Rickey Henderson Dies – MLB Trade Rumors

Baseball Hall of Fame player and stolen base king Rickey Henderson has died. He was 65 years old. Dave Winfield, Henderson’s friend and teammate, was among those who broke the tragic news, later confirmed by the New York Post.

Henderson was born in Chicago on Christmas Day 1958. However, he spent much of his childhood in Oakland. The Athletics came to town not long after Henderson, and once he graduated from high school, his hometown team called his name in the fourth round of the 1976 MLB draft. Three years later, he arrived at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum for making his major league debut.

After a disappointing rookie season, Henderson broke out with a superstar performance in 1980. The 21-year-old outfielder displayed extraordinary batting skills and a keen eye at the plate, ranking third among qualified hitters in walk rate and OBP . . Naturally, he put the OBP to good use, leading the majors with 100 stolen bases. It was the first of seven times he would lead the majors in steals. He also made his first of 10 All-Star teams that summer and finished 10th in MVP voting that fall. In hindsight, however, he deserved to finish much higher. According to FanGraphs and Baseball Reference, the only AL player with a higher WAR that season was MVP George Brett.

Henderson did even better in his third season, the strike-shortened 1981 season. He led the majors in runs scored and led the AL in hits and stolen bases. At the end of the year he won a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger. However, he was still, arguably, overlooked in the MVP voting. He finished nearly second to Brewers closer Rollie Fingers, but modern stats like fWAR and bWAR suggest he was the most productive player in the American League that season. Indeed, this has often been the story of Henderson’s career. It has been consistently excellent year after year, and while it has had no shortage of praise and acclaim, it has still been somewhat overlooked. He made 10 All-Star teams and won three Silver Sluggers, a Gold Glove and an MVP. Yet, all this may not have been enough to adequately recognize his greatness.

Henderson became a star in his early twenties. He remained productive on the field into his forties. In his 15 best seasons from 1980 to 1994, he was almost undeniably the best player in baseball. Whether you look at runs scored, stolen bases, fWAR or bWAR, no other player has been as productive. With his combination of speed, defensive distance, contact ability, batting discipline and, possibly, above-average power, he could influence a game in all sorts of ways. He is best remembered as the all-time and modern-era single-season stolen base leader, but also holds the all-time MLB records for runs, unintentional walks, and leadoff home runs.

In addition to these career accolades, Henderson was a transformative player in the postseason. A two-time World Series champion who won the Commissioner’s Trophy in both Oakland in 1989 and Toronto in 1993, his 11 stolen bases during the 1989 postseason are tied with Kenny Lofton for the most stolen bases by a player in a single postseason, and his 33 career playoff victories were the most by a player in history until Lofton broke that record during the ALCS of 2007.

In addition to the havoc Henderson caused on the basepaths, he was a prolific hitter when the lights were brightest with a .284/.389/.441 slash line in 60 postseason games. As impressive as his work was in the playoffs, Henderson’s work during his 14-game World Series career is astounding: He hit .339/.448/.607 with more walks than strikeouts while going seven-for-nine on runs. basic. Those incredible numbers translate to a 194 wRC+ that leaves him sandwiched between Babe Ruth (195) and Lou Gehrig (194) in the career World Series wRC+ rankings among players who made at least 60 trips to the plate during the Fall Classic.

Although Henderson was the greatest player of the 1980s and early 1990s, the legend of the game maintained his career well past the era when most players hung up their tips. After his age 35 season in Oakland, Henderson went on to play in 1,001 more games in the majors as he bounced between the A’s, Padres, Angels, Mets, Mariners, Padres, Red Sox and Dodgers. Those final nine years of Henderson’s career were naturally not at the level of his seemingly superhuman peak in Oakland, the Bronx, but he remained a productive player until the end of his major league career. From 1995-2003, Henderson hit .254/.390/.369 with a 111 wRC+ while swiping 289 sacks, making him well above average both at the plate and on the basepaths. Even during his 30-game stint with the Dodgers at age 44, Henderson produced above replacement level value according to both Fangraphs (0.1 fWAR) and Baseball Reference (0.2 bWAR).

Henderson continued to play in the independent leagues even after playing his last major league game hitting an .897 OPS in the Atlantic League and an .856 OPS in the Golden League before starting his career in 2005 at age 46. the game that led him to continue playing Indy Ball after his Major League career ended also led him to leave the door open to return to a Major League field even after his playing days were over shoulders. He maintained an interest in suiting up for a major league team again after being hired by the Mets as a hitting instructor in 2006 and famously suggested, after his first-ballot Hall of Fame induction in 2009, that even age 50 he could lead the league in stolen bases.

It is that heart and love of the game that has endeared Henderson to his teammates, coaches and everyone in the game who interacted with him and made him beloved by millions of fans around the world. Henderson’s otherworldly talent and passion for the game led him to collect 3,055 hits, steal 1,406 bases, score 2,295 runs, swat 873 extra-base hits and manage a career .401 on-base percentage in his 3,081 games as a player of the major league. MLBTR extends our condolences to Henderson’s family, friends and teammates as we join the rest of the baseball world in mourning his passing.