Former Blue Jay and Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson passed away today at the age of 65. He would have turned 66 on Christmas Day.
Henderson was a Blue Jay for just three months, and he didn’t perform like ‘Rickey Henderson,’ but he won a World Series ring with us and was on base for Joe Carter’s series-winning home run in 1993. Rickey said that Carter got a better pitch to swing at because Mitch Williams was worried about Henderson stealing third and used the slide step. He might be right.
After the season, he signed back with the Oakland A’s.
Rickey came to us in a deadline deal. We sent Steve Karsay and Jose Herrera to Oakland in exchange. Karsay had a pretty good career (though he didn’t do much for the A’s 4.97 ERA in 45 games, 36 starts, strung out over three seasons). Later, he became a workhorse out of the bullpen with Cleveland and the Yankees. Herrera played 141 games for the A’s over two seasons, hitting .264/.314/.367 with 6 home runs.
Rickey had a fantastic career, with an MLB record with 1406 stolen bases and 2295 runs. Combine that with a .279/.401/.419 with 297 home runs with a 111.1 bWAR.
Although he only won one MVP award, he was one of the top players in baseball for several years and received MVP votes eight times.
He also had the most oversized ego in baseball. I do love this story:
In the early 1980s, the Oakland A’s accounting department was freaking out. The books were off $1 million. After an investigation, Rickey was found to be the reason why. The GM asked him about a $1 million bonus he had received, and Rickey said instead of cashing it, he framed it and hung it on a wall at his house.
True or not, I love the story.
And when he was with the Jays, he missed three games after falling asleep on an ice pack.
I would have loved it if he was a Jay for more of his career.
As Bill James said, you could cut Henderson in two and have two Hall of Famers.
And he was generous. Mike Piazza said:
“Rickey was the most generous guy I ever played with, and whenever the discussion came around to what we should give one of the fringe people — whether it was a minor leaguer who came up for a few days or the parking lot attendant — Rickey would shout out “Full share!” We’d argue for a while and he’d say, “Fuck that! You can change somebody’s life!”
I think he was the best player I ever watched.
65 is far too young. My sincerest sympathy to his family and friends.