The all things Rickey Henderson thread: quotes, anecdotes, recipes within (1 Viewer)

During a contract holdout with Oakland in the early 1990s, Henderson said, "If they want to pay me like Mike Gallego, I'll play like Gallego."

Late in his career he was boarding the bus back to the team hotel and one of his teammates told him that he could sit in front because he had tenure. 

Rickey said: Tenure? Rickey got twenty year. 

Supposedly while playing for Seattle, Henderson went up to John Olerud, a former teammate with the New York Mets, and asked why Olerud wore a batting helmet out on the field, noting that he "used to have a teammate in New York who did the same thing." To which Olerud replied, "That was me."

Mixed reports on if it's true or not, but I heard it 10-15 years ago.

From ESPN.com

Before there was Manny being Manny, there was Rickey being Rickey. Rickey Henderson, who is certain to be elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, made an indelible impression with his talent on the field and with his character off the field. Our reporters share some of their favorite Henderson stories.

'Gotta do what he gotta do'

Lou Brock once talked to me about the fear of the bag. Baserunners get their ankles, knees, fingers and shoulders messed up sliding hell-bent into bases and lose their base-stealing edge over time because of their fear of getting so battered.

"The one exception is Rickey Henderson," Brock told me. "He accelerates harder into the bag than anyone who ever played."

I sat in the Athletics' clubhouse during batting practice several times with Henderson during his prime in Oakland from 1989 to 1991. His knees always were taped. So were his fingers. He had elbow pads and ice on his shoulder. "Man," he'd say, "Rickey is in pain."

What amazed me was that he still was one of the best offensive players of his time, a tremendously dangerous hitter despite all the injuries that would force most hitters out of the lineup. "Rickey gotta do what he gotta do," Henderson would say. "But ship me to Boston, hit me third, forget the steals and I'd hit .330 with 35 knocks."
-- Peter Gammons

PIK95 said:

Supposedly while playing for Seattle, Henderson went up to John Olerud, a former teammate with the New York Mets, and asked why Olerud wore a batting helmet out on the field, noting that he "used to have a teammate in New York who did the same thing." To which Olerud replied, "That was me."

Mixed reports on if it's true or not, but I heard it 10-15 years ago.

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Great story. They were teammates in Toronto/NYM/SEA  so I have also heard different versions, mostly the story occurred while they were with the Mets referring to their time with the Blue Jay's.  

David Cross Rickey Henderson Bit

Rickey featured at the Team Of Dreams event in Dyersville this weekend.

Team Of Dreams 2019

Available for photos and autographs.  Will not sign bases.

Always liked that instead of cashing a million dollar bonus check, he framed it and put it on a wall.

I interviewed him once when he was at the end of his career and I was a young sportswriter. All I remember is how excited I was when he referred to himself as Ricky multiple times. Wish I still had that audio.

Shrugs said:

I interviewed him once when he was at the end of his career and I was a young sportswriter. All I remember is how excited I was when he referred to himself as Ricky multiple times. Wish I still had that audio.

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“This is Rickey calling on behalf of Rickey. Rickey wants to play baseball.”

We are all having fun with Mr. First Person, but check out the stratosphere of players he compares with.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/WAR_career.shtml

Leroy Hoard said:

We are all having fun with Mr. First Person, but check out the stratosphere of players he compares with.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/WAR_career.shtml

Click to expand...

Without a doubt one of my favorite players ever to watch.  The As were my favorite team other than Detroit..remember going to Tiger Stadium and love seeing Rickey play. 

Leroy Hoard said:

Always liked that instead of cashing a million dollar bonus check, he framed it and put it on a wall.

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That was great..but he did cash it before the fiscal year ended.  The As were doing the books and called him and told him to cash it and they would give him a duplicate.

Leroy Hoard said:

We are all having fun with Mr. First Person, but check out the stratosphere of players he compares with.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/WAR_career.shtml

Click to expand...

Bill James once wrote that Henderson was so good for so long, you could split his career in half and both Young Rickey Henderson and Old Rickey Henderson would be Hall Of Famers.