On Christmas Day 1958, a baby was born on the back seat of an Oldsmobile, in a poor Black neighborhood of Chicago, IL.  Premature entry into the world, along with snowy weather conditions, conspired to hinder the parents from getting to the local hospital in time.

The infant’s birth certificate reads “Rickey Nelson Henley”, the misspelled title of a famous White singer and actor popular in this era, combined with the family’s surname.  This stressful delivery was just the start of substantial attrition for young Rickey.  Born into a broken home, his early years were personified by numerous dynamic household environments, and lots of forced travel. 

Rickey’s father split for Oakland, CA when the child was just 2 years old.  As a result, the youngest Henley, and his 4 older brothers, moved locales, living on their maternal grandmother’s farm in Pine Bluff, AR until age 7, when the crew headed west to reunite the family on the West Coast.

However, Rickey’s birth patriarch died in a motorcycle accident when he was 10.  It wasn’t until the lad’s junior year of high school that his mother remarried Paul Henderson, resulting in this person’s now infamous moniker.

Despite this rough start to his existence, arriving in and growing up under adverse conditions, this individual went on to become one of the most influential players in Major League Baseball history.  In classic flamboyant fashion, decades later in an interview, the boy turned man, when asked about his early welcome into the world, simply espoused. 

“I was already fast.  I couldn’t wait.”

Rickey Henderson was never modest about his physically endowed skills.  And damn, was he fast.

In high school, the budding Henderson became a tri-sport star athlete in basketball, baseball, and football.  With professional potential in the latter two pursuits, he let his mom make the ultimate decision.  She clearly chose wisely, eschewing strength for speed, size for strategy, and, of course, leaning towards the safety of her son.

Selected in the 4th round of the 1976 MLB draft by the Oakland Athletics, Rickey excelled in every level of the minors, perfecting his eye at the play, and stealthy technique on the bases.

Rickey Henderson made his Major League debut in the summer of 1979, playing on an abysmal A’s squad that ended up over 50 games below the 0.500 mark.  Fortunately, famed manager Billy Martin took over this club the following season, implementing an aggressive offensive style of play which put both Rickey, and the entire novel team, on the map.

Rickey rocketed into mainstream baseball consciousness during the start of 1982 campaign by tallying 66 steals in the first 66 games, when he was still relatively unknown across the league.  Pitchers quickly learned they needed to make a better effort holding on the young speedster.

Despite increased diligence, by the end of the season, Rickey Henderson had destroyed Lou Brock's single-season record of 118 stolen bases with 130 total bags swiped.  For modern context, during both the 2021 and 2022 MLB seasons, no team in the league achieved this number of total steals across their entire roster.

Rickey was now a star, with his entire career ahead of him.  Thus began 2 decades of professional baseball entertainment, both on and off the field.

Even before reviewing the amassed stats, Rickey’s MLB resume is impressive purely from a tenure standpoint.  He played for 9 different teams during his quarter-century career, in both the AL and NL, including 4 separate stints with the original Oakland Athletics.  He sported jersey #24 for nearly the entire duration, except for brief stints rocking #14, #25, and #35, at the beginning and end of the lengthy journey, when he didn’t have clubhouse bartering leverage.

One of Rickey’s keys to success was longevity; he played 25 seasons and 3,081 games, both values which put him 4th on the overall lists.  In the modern baseball era, only pitcher Nolan Ryan performed across more years, 27 in total, while only 3 position players have participated in more contests, led by Pete Rose, who appeared on the line-up card 3,562 times.

Some of Rickey Henderson’s lesser-known records, like career leader in outfield put-outs, are simply a result of total chances, due to his permanency in the pros, and the fact that most other old position players ended their careers at 1st base or as a designated hitter.

It also helped that Rickey came up at a time when the number of games per MLB regular season were fixed at 162, played a position that was relatively easy on the body, head-first dives on steals aside, and almost always batted leadoff.

Another anomaly is that Rickey Henderson was by far the most successful professional baseball position player who naturally threw left-handed and batted right-handed.  This combination is exceedingly rare, with only 57 such known folks in MLB history, equating to 0.3% of all participants at the highest level of the game.  This juxtaposition was a result of innately birthed dominant dexterity, augmented by watching all his friends in the schoolyard swinging opposite, and may also explain Rickey’s unique eye at the plate, as well as sliding skills on the basepath.

Below are some amusing head-to-head trivia tallies comparing Rickey Henderson to some of Major League Baseball’s historic greats, which are surprising, and help explain how truly unique the “Man of Steal’s” epic career was.

Home Runs = Rickey Henderson (297) versus Brooks Robinson (268)

Rickey Henderson was just 3 home runs away from joining the elusive 300 dinger club.  Sorry to throw some shade on Mr. Robinson, but his offensive output tallies are fairly lacking relative to many other Hall of Fame inductees.  Aside from a 200+ lead in RBIs, and essentially a push in triples, Robinson substantially trailed Henderson in every other offensive category of note.  However, Brooks, a beloved Baltimore Orioles for most of his career, was put on this earth to do one specific thing well.  Field ground balls at 3rd base, aptly dubbed the “hot corner”.  Robinson amassed 16 Gold Gloves awards in his 23 seasons, by far the most of any position player, and eclipsed only by pitcher Greg Maddux’s 18 trophies.  Rickey Henderson, an average outfielder, who played primarily left, earned just one Gold Glove, in 1981, shortly after his rookie campaign.

Triples = Rickey Henderson (66) versus Jimmie Foxx (125)

This is by far the most counterintuitive stat of the list.  Mr. Foxx tallied only 87 steals over his illustrious career, just 6% of Mr. Henderson’s 90-foot swipes.  However, the former hitter put the ball in play, then sprinted safely from home to 3rd base almost twice as many times as the latter.  In fact, 10 players with 500 career home runs have more triples than Rickey Henderson.  Many of these players participated in an earlier era, when ballparks were bigger, wall bounces worse, and defense generally dismal.  Still, the fact that the glorified fatty Babe Ruth also has more than twice as many triples as the preeminent base stealer of all-time is truly unfathomable.  Maybe Rickey just chose to stop at 2nd base, as 3rd is much easier to claim on foot than home.

Hits = Rickey Henderson (3,055) or Roberto Clemente (3,000)

Rickey Henderson takes this battle, by a scan 55 hits.  With a career tragically cut short, and a 0.317 lifetime batting average, Clemente would have undoubtably passed Henderson’s total, likely in the first few months of the pending 1973 season.  Any baseball fan worth their salt knows exactly how many base hits Roberto Clemente ended up with; 3,000 exactly, an achievement he garnered on the last day of the 1972 baseball slate.  He subsequently died in a plane crash departing from his home nation of Puerto Rico, an emergency supply vessel he chartered to help the survivors of the catastrophic earthquake that occurred in nearby Nicaragua that December.  In the wake of this accident, the National Baseball Hall of Fame commissioned a change to their voting policies, allowing players to be eligible for HOF entry 6 months after death.  Mr. Clemente was the first and only player to date for which this posthumous rule has been invoked.

Intentional Base on Balls = Rickey Henderson (61) or Ozzie Smith (79)

This is definitely a unique stat resulting from changes to accepted MLB tactics over time.  Back in the day, batters were more anxious, pitchers were quite aggressive, and coaches were less strategic.  That being said, the top-5 for IBBs amongst those inducted into the HOF is quite random: Musial, Aaron, McCovey, Williams, and Guerrero, fellows with various skill sets from 3 distinctly different eras, all of whom were given more than 250 free passes over their prodigious careers.  Still, a shortstop, a speedy one at that, with the one of the lowest position player batting averages in the Hall, amassed more intentional walks than Rickey.  This is another testament to how dangerous the “Man of Steal” could be when he got on base.

Strikeouts = Rickey Henderson (1,694) or Derek Jeter (1,840)

Derek Jeter is understandably considered one of the best all-around baseball players of the modern era, a strong hitter, with a 0.310 average, and huge fan popularity, voted a 14X All-Star.  Despite sporting uniform #2, adorned on the Yankees pinstripes, his entire 20-year career, 5 was the real value that defined his career, earning this many Silver Slugger, Gold Glove, and World Series honors.  However, Mr. Jeter stuck out nearly 150 times more than Rickey Henderson, despite having roughly 750 fewer plate appearances.  Jeter’s 1,840 K’s total ranks 7th in MLB history, surrounded by players who where much more of the power hitting ilk.  Interestingly, there’s one other contact hitter in the top-10 for strikeouts, Craig Biggio, who also played in the same period of strikeouts and steroids as the 2000’s started.

It’s worth dedicating a specific section to Rickey Henderson’s prolific prowess as a base stealer.  As the game of Major League Baseball has progressed from speed to power, especially in this recent millennium, snagging bags is no longer part a key part of the game.

Rickey Henderson’s 1,406 career steals put him essentially 50% ahead of second place Lou Brock with 938 on the all-time count.  This unfathomable overachievement results from a combination of proficiency and permanence.  Rickey led the American League in successful swipes 11 of 14 years from 1980 to 1991; this amazing run of performance included a trifecta of tallies over 100, and another trio over 80.

Considering his proclivity to get on base, Rickey often didn’t stop at just one steal per game.  He registered 3 successful bags 71 times, and 4 swipes 19 times.  Not to mention a dynamic 9-inning session in the summer of 1989, where he walked 4 times, stole 5 bases, and scored 4 runs, all without recording a base hit.  Rickey Henderson was truly a one-man offense to be reckoned with.

Rickey’s efficiency was also quite prolific, especially when compared to other elite base stealers.  Henderson was successful in over 80% of thievery attempts across his entire career, putting him inside the top-70 in MLB history, a list that includes many folks with many fewer attempts.

At the end of the 2024 Major League season, the top-5 active base stealers summed together have finally surpassed Rickey’s career total, by just a single swiped base.  The two youngest players in the top-15, superstars Ronald Acuna Jr., and Shohei Ohtani, currently sit at 196 and 145 bags respectively.  Both in their late 20s, a generous career gives this duo of 5-tool players another 15 productive years in their prime.  A mere 80 steels a season will give them the ultimate title; except neither player has surpassed this lofty mark even once to date.

When simplified, Rickey Henderson’s career can be mimicked by 56 steals for 25 consecutive seasons, or 70 swipes over 20 straight campaigns.  Few MLB players reach the two-decade participation mark, let alone keep running wild as their body’s break down.  For reference, Rickey’s tally of 109 steals after turning age 40 still puts him in the top-30 all-time. 

Long story short, Rickey’s career stolen base record will never be broken.

A conversation of epic MLB base stealers wouldn’t be complete without referencing Vince Coleman.  While not impressive on the longevity front, this speedy St. Louis Cardinal was just as dominant in the National League during the same 1980’s timeline that Rickey was running wild.

Over a 6-year stretch from 1985 to 1990, Coleman recorded 549 steals, including three 100+ achievements in a row.  Impressive, considering the start of this steak was his rookie year in the league.  However, Vince couldn’t keep up the pace, unable to get over 50 steals in a season during the entire next decade.  Another testament to Rickey’s tenacious tenure.

This Mr. Henderson, as there have been several unrelated peeps with the same surname throughout MLB history, wasn’t just known for his speed.  He also holds the record for most leadoff home runs, with 81 total.  This act is one of the most exciting and impactful ways to start a baseball game, especially when on the road.

Rickey, always the showman, came up with all sorts of curated gyrations to celebrate his leadoff success.  Granted, there’s a decided detrimental contradiction to hitting a home run to initiate the contest, with no one on base, and no opportunities to drive in other runners.  But, players gonna’ play. 

This record is somewhat a crime of opportunity; during Henderson’s lengthy career he tallied less than 100 at-bats outside of the initial spot, as compared to over 13k times stepping to the plate listed first on the line-up card.  Rickey was consistent if nothing else, tallying a leadoff jack for every team, and in every year, during which he competed in the Majors. 

This is one of the few of his many impressive records that could theoretically be broken in the near future.  George Springer, of Houston Astros playoff fame, and now participating for the Toronto Blue Jays, sits at 60 leadoff dingers.  Entering his 12th campaign, at 35 years old, tallying 4 leadoff jacks through the end of the decade could give Springer the all-time lead.  Assuming he remains healthy, and productive enough to hold down the top spot in the line-up.

Despite being the best ever in total baseball runs achieved, Rickey’s top annual tally of 146 runs in 1985 ranks just the 60th best year in history.  Many of the better sums occurred in early days of the MLB, which involved a decidedly different game.  Following Ted Williams historic 150 run season in 1949, it was another 36 years before the 140-run mark was broached again, by of course, Rickey Henderson.  Since 2000, only 4 other MLB players have achieved this significant statistical feat.

Rickey could score runs on his own, with both his bat and his legs.  Such a combination of power and speed has rarely been seen in professional baseball.

Sure, players like Canseco, Rodriguez, Soriano, and most recently Ohtani, have achieved 40 home run and 40 steal campaigns.  However, Henderson displayed truly unparalleled combination of power and speed, with a 10/100 effort in 1982, and 20/80 result in 1986.  He also had 3 seasons in his early 1980’s heyday accruing both 100 steals and 100 walks.

Despite his elite speed on the base paths, Mr. Henderson was by no means a defensive specialist.  Playing almost exclusively left field, with average range and a weak arm, Rickey only notched one Gold Glove award during his entire career.

A discussion of Rickey Henderson the player isn’t complete without examining Rickey Henderson the person.

All one needs to realize is that “Rickey” often referred to himself in the 3rd person, in both public and private life, hence the repetitive title of this post.  Such overt confidence, bordering on narcissistic vanity, doesn’t materialize overnight.

By 5th grade, Rickey Henderson knew he was good enough to play in the majors, despite his small stature and late blooming maturity.  When the 10th grade baseball coach at Oakland Technical High School initially put him on the JV team, Rickey set the record straight, first with a verbal outburst, then with his elite performance of the field.

Once reaching the professional ranks, Rickey was constantly bickering over monetary contracts, which became an unwelcome distraction, not just for him, but the entire organization, spanning from frustrated owners to beleaguer ballboys.  Coaches and players alike griped that Henderson’s head wasn’t always in the game, spending more time on media engagements than practice requirements.

Also, many colleagues over the years stated Henderson was self-centered, and not a team player.  They claimed Rickey didn’t give his all every night, often sitting out with just menial injuries.  Maybe true, but there’s no rational MLB participant who wouldn’t want this dynamic athlete as a contributor on their squad in his prime, which spanned multiple decades.

Just image what more could have been accomplished in this illustrious career if Rickey showed up to play every day.  You don’t amass nearly 300 home runs and over 1,400 steals by being lazy.

Throughout his career, despite not always giving it his all, Rickey displayed incredible toughness on the field, a product of his difficult upbringing, which require this motivated individual overcome adversity in all elements of life.  As a result, this sparkplug could not be intimidated, on or off the diamond.

This absolute belief in his own skill set, even if unfounded at times, allowed Rickey Henderson to achieve feats other MLB players could only dream of.

There are so many stories tied to Rickey Henderson’s clubhouse antics that it’s hard to document them all.  Aside from Yogi Berra, there’s arguably no more quotable character in MLB history, even if many of the stories are truly tall tales.  A few of Rickey’s more memorable extracurricular activities include the following fiascos.

• Rickey framed the first $1 million bonus check he received from the Oakland A’s, rather than cashing it at the bank, sending the team’s accounting department in to a frenzied panic while trying to balancing the books at month end.

• Forgetting the names of batting coaches, avoiding incoming calls from front office personnel, ignoring equipment manager’s requests, and even lapsing on teammate’s names; more on this issue to follow.

• Taking 45 seconds for circle the bases after a long ball that achieving the run which broke Ty Cobb’s MLB career record, then unnecessarily sliding into home plate to cap of this display of excess.

• Having incredibly poor sense of direction, distance, and dates in the real world.  Apparently, Rickey lived his entire life 90 feet at a time, along an orthogonal path, on his own terms.

• Though now considered urban legend, it’s still funny, and feasible, to imagine Rickey Henderson asking John Olerud why he wore a batting helmet on the field when they met at spring training for the Mariners at the start of the 2000 season; this pair had already been teammates twice prior in the majors.

• Not mention countless jokes from, with, towards, and about, the enigmatic Rickey, often delivered by the personage himself.

Granted, a few decades later, it’s hard to separate fact from fiction.  It’s also difficult to ascertain if Mr. Henderson was savvy, supportive, or selfish.   Most likely a combination of these divergent traits.

There’s another unlikely source of inspiration underlying Rickey’s successful career.  His lovely life Pamela.  She was a freshman at Oakland Tech when he was a senior, but wouldn’t let this age difference hinder her courtship.  The teenagers lived together as the budding Henderson got drafted and moved up through the minor league ranks, then got married in 1983, as Rickey bloomed into full baseball stardom.

As a result, this couple ended up spending 5 full decades together, with the delicate lady providing a balancing stability to the energetic man’s reckless antics.  Rickey and Pamela were a perfect pair; him perpetually in the spotlight, with her positioned conveniently just outside of it.

Rickey Henderson was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2009, during his first year of eligibility, a feat achieved by less than a quarter of all eventual entrants.  While not always popular with fellow players, his amassed stats were too substantial to ignore when it came down to HOF candidacy from a pure performance metric standpoint.  The 10 All-Star games Rickey was voted into highlight his admiration amongst the fans, likely due to his scintillating style of play and flamboyant personality.

Notable baseball statistician Bill James, when asked if he considered Rickey Henderson to have a resume worthy of remembering, summed up this unique player’s career stats with the following quip.

"If you could split him in two, you'd have two Hall of Famers.”

Of the 7 standard MLB fantasy baseball categories (R, H, HR, RBI, SB, BB, AVG), before the era of complex mathematical metrics like WAR and OPS, Rickey Henderson remains first all-time in 2 of these, his absurd steals tally, as well as total runs scored, with an impressive 2,295 amassed.

Additionally, Rickey Henderson also owned the MLB career base on balls crown for 3 years, from 2001 to 2004, before being overtaken by Barry Bonds.  While Bonds ended up with 368 more walks than Henderson, this differential came solely from intentional BBs.  Over his career, Rickey recorded less than 10% of the automatic free passes Barry got, 61 versus 688, accounting for much more than the entire career disparity.  Henderson earned his way on base, and often to 2nd, 3rd, and occasionally even home, sometime without the ball never being put in play.

The table below sums up how prolific Rickey Henderson’s stats are across the board, relative not just to the average MLB player, but compared against the vaulted Hall of Fame contingent.

Rickey finally broke the curse of being considered a selfish individual contributor during the 1989 season, by leading the Oakland Athletics, in his second stint with the team that drafted him, to the ultimate goal in epic fashion.

Over 9 total games across the League Championship and World Series rounds, he got on base more than half the time, averaging over a steal and a run per game.  The ideal table setter indeed.  No wonder the A’s swept the Giants, in the famous Bay Battle earthquake-interrupted series, and Rickey was awarded ALCS MVP honors. 

Henderson’s second World Series title in 1993, with a different team, the Toronto Blue Jays, culminating in Joe Carter’s epic walk-off dinger, cemented Rickey as a valuable veteran leader.  Plus, in between, during the 1990 campaign, he finally earned the coveted league MVP award, after being snubbed despite the historic 1985 performance.

Rickey often stated he could play baseball until he died, which unfortunately wasn’t far from the truth.  Henderson participated in his last major league game on September 19th, 2003 for the Los Angeles Dodgers.  44 years old at the time, he fittingly got on base via hit by pitch, then scored a run, surprisingly without registering a steal along the way.

Rickey Henderson unfortunately passed away on December 20th, 2024, just a week shy of his 66th birthday, due to complications from asthma and pneumonia.  He’s survived by his dedicated wife Pamela, and three daughters, whose given names all fittingly begin with the letter “A”.

There are only a few absolutes in the annals of baseball lore.  Cal Ripken, the “Iron Man”, representing the game’s most durable participant, based on his streak of 2,632 consecutive games played.  Nolan “Express” Ryan, utterly dominant on the mound, with 5,714 strike-outs and 7 total no-hitters over a nearly 3-decade career.  Fernando Tatis Sr., achieving the ultimate statistician’s anomaly on April 23rd, 1999; a pair of Grand Slams in the same inning off the same pitcher.

What about the best leadoff hitter ever?  That would be Rickey Henderson.  Hands down, no debate.  This honor isn’t based around a single stat, position, or achievement, but an entire amazing body of work. 

In short, Rickey is the most prolific participant ever at the most important activity in the game of baseball.  Getting on base to start the game, then coming around to score.  There’s no better test of an individual’s contribution to their team than this seemingly simplistic effort, which is fundamental to winning games, and pennants.

Many of the recent trends in professional baseball, from strategy to rules to style, are meant to facilitate what Rickey Henderson provided on his own naturally: power hitters batting lead-off, larger bases to encourage more steals, substantial increase in intentional walks, press conferences after every game, limited pick-off attempts.  Imagine what the “Man of Steal” could do in this modern era of the sport.

There’s a handful of famous players in Major League Baseball history who have earned the single moniker status typically reserved for soccer royalty.  Aaron.  Mayes.  Ruth.  However, very few are referred to by their first name.  And there’s only one character who adopted his own title.  And definitely earned it.  That man is simply known to everyone, including himself, as “Rickey”.

Records:

• Background on Rickey’s upbringing and achievements with some unique anecdotes.  [REF]

• Except from documentary book on Rickey Henderson’s life on and off the field.  [REF]

• Highlighting the amazing statistical performance of Rickey Henderson’s illustrious baseball career.  [REF]

• 25 hilarious stories regarding the off-the-field antics of Rickey Henderson.  [REF]

• Details on the exceedingly rare lefty throwing, righty hitting MLB player.  [REF]

• List of famous MLB records that will likely never be broken.  [REF]

• An absurd collection of Major League Baseball data, ranging from box scores for individual games, to career tallies in all manner of categories.  [REF]