Rickey Being Rickey

Red Sox fans will finally be able to celebrate the induction of Jim Rice into the Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday. For one of the last great sluggers who played before the steroid era, it will be a memorable afternoon. While Rice is the story locally, the brightest star being inducted at Cooperstown this weekend is the one and only Rickey Henderson. Henderson, who played for 25 seasons with nine different teams (go ahead, name them off the top of your head), was truly one of the greatest players to ever step on the field. The stats tell us a lot about Henderson but they fail to explain the entire story. Sure, he is the all-time leader in stolen bases (1406) but that number doesn't illustrate how badly Henderson rattled opposing pitchers. I wonder what the batting average or on-base percentage was of the hitters who were at-bat when Henderson swiped a bag? The 1990 American League MVP trophy is a testament to his dominance that season but it does not do justice to the wonders Henderson did for the A's offense. They were in the top five of the AL in nine major statistical categories, including runs (third), homeruns (third -keep your steroid jokes at home this weekend), stolen bases (second - Rickey led the league with 65), and on-base percentage (third). Henderson is also second all-time in walks (2190) behind Barry Bonds. Pitchers who were afraid of igniting a first inning A's rally by walking him would often try and sneak a fastball past Rickey. A record 81 times he crushed a lead-off homerun due to that line of thinking. As a young fan in the late '80s and early '90s, Henderson's Oakland teams ruined my dreams of a Red Sox World Series. That didn't stop me from getting to Fenway Park for batting practice when the A's were in town so I could watch Rickey take BP, run his sprints, and shag fly balls. He was a joy to watch. When he played for the Red Sox for 72 games in 2002 (at age 43), Henderson was still a thrill to watch. Enjoy his induction speech, enjoy the highlight tapes and rest assured, we will never be lucky enough to see another Rickey Henderson. P.S. This is for those of you who didn't cheat and couldn't come up with Rickey's nine teams.