The last time I saw Rickey Henderson was in the Athletics clubhouse in late September, as the final, sad homestand at the Oakland Coliseum reached its final game.
I had known him since 1979, when he was taken to the major leagues during his first run with the A’s. He was 20 at the time and part of the next-generation Oakland outfield of Rickey, Dwayne Murphy and Tony Armas. It was the perfect field for talented young players at the time, and it cost the ever-poor owner Charlie Finley less than $100,000.
More from Sportico.com
No one knew then who Henderson would become: the greatest base stealer and lead-off hitter in Major League Baseball history, who had earned $44.5 million over his 25-year career – a pittance compared to the $51 million per season over fifteen years Juan Soto recently received to sign with the New York Mets.
That day in September, Rickey was distraught about the A’s leaving Oakland, temporarily moving to West Sacramento next season and then perhaps on to Las Vegas in 2028 or beyond. But he said as a roving coach he planned to go with them.
“It’s a damn shame,” said Henderson. “Heartbreaking. I’m from Oakland and we lost everything. It’s almost like it’s becoming a ghost town. That’s the sad part about it.”
Nothing said Oakland baseball more than Rickey, I wrote at the time. He grew up there. Played his high school ball there. Played for the A’s in that old building several times during his long career. And on Friday he died there, at the age of 65, in an Oakland hospital, a victim of pneumonia and asthma that left him choking on his own fluids.
His death was a shock to those closest to him, as he seemed to be in constant good health.
“I still can’t believe it. He was a model of fitness,” Ken Korach, the Old A’s play-by-play announcer, said in a text message. “Rickey’s passing was a poignant final punctuation for the A’s last year in Oakland.”
Henderson’s death wasn’t the only baseball loss in 2024 or in recent years before that. He is the 17th member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame to die since Al Kaline passed away on April 6, 2020, during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ten of those great men died within a year of Kaline, including Tom Seaver, Whitey Ford, Tommy Lasorda and ending with Hank Aaron. It was the most in a single year in Hall history. This year alone, Henderson was joined in baseball heaven by Willie Mays and Orlando Cepeda.
Luis Aparicio, at 90, and Sandy Koufax, who turns 89 on Monday, are the oldest remaining players in the Hall. Former Commissioner Bud Selig is also 90.
We have lost a whole golden generation of great players. This year also brought the deaths of non-Hall of Famers Fernando Valenzuela, Pete Rose and Luis Tiant, among others.
Henderson wasn’t that old by today’s standards. Neither were Tony Gwynn and Kirby Puckett, by the way. Gwynn died in 2014 at the age of 54 after a long battle with parotid cancer. Puckett suffered a stroke before dying in 2006 at the age of 45.
Those are the outliers. For the others, time simply takes its toll.
Henderson played for nine teams in his seemingly endless career, bringing his exciting playing style and winning ways to the A’s four times and the San Diego Padres twice.
In Oakland, former general manager Sandy Alderson said in a recent statement: “I’ve traded Rickey twice and brought him back more than once. He was the best player I ever saw play.”
Some of those trades came as Rickey deteriorated his contracts and became a nuisance. But he was always an attractive player to bring back.
Midway through the 1989 season, Alderson acquired him again in a trade with the New York Yankees, just in time for the A’s to defeat the cross-bay San Francisco Giants in that earthquake-interrupted World Series. He dominated that postseason, winning MVP of the American League Championship Series victory over Toronto and hitting .474 in the World Series. He went 15-for-34 overall with nine walks, 11 stolen bases, eight of which came against the Blue Jays.
In San Diego, late General Manager Kevin Towers signed Rickey in 1996, and he helped the Padres reach the playoffs for the first time since 1984. Rickey was then traded to the Angels in 1997. A few years later, when he left the Seattle Mariners As a free agent, Towers received a voicemail from Rickey in the spring of 2001, George Will recently recalled in a WashingtonPost column.
“KT! It’s Rickey! I’m calling about Rickey! Rickey wants to play baseball!”
Rickey was known for referring to himself in the third person. Towers re-signed him on March 21, 2001.
That was Gwynn’s final season, in which his left knee ended in such poor shape that he was relegated to pinch hitting. But he could still hit, and when he reached base manager, Bruce Bochy would immediately replace him with a pinch runner. During the penultimate game of that season against the Colorado Rockies at the old Jack Murphy Stadium, Gwynn and Henderson both hit a double play. It was the last of 3,141 career hits for Gwynn and number 2,999 for Henderson.
The next day was Gwynn’s last match and major celebrations were planned at the stadium. Out of respect for Gwynn – and I know this is a true story because I was there – Henderson went up to Gwynn and asked him, ‘Do you mind if Rickey gets his 3,000th goal in your last game? Because if you do that, I won’t play.”
Gwynn told Rickey to go for it.
In the first inning on October 7, 2001, Rickey led off with a bloop double to right field for hit No. 3,000 and immediately left the game. Gwynn pinch hit in the ninth inning and grounded to short in his final at bat. Henderson would finish with 3,055 hits and a record 1,406 stolen bases.
Now they’re both gone. But their legacy certainly lives on.
“Nine different teams, one unforgettable player,” Alderson wrote. “Sandy is going to miss Rickey.”
The best of Sportico.com
Sign up for the Sportico newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
