MLB Hall of Famer, Rickey Henderson, has died at the age of 65

[DeniseM]

Rickey Henderson, Baseball's Career Steals Leader, Dies at 65

The Hall of Famer is widely considered to be one of the best baserunners in the history of the game.

www.si.com

Some reports say the cause of death was pneumonia.

 

[bizaro86]

RIP.

My favorite moment of his (obviously for a Blue Jays fan) was when he was on 2nd distracting the pitcher with the threat of taking 3rd when Joe Carter hit the world series winning walk of home run.

 

[pedro47]

I can remember him stealing second base before the pitcher baseball reach home plate.

He was only 65 years old

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Here's a nice short write-up of his career. His accomplishments were so great that a full proper write-up would go on for pages and pages in print.

Rickey Henderson Passes Away

Baseball Hall of Famer and stolen base king Rickey Henderson has passed away at 65 years old.

www.mlbtraderumors.com

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

I had one thing in common with Ricky. Like me, Ricky was left-handed, but batted as a right-hander. That's uncommon in baseball; given the advantages of batting left-handed it's rare for a left-hander to switch to the right side.

 

[BingoBangoBongo]

This sums up his base stealing skill succinctly:

As for his prowess at stealing bases -- his all-time record is 1,406, and to give you an idea how impressive that is ... no other player in history has reached 1,000 stolen bases!

I saw him play a few times when he was with the Yankees. He was such a gamer.

 

[Passepartout]

He was hospitalized with pneumonia. It's not a bad cold or something to trifle with. 65 is too young.

 

[Dane2]

Such a great player. There was never a dull moment when Ricky Henderson was on base. RIP

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

This sums up his base stealing skill succinctly:

As for his prowess at stealing bases -- his all-time record is 1,406, and to give you an idea how impressive that is ... no other player in history has reached 1,000 stolen bases!

I saw him play a few times when he was with the Yankees. He was such a gamer.

We were living in the East Bay (CoCo County) in his heyday. I also had kids in Little League. He captured the area and built interest in baseball, particularly in black communities.

We had a long hallway with oak floors. One of my kids, and some of his friends, would use the hallway like a base path and imitate Ricky sliding into second or third base.

Elly de la Cruz of the Reds reminds me of Ricky in many ways.

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Such a great player. There was never a dull moment when Ricky Henderson was on base. RIP

He really demonstrated how a leadoff hitter could dominate a game - and be more influential than the "sluggers" lower in the order.

Pitchers didn't want to walk Ricky because then he would wind up at second or third base, in scoring position and eliminating the double play. And Ricky had a keen batting eye, so if pitchers had to throw strikes to him. But he was a good hitter, so there were risks with that. And, then Ricky started adding power to his game, so if a pitcher wasn't careful, Ricky would put one in the seats, and the pitcher would be down one run before even facing the second hitter.

When he was on base, he demanded so much attention from pitchers that the pitchers would make mistakes to the likes of Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco.

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It would be a blast to see prime Ricky playing under the current rules that limit the number of times a pitcher can throw to a base to hold the runner.

 

[buzglyd]

Rickey always referred to himself in the third person. My nephew was at Spring training when he was on the Padres. He had 5 or 6 Henderson cards and asked Rickey to sign them. Henderson said, “Rickey Henderson don’t have time to sign all those cards. Pick out your favorite one and I’ll sign it.”

Tony Gwynn used to crack up telling his Ricky stories. Ricky always referred to Tony as “Gwynn.”