Baseball Hall of Famer and all-time stolen base king Rickey Henderson died Friday at the age of 65, his family announced Saturday.
Henderson stole 1,406 bases in his 25-season career that crossed four decades from 1979-2003 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2009. He played for nine different clubs including four stints with the Oakland Athletics, who drafted him in 1976.
Henderson died after being recently admitted to the hospital with pneumonia, persons close to his family told USA TODAY Sports’ Bob Nightengale.
‘A legend on and off the field, Rickey was a devoted son, dad, friend, grandfather, brother, uncle, and a truly humble soul,’ his wife Pamela Henderson said in a statement.
‘Rickey lived his life with integrity, and his love for baseball was paramount. Now, Rickey is at peace with the Lord, cherishing the extraordinary moments and achievements he leaves behind.’
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Born in Chicago and raised in Oakland, Henderson was one of very few players who bats right-handed and throws left-handed. He holds the modern single-season stolen base record with 130 in 1982, reaching 100 steals in three of his first four full MLB seasons, and his 81 leadoff home runs are the most in history.
Henderson set the career record in 1991 with his 939th steal, breaking Lou Brock’s mark.
‘Lou Brock was the symbol of great base stealing,’ Henderson said that day. ‘But today, I’m the greatest of all time.’
Henderson played his final MLB game in 2003 at the age of 44, earning a midseason deal from the Los Angeles Dodgers after playing for the Newark Bears in the independent Atlantic League.
‘I played for a long time and with a lot of great players,’ said Dennis Eckersley, the Hall of Fame pitcher who was teammates with Henderson in Oakland. ‘I told Rickey this once, but I don’t know if he was listening to me. He’s the greatest player I ever played with.’
One of the game’s most flamboyant players of the era and a man who notably spoke in the third person, Henderson won World Series titles with the Athletics in 1989 and the Toronto Blue Jays in 1993.
‘(Rickey) told me that he liked to be entertaining because it made the product more enjoyable,’ said Hall of Famer Paul Molitor, Henderson’s teammate in Toronto.
Also MLB’s career leader with 2,295 runs, Henderson won the AL MVP award in 1990 for Oakland, clubbing 28 home runs with 65 steals and a league-best 1.016 OPS. He collected his 3,000th career hit with the San Diego Padres on the final day of the 2001 season.
‘For multiple generations of baseball fans, Rickey Henderson was the gold standard of base stealing and leadoff hitting,’ MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. ‘Rickey was one of the most accomplished and beloved Athletics of all-time.
‘He also made an impact with many other clubs during a quarter-century career like no other. Rickey epitomized speed, power and entertainment in setting the tone at the top of the lineup.’
Henderson calling himself ‘the greatest of all time’ after breaking Brock’s record caused a huge stir, but the new stolen base king had consulted with his predecessor on the planned remarks. Henderson later said the line continued to ‘haunt’ him – and later alluded to it in hi memorable Hall of Fame induction speech.
‘My favorite hero was Muhammad Ali. He said ‘I am the greatest!’ That is something I always wanted to be,’ Henderson said in Cooperstown, New York in 2009. ‘And now that the Association has voted me into the Baseball Hall of Fame, my journey as a player is complete. I am now in the class of the greatest players of all time. And at this moment, I am very, very humble.’
Rickey Henderson stats
Some of Henderson’s career accomplishments:
1,406 stolen bases – most in MLB history
2,295 runs – most in MLB history
3,055 hits
297 home runs (81 leadoff)
.401 on-base percentage
10-time MLB All-Star
1990 American League MVP with Oakland
1980 AL Gold Glove winner
Three-time Silver Slugger
Rickey Henderson cause of death
Henderson died after being recently admitted to the hospital with pneumonia, persons close to his family told USA TODAY Sports’ Bob Nightengale.
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