey being Rickey, he didn’t officially accept he was retired until he was named the Mets first-base coach in 2007 – the same year A’s then-general manager Billy Beane, a former teammate, said earlier in the spring he’d consider activating Henderson for a day when the rosters expanded at the end of the season so he could end his career as an Athletic.
But even at the age of 48, Henderson left open the door for a potential return to the field when he took the Mets coaching job.
“If it was a situation where we were going to win the World Series and I was the only player that they had left, I would put on the shoes,” Henderson told reporters. “I haven’t submitted retirement papers to MLB, but I think MLB already had their papers that I was retired.”
By the 2010s Henderson began appearing at more A’s events, often serving as a special instructor during spring training, offering insight on outfield defense and baserunning. In 2017 he was named special assistant to club president Dave Kaval.
Henderson made several appearances at the Coliseum in the A’s final days in Oakland. He even caught a first pitch thrown by daughter Adrianna before the A’s game against the Yankees during the final homestand.
“I told myself, instead of getting emotional with what’s going on and them not being here, I reflect back on all the great moments that we had here, all the great times that I had here and the joyful times here,” Henderson told Bay Area News Group. “I did a lot of things in Oakland. The memories, probably more than the emotion, is going to take over.
“The emotion might come later, but when they leave, I want to reflect and look back on all the great memories.”
Staff writers David DeBolt and Jon Becker contributed to this report.
