RIP Rickey Henderson

He was playing against like minded thinking at the time.

 

The only baseball card I’ve held onto. Mine is slightly crooked so it’s not too valuable the last time I checked.

 

Well, the Sixties/Seventies were kind of a perfect storm for base running:

-- construction of a whole generation of new stadiums with much farther fence distances and artificial turf which magnified speed (on the base paths and of batted balls on turf)

-- the competitive balance of the game had swung wildly in favor of pitching and defense. Offensive numbers were at historic lows, thus stolen bases became comparatively more valuable

-- the first generations of nearly-full integration were still working through the game. Guys like Lou Brock and Maury Wills had skill packages uniquely suited to base stealing. Later versions such as Tim Raines, Willie Wilson and Willie McGee would count too. Rickey Henderson was the ultimate of this type.

--Analytics were also working their way through the game regarding the running game. In the Seventies, coming out of a period of 30-40 years bookended by Babe Ruth and Willie Mays, base stealing seemed like a hip, contrarian and avante garde approach to the game. It was the old timers from the eras of heavy slugging in the 20s-40s who worried about throwing away outs on the basepaths.

In the Sixties and early Seventies there were seemingly intelligent baseball people who argued seriously that batting average and stolen bases were just as important as home runs.

With the construction of the urban retro parks with shorter fences and natural grass in the eighties and nineties, power became important again and analytics became more concerned with those lost outs on the base paths. Corn fed diets helped as well.

Bottom line, Rickey came along at a particular time a superhuman base stealer would be allowed to flourish -- and even then he was accused, sometimes accurately, of playing for his own personal stats.

 

I doubt we'll ever see one as great as Rickey Henderson again, but the recent rules changes did put a new shine on stolen bases. From 2018-22 the MLB leader never topped 50. The last two seasons you had six players go over that.
I think you also have some attention being paid to Ronald Acuna's 70/40 season and Ohtani's 50/50 season that might restore some of the glory. It'll take a few years, but if you get a generation of players who grow up wanting to emulate that style it'll help to bring it back.

 

Well, the generation that was in its teens/twenties in the golden era of stolen bases and National League style turf baseball now pretty much makes up the old guard of the power structure, so I think it's natural they (we) want to see somewhat of a return to that style of game.

The Three True Outcomes is analytically the best way to win, but a game with balls in play, plays on the bases, is more fun to watch.

 

Rickey isn't Rickey any more also would have been accepted by the judges.

 

This right here. Analytics is trending towards a tragedy of the commons situation.

 

Damn it's dusty in here.

 

Yeah, Ty Cobb -- who in retrospect was really not that great a leadoff hitter (didn't draw many walks, his SB percentage fell way off after his several huge years in his prime) -- will have to shove over for Rickey.

 

Equally as heartbreaking:

 

Now Rickey Henderson won't have to watch the A's play home games somewhere besides Oakland.

Kinda like Bill Walton didn't have to watch UCLA compete in a conference other than the Pac-8/10/12.

RIP too soon to one of most dynamic baseball players of his era.