RIP Rickey Henderson

A story from 2012 when Rickey came to teach the kids in Vermont.

Stealing time with Rickey Stolen base legend Henderson in Burlington to work with Oakland farm club

“I know the game of baseball so now I’m going to give something back to the young kids, showing them the ropes like so many of the veterans showed me,” Henderson said Wednesday to a cluster of media at Centennial Field. “Those players showed me stuff when I got to the big leagues and it’s something that I can share with them, a way to give something back.”​

 

This is of course nuts, but I'm not surprised Henderson missed unanimous election by 28 votes. He could be a handful to deal with (though rarely in a malicious way) and he spent the last 15 years of his career bouncing around, so the casual voter/fan might correlate him more with his quirkiness and/or his very good journeyman phase than his supersonic peak. There were 535 voters in the 2009 election, so the odds of stumbling into some silly ballots were much higher. Not sure he'd be unanimous today, but with the electorate down to 385 as of last year, he'd be a whole lot closer.

 

I feel the same way in what I’m sure soon to come is Sandberg’s death, now that the cancer is back.

 

I know this was tongue in cheek, but Cobb only started 29 games as a leadoff hitter in his career. He was in the three hole for an amazing 1,782 games (with a career .380/.452/.536 slash line without the benefit of over-the-fence home runs) and batted cleanup 832 more (during a time in his career when Sam Crawford batted third).

Of course, the dead ball era also meant everybody took an extra base when they could. Cobb just did it better than everyone else.

He was 6-1 at a time when the average man was perhaps 5-6, so Cobb was more Barry Bonds than Rickey Henderson. And at least as surly, although he probably didn't use either the clear or the cream.

Cobb also played right field until Crawford retired, leading the league in outfield putouts and assists in 1907, 1908 and 1909.

 

Struck me last night that it's been a really rough year for Gen X HOFers. Sandberg's cancer returns, Wade Boggs battles prostate cancer and we lose Rickey. (You could count Pete Rose in this group, but I view him as more of a '70s guy) Sucks.

 

Lost Fernando too.

 

Woof, how could I forget Fernando?

 

I understand, it's depressing as hell to think about. For those of us who the 1980s was the apex of baseball...these are HARD days.

 

My first MLB game was when I was 6 or 7. We lived in VA and dad took me to see Orioles/A's at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. It was around the time Rickey broke the single-season SB record. He swiped two bags that day and I still remember it. Hell, I remember the inevitability of the crowd knowing he was gonna go. That's how big he was.

I mean, I was 6 or whatever. And even I knew he was going.

My first MLB-in-person memory. What a damn fine one.

 

The closest comparison for me, at the time, in terms of excitement was...maybe Vince Coleman? But Vince didn't have the plate patience to get on base like Rickey did and didn't have anything close to the power. Coleman was amazing to watch turn singles into doubles and doubles into triples.

 

Coleman was more in the mold of 60s leadoff guys like Wills and Brock: a lot of stolen bases, BA up around .300, but not really a lot of runs scored because they didn't draw many walks.

 

Vince is the parallel universe Rickey. As noted, he had exactly one tool, and once it wasn't a game-changer, he was done as a useful player. And you could argue he didn't maximize his one tool. Going from the turf at Busch to Shea Stadium was a career-ruining move. While he battled injuries and general misery in New York, he went from averaging 92 steals a year to 33 steals a year. If he had three near-peak years--let's say 72 steals a year instead of 92 steals a year--he's got a real chance at making a run at Lou Brock for second place. Even in his early 30s, he stole 40+ bases for the Royals and Mariners once he was back on the turf for home games.

Plus, Rickey could be mercurial but he wasn't a bad guy or an idiot. He didn't chuck firecrackers into crowds. He knew how to spell six (per the great book "The Worst Team Money Could Buy," Coleman was playing craps with teammates and yelled he needed a six--"C-I-X!"). He didn't get run over by a goddamn tarp.