04/20/24
April 02, 2002
It seems increasingly clear that Rickey Henderson is going to be the first active player in baseball history to die of old age.: Rickey just wasn't content to retire last year having reached the milestones of 3000 hits and career records for walks and runs scored and go into Cooperstown in 2006 playing third-fiddle behind Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn. Now he might as well try to play for all 30 teams, says ESPN's Ray Ratto.
He wasn't much use as a Met, but he was one of the best players in a Yankee uniform I ever saw play, and he was terrific in the green and gold, too. In fact, I think there was a stretch in there when he was the best player in the game. Not enough is made of his unique attributes: no modern player I can think of had that kind of power and that kind of speed. Great bat control, and great in the field. If you were putting together a team of all time greatest players, how could he not be in your top three?
posted by outside counsel at 01:37 PM on April 02, 2002
He could easily not be in my top 3 of all time, even if we don't include pitchers. However, he's definitely top 50 of all time. What makes him incredibly unique is that he has speed, a bit of power, and the fact that he is of the very rare "bats-right, throws-left" group. That said, he's the best lead-off hitter in the history of the game, and definitely one of the best characters in the game. I'll take Rickey boasting over humble-Cal every time. His brief appearance as a Toronto Blue Jay was memorable for one reason: the first batter that Mitch Williams faced in the 9th inning of game 6 of the 1993 World Series was Rickey, and just as Mitch started his windup, Rickey called time out. Mitch held on to the ball instead of just flinging it to the backstop like you're supposed to do when that happens. It completely messed up his timing and rhythm and it was all good (as a Jays fan) from there on out. :)
posted by grum@work at 03:34 PM on April 02, 2002
I love Rickey Henderson. I liked that little hotdog flair move he used to do while catching flyballs with the A's. I also like listening to interviews with him.
posted by corpse at 03:55 PM on April 02, 2002
He could easily not be in my top 3 of all time, even if we don't include pitchers. However, he's definitely top 50 of all time. He leads the majors all-time in steals, walks, runs scored and leadoff home runs and was a good defensive player in his prime (when he wanted to be) and he doesn't make your top 3 position players? Who tops him?
posted by yerfatma at 04:08 PM on April 02, 2002
I would put Ruth, Aaron, Mays, Mantle, Bonds, Gehrig, Schmidt, Speaker, Williams, Musial, Hornsby, and Wagner ahead of Rickey.
posted by spira at 05:30 PM on April 02, 2002
I'd give you most of those (questioning only Speaker and Schmidt)-- I guess I was thinking more along the lines of players I've seen. It's hard to put any position player other than Bonds ahead of him. Understand I'm not a huge Rickey fan, even if he is on the Sox this year and promises to be comedy gold from start to finish. I just think the guy isn't getting all the credit he deserves because A.) he hung around a year or three too many and B.) he's a bit off-putting.
posted by yerfatma at 05:47 PM on April 02, 2002
According to Bill James (from his most recent Baseball Abstract), Rickey Henderson is the 26th best baseball player of all time. Among active (or players who used to be active in the past 3 years), only Barry Bonds (16th and climbing fast, since his rankings are based on no later than the 1999 season) is higher. James said it best: "If you could split him in two, you'd have two Hall of Famers." To me, he's one of those few players that deserves a 100% induction vote. He won't get it though. Nolan Ryan, Hank Aaron, Ted Williams, and Babe Ruth didn't get 100% of the votes, so they won't let Rickey have that honour. For a good idea how great he was, check him out in his full statistical glory.
posted by grum@work at 09:37 PM on April 02, 2002
His acceptance speech will be memorable. "Rickey says this...Rickey thinks this"
posted by gov at 08:21 AM on April 03, 2002
tj thinks that gov's comment was right on.
posted by tj at 02:42 PM on April 03, 2002
Not as good as Trot Nixon's retirement speech. "You won't have Trot Nixon to pitch around anymore."
posted by yerfatma at 07:34 AM on April 04, 2002
Up until yesterday, this article about Rickey's last minute holdout also said that the holdout was because the front office forgot to include certain performance-based bonus clauses - including making the all-star team and finishing in the top 3 for MVP voting - that Rickey had insisted on. I don't know why they removed that info, but it's hilarious if true. Oh Rickey, you're so fine. You're so fine you blow my mind.