OT Rickey Henderson passes away at age 65

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Ah, shit.
 
My favorite A's player, Rickey Henderson, has died at 65.

Oakland product like friend and teammate Stew aka Dave Stewart. Played mostly football in high school but his mother worried he could get injured and convinced him to focus on baseball.

Sometimes Mom knows best.

Greatest leadoff man. Unstoppable base thief. Home run hitter. Hall of famer. World Series champ. Eccentric. And good guy.

I still have hanging on my wall photo I shot from bleachers with telephoto lens when he broke all time stolen base record. He signed it for me.

He was at event at Coliseum last season and looked fine. Face showing some lines but trim and fit.

I can't say rest in peace to someone known for constant motion.

Eternal sunshine and natural grass fields. And endless supply of catchers to make fools of outrunning the baseball.
 
crandc said:
My favorite A's player, Rickey Henderson, has died at 65.

Oakland product like friend and teammate Stew aka Dave Stewart. Played mostly football in high school but his mother worried he could get injured and convinced him to focus on baseball.

Sometimes Mom knows best.

Greatest leadoff man. Unstoppable base thief. Home run hitter. Hall of famer. World Series champ. Eccentric. And good guy.

I still have hanging on my wall photo I shot from bleachers with telephoto lens when he broke all time stolen base record. He signed it for me.

He was at event at Coliseum last season and looked fine. Face showing some lines but trim and fit.

I can't say rest in peace to someone known for constant motion.

Eternal sunshine and natural grass fields. And endless supply of catchers to make fools of outrunning the baseball.
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fantastic post. agreed. one of my favorite players of all time with griffey jr, the big hurt and greg maddox.

Farewell to one of the greats. May he never stop running in the clouds.
 
Looks like we got merged.

Report he died of pneumonia. Which explains why he looked good last summer. Not cancer or some other long drawn out illness.

Only thing that could catch him. A virus.
 
He was the man! RIP
1991-file-photo-oakland-athletics-42599525_ceff71.jpg
 
Rickey met his wife Pamela when they were in high school and they were together the rest of his life. Their second child was born during A's season. At that time norm was still women had babies alone while men stayed with the team. Rickey took a game to be there for the birth and then took the next day. Some sportswriters denounced him as irresponsible. Many male fans thought of him as a wimp or cuck or something. Women thought he was right.
 
I'm not a big baseball fan (ever since I got beaned twice in a little league game)

but if you were building a team, is there any doubt at all who you'd want as the lead-off hitter?
 
wizenheimer said:
I'm not a big baseball fan (ever since I got beaned twice in a little league game)

but if you were building a team, is there any doubt at all who you'd want as the lead-off hitter?
Click to expand...

If you're willing to get hit in the head to get to first base I would have to go with you.
 
Natural left hander who batted right and threw left. When he started playing baseball in high school, all the boys batted right so he figured that's how it was done. In minor leagues he thought about learning to switch hit but since he was batting .350 coaches didn't want to mess with his swing. Only 70 players in Major League history batted right and threw left, only 9 had any kind of career. Only one in Hall of Fame.

Rickey was such a unique player and personality every fan has Rickey stories.

I was at a game in Oakland, tied late, Rickey on third. A hit scores him, so would medium to long fly ball. Batter hit popup that barely cleared infield. Fans groan. No one in the stadium thought Rickey would try to score on pop fly, except Rickey. When he tagged and sprinted home, everyone was so startled it took fielder a second to figure it out. A second was all he needed. Safe at home.

I was at an event at Oakland Convention Center and saw him going into men's room. Felt that slight disconnect when we realized superstars are mortal. Rickey Henderson has to take a leak just like the rest of us.

He had a tendency to be toungle tanged, or in his words, "me and the English language don't always get along". He hired a speech coach for his Hall of Fame induction and hit it out of the park.
 
crandc said:
Natural left hander who batted right and threw left. When he started playing baseball in high school, all the boys batted right so he figured that's how it was done. In minor leagues he thought about learning to switch hit but since he was batting .350 coaches didn't want to mess with his swing. Only 70 players in Major League history batted right and threw left, only 9 had any kind of career. Only one in Hall of Fame.

Rickey was such a unique player and personality every fan has Rickey stories.

I was at a game in Oakland, tied late, Rickey on third. A hit scores him, so would medium to long fly ball. Batter hit popup that barely cleared infield. Fans groan. No one in the stadium thought Rickey would try to score on pop fly, except Rickey. When he tagged and sprinted home, everyone was so startled it took fielder a second to figure it out. A second was all he needed. Safe at home.

I was at an event at Oakland Convention Center and saw him going into men's room. Felt that slight disconnect when we realized superstars are mortal. Rickey Henderson has to take a leak just like the rest of us.

He had a tendency to be toungle tanged, or in his words, "me and the English language don't always get along". He hired a speech coach for his Hall of Fame induction and hit it out of the park.
Click to expand...

Rickey was truly a national treasure. I remember him playing a random spring training game at PGE park when he played for the Mariners. Me and a buddy skipped school and went. I was amazed at how gracious he was with the fans about signing autographs and talking to everyone that approached.

Kinda crazy he passed so young. A couple months ago I went down a rabbit hole of watching HOF speeches and he was one of them.

A great trivia is naming all the teams Henderson played for. I know he had like 3 or 4 stints with the A’s
 
crandc said:
Natural left hander who batted right and threw left. When he started playing baseball in high school, all the boys batted right so he figured that's how it was done. In minor leagues he thought about learning to switch hit but since he was batting .350 coaches didn't want to mess with his swing. Only 70 players in Major League history batted right and threw left, only 9 had any kind of career. Only one in Hall of Fame.

Rickey was such a unique player and personality every fan has Rickey stories.

I was at a game in Oakland, tied late, Rickey on third. A hit scores him, so would medium to long fly ball. Batter hit popup that barely cleared infield. Fans groan. No one in the stadium thought Rickey would try to score on pop fly, except Rickey. When he tagged and sprinted home, everyone was so startled it took fielder a second to figure it out. A second was all he needed. Safe at home.

I was at an event at Oakland Convention Center and saw him going into men's room. Felt that slight disconnect when we realized superstars are mortal. Rickey Henderson has to take a leak just like the rest of us.

He had a tendency to be toungle tanged, or in his words, "me and the English language don't always get along". He hired a speech coach for his Hall of Fame induction and hit it out of the park.
Click to expand...
I had an aunt who always used the phrase, "I got my tang all toungled up."

Thanks for the Ricky insights, and for inducing a quick random family flashback, c!
 
Since Rickey Henderson was born Christmas Day, this is my final comment.

He had a unique batting stance in deep crouch. As he was only 5'10" this gave him a strike zone, in the memorable words of one sports writer, "smaller than Hitler's heart". Walk him and he's running. Throw a pitch down the middle and he.parks it over the fence.

His first major league game he hit a single, a double, and stole a base. The A's were the worst team in baseball. The next year they were in the playoffs.

Rickey could sometimes be arrogant and unapproachable but also kind. I wrote in a different thread about his kindness to boy with horribly disfigured face he met through Make A Wish. More recently a sports columnist reported that a woman on Phoenix to Oakland flight had trouble retrieving her belongings from overhead bin. Everyone else sat there, not their problem. Then a trim 60ish man sprinted down the aisle proclaiming "Rickey is here!" And got down her luggage.

George Will wrote it is common for a great basketball player to dominate the game, every play is run through them, they have the ball at crunch time. Baseball is different. The best pitcher starts 20% of the games, the best hitter has 11% of at bats. Few baseball players can take over a game. Rickey was one of them. In the 1989 League Championship Series he almost single handedly demolished Toronto hitting and running, all with big smile.

Yesterday going to cousin's house for dinner drove past Oakland Coliseum. So many memories.
 
Just noticed his name spelled incorrectly in thread header. Mods please fix.
 
Letter in San Francisco Chronicle from a local woman. About ten years ago she was 9 months pregnant and behind schedule in getting nursery ready. She went to store to buy paint and was carrying it to her car when a man who was in the store told her she shouldn't be carrying heavy things and carried the paint for her. She told him he looked just like Rickey Henderson. He replied that's because I am Rickey Henderson. They both laughed and she found a piece of paper so she could get his autograph. She has kept it ever since as memento of his kindness.
 
BlazerWookee said:
I had an aunt who always used the phrase, "I got my tang all toungled up." Thanks for the Ricky insights, and for inducing a quick random family flashback, c!
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"Ricky"...lol

(I learned how to do that from you.)
 
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