A Couple Things About Rickey.

Actually unique, by the way

Thanks for reading The Dope.

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1.) The leading base-stealer in MLB this year was Cincinnati’s sensational Elly De La Cruz, who swiped 67 bags and electrified baseball watchers in the process. If De La Cruz could somehow repeat this feat every year for the next 15 years straight, he’d be…about 400 steals short of Rickey Henderson’s career record.

2.) We were once at spring training in Arizona, early 1990s. I wanted to work on a special column about Rickey, but in a Journalism 101 blunder, I asked him for some time just as he was getting ready to begin practice. He blew me off.

3.) Rickey Henderson scored more than 100 runs in a season 13 times. In 1985 for the Yankees, Henderson batted .314, stole 80 bases with an 89% success rate, scored 146 runs, was worth 9.9 wins above replacement (WAR), and did not win the MVP. His teammate Don Mattingly won, with George Brett second.

4.) Henderson played for nine MLB teams. A Bay Area native, he played for the A’s in four separate stints. As former Oakland general manager Sandy Alderson put it this weekend, “I traded Rickey Henderson twice and brought him back more times than that.” Henderson played for the Padres at age 42, the Red Sox at 43 and the Dodgers at 44. He posted positive WAR in each of those seasons.

5.) The next day in Arizona that year at spring training, Henderson was strolling out of the clubhouse and into the morning sun at the A’s cool old complex in Papago Park. “You can talk to Rickey anytime,” he said to me as he walked past.

“Do you have a minute now?” I said.

“No.”

(We did the interview later.)

6.) It was Baltimore manager Earl Weaver who said this, and probably first: “Walking Rickey Henderson is like giving up a triple.” But if you didn’t walk him, it meant you had to pitch to him, which nobody wanted to do, either. Rickey walked more than 100 times in seven different seasons.

7.) Henderson was a notorious chirper. Former Giants star Will Clark said that Rickey was the greatest trash-talker he ever faced, and Rickey’s prowess in that regard spawned Yogi-like legends. The story goes that someone once quoted John 3:16 to Henderson, who replied, “Rickey don’t wanna hear about John hittin’ .316 when Rickey’s hittin’ .330.” (Just go with it.)

8.) I’m not the first to think of this, but if you want to gauge how much Henderson’s running ability charmed and impacted baseball, consider that MLB has been introducing rules the past couple of years to try to get Rickey-type stealing back in the game.

9.) After his MLB career ended, Henderson played two more years of independent baseball, because why not? His final season of competition, at age 46, he logged 307 plate appearances for the San Diego Surf Dawgs of the Golden League. He hit .270 and stole 16 bases in 18 attempts. The Dawgs won their league.

10.) As the A’s long history in Oakland wound down to a finish this fall, Henderson was on hand for the final games. Susan Slusser, a longtime baseball writer for the San Francisco Chronicle who knew Henderson well, asked him if he was feeling sad; after all, Henderson was a product of the Bay.

Rickey’s reply in full: "I can't be sad. I have too much money, and I did too much here, all these great things here. I'm more happy than sad. Maybe later it will hit you when it's all said and done."

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