RIP Rickey Henderson

[Ocotillo]

Rickey Henderson, Hall of Famer and MLB’s all-time stolen bases leader, dead at 65 https://t.co/e554V5CzCU pic.twitter.com/IwUTZnZZQ0

— New York Post (@nypost) December 21, 2024

[Mecca]

Rickey is an inner circle HOFer, you don't see guys that great hardly ever. Matter of fact his numbers are so good if you cut them in half you'd have 2 HOFers.

A 1 of 1 player and shitty he's gone soon.

[alpha_omega]

RIP

[GabyKeepsMeWarm]

This one hurts... One of my all-time favorite players growing up. So many great stories about the guy, some true, some embellished, some outright lies that you almost wish were true, especially the Olerud story.

Could've probably been a two-way player, as he was probably as good a football player as he was a baseball player, but his mother prevented him from taking it any further than high school.

And I know a lot of people get rubbed the wrong way about him. A lot of stories of him always complaining about being underpaid. He once famously framed a bonus check for $1 million, losing out on months of interest, and only cashed it after the team's accounting dept got on his case about their bookkeeping being messed up. The whole "greatest of all-time" thing. Hell, Lou Brock and Rickey actually got together before the game when he broke the SB record and went over what Rickey wanted to say together. And Rickey even mentioned how he wished he had that one to do over, and even went so far as to sorta include it in his HOF induction... "and today I am among the greatest players of all time, and today I am... very, very humble".

Married his high school sweetheart, had three lovely daughters, never heard a whisper of any trouble off the field, and you had to tear the guy's jersey off before he would retire, even playing for the independent Newark Bears before one last shot with the Dodgers. He wouldn't actually officially retire until 4 years after his last game, and he would even dispute that just in case someone wanted to sign him for the minimum!

Quite a character, and the game sorely lacks people with his quick wit, his humor and his enormous ability. Absolutely one of the very, very best to ever do it, and he's gonna be missed. The man of steal indeed...

RIP Rickey, and thanks for the memories...

[St. Patty's Fire]

Originally Posted by Ocotillo

A buddy and me attended the Cactus League one spring training.

Rickey Henderson was walking from one backfield to another backfield early in the day where the fans were standing. My buddy walked up to Rickey and said, "hey, Rickey. Can I get a picture?"

Rickey happily obliged. He stopped walking, put on a pose with a smile. And then he kept walking.

Immediately afterwards, this mother was with her two daughers. One of the daughters was an attractive 19-year-old looking brunette wearing a skimpy dress. Her mother said, "go talk to him."

The daughter in the skimpy dress walked up to Rickey and said "hi Rickey" in this flirty voice. Rickey didn't even break his strut, didn't even turn his head toward her and he said nonchalantly "Rickey don't have time. Rickey gotta go to work. Rickey gotta go to work."

god he was so awesome

[JohnnyHammersticks]

So many classic Rickey stories. Like when he set some milestone hits record with a home run and cleared his teammates away from home plate so he could slide. Or when he broke Lou Brock's stolen base record and declared himself the greatest of all-time. Or this classic story from Tony Gwynn...

[4th and Long]

Henderson sent me home, very unhappy, from many Royals games. That being said, he was still one of the greatest.

OTD in 1991, Rickey Henderson broke Lou Brock's all-time record for stolen bases �� pic.twitter.com/bF5WtnOLka

— Athletics (@Athletics) May 1, 2023

[Megatron96]

Rickey was one of the all-time greats.


Thing I remember the most about him, was the same night he broke the steals record, Nolan Ryan threw his 7th no-hitter.

[GabyKeepsMeWarm]

Originally Posted by Frazod

When he was on the cusp of breaking Brock's record, Brock attended his games so he could be there when it happened. And when it did, Henderson didn't even acknowledge him. That's what I remember most about Henderson.

There's actual real life video of Rickey hugging his mother and Lou Brock moments after stealing 3rd base. See above.

[GabyKeepsMeWarm]

Originally Posted by Ocotillo

A buddy and me attended the Cactus League one spring training.

Rickey Henderson was walking from one backfield to another backfield early in the day where the fans were standing. My buddy walked up to Rickey and said, "hey, Rickey. Can I get a picture?"

Rickey happily obliged. He stopped walking, put on a pose with a smile. And then he kept walking.

Immediately afterwards, this mother was with her two daughers. One of the daughters was an attractive 19-year-old looking brunette wearing a skimpy dress. Her mother said, "go talk to him."

The daughter in the skimpy dress walked up to Rickey and said "hi Rickey" in this flirty voice. Rickey didn't even break his strut, didn't even turn his head toward her and he said nonchalantly "Rickey don't have time. Rickey gotta go to work. Rickey gotta go to work."

Now this is very Rickey Henderson. Yeah, he spoke of himself in the 3rd person quite a bit, but not nearly as often as people would like to think. And he would typically speak in the third person like he was talking to himself, usually to keep himself focused or out of trouble. This story aligns very well to Rickey's persona. He wasn't out there chasing women, even if it was friendly.

[GabyKeepsMeWarm]

Originally Posted by Megatron96

Rickey was one of the all-time greats.


Thing I remember the most about him, was the same night he broke the steals record, Nolan Ryan threw his 7th no-hitter.

Speaking of Nolan Ryan... Rickey was coincidentally Nolan's 5000th strikeout victim. Rickey congratulated Nolan after the game.

[Mecca]

Also growing up, my dad hated Rickey Henderson because of how he played and of course I loved him.

[Hamwallet]

I wish we could have Ricky Henderson give his eulogy. He could talk about Ricky Henderson and what Ricky Henderson did in Ricky Henderson’s career.

Legend and RIP.

[jerryaldini]

"Tenure? What are you talking about I've been around this league for fifteen years."

This is a shocking one. RIP.

[Demonpenz]

Back in the day you barely saw people pimp homruns. Ricky did it al the time and it was awesome

[tatorhog]

There will never be another player with his combination of abilities, let alone one with those capabilities that also have the personality and off field awesomeness. I was always sad I never got to see him or Nolan Ryan when I was a kid.