RICKEY HENDERSON THAT DUDE

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rickey_Henderson

please someone remember to revive thread for HOF induction

some stories i stole from a msg board that stole them from some blog:

1) In June 1999, when Henderson was playing with the Mets, he saw reporters running around the clubhouse before a game. He asked a teammate what was going on and he was told that Tom Robson, the team’s hitting coach, had just been fired. Henderson said, “Who’s he?”

2) Rickey... on referring to himself in the third person:
“Listen, people are always saying, ‘Rickey says Rickey.’ But it’s been blown way out of proportion. People might catch me, when they know I’m ticked off, saying, ‘Rickey, what the heck are you doing, Rickey?’ They say, ‘Darn, Rickey, what are you saying Rickey for? Why don’t you just say, ‘I?’ But I never did. I always said, ‘Rickey,’ and it became something for people to joke about.”

3) In the early 1980s, the Oakland A’s accounting department was freaking out. The books were off $1 million. After an investigation, it was determined Rickey was the reason why. The GM asked him about a $1 million bonus he had received and Rickey said instead of cashing it, he framed it and hung it on a wall at his house.

4) In 1996, Henderson’s first season with San Diego, he boarded the team bus and was looking for a seat. Steve Finley said, “You have tenure, sit wherever you want.” Henderson looked at Finley and said, “Ten years? Ricky’s been playing at least 16, 17 years.”

5) The year he ended up playing with the Red Sox. Anyway, he called San Diego GM Kevin Towers and left the following message: “This is Rickey calling on behalf of Rickey. Rickey wants to play baseball.”

6) This one happened in Seattle. Rickey struck out and as the next batter was walking past him, he heard Henderson say, “Don’t worry, Rickey, you’re still the best.”

7) Rickey once asked a teammate how long it would take him to drive to the Dominican Republic.

8) Moments after breaking Lou Brock’s stolen base record, Henderson told the crowd – with Brock mere feet next to him – “Lou Brock was a great base stealer, but today, I am the greatest of all-time.”

9) Henderson once fell asleep on an ice pack and got frostbite – which forced him to miss three games — in mid-August.

10) A reporter asked Henderson if Ken Caminiti’s estimate that 50 percent of Major League players were taking steroids was accurate. His response was, “Well, Rickey’s not one of them, so that’s 49 percent right there.”

11) Henderson broke Ty Cobb’s career record for runs scored with a home run. After taking his usual 45 seconds or so around the bases, Rickey slid into home plate.

12) On being Nolan Ryan’s 5,000th career strikeout: “It gave me no chance. He (Ryan) just blew it by me. But it’s an honor. I’ll have another paragraph in all the baseball books. I’m already in the books three or four times.”

13) San Diego GM Kevin Towers was trying to contact Rickey at a nearby hotel. He knew Henderson always used fake names to avoid the press, fans, etc. He was trying to think like Rickey and after several attempts; he was able to get Henderson on the phone.

Rickey had checked in under Richard Pryor.

14) I didn’t believe this one at first. However, I emailed a few contacts within the Sox organization and they claim it actually happened. This is priceless, it really is.

The morning after the Sox finished off their 2004 World Series sweep against St. Louis, Henderson called someone in the organization looking for tickets to Game 6 at Fenway Park.

15) The Mets were staying in a hotel less than a mile from Cinergy Field in Cincinnati. While some players walked, most took the team bus. A few minutes after they arrived — again it was less than a mile – the last players off the bus noticed a stretched limo that had just pulled up.

Of course, Rickey emerged from the back seat.

16) A reporter once asked Rickey if he talked to himself, “Do I talk to myself? No, I just remind myself of what I’m trying to do. You know, I never answer myself so how can I be talking to myself?”

17) OK, I know everyone has been waiting for it. Alas, according to both parties involved, it’s not true. I wish it were. Heck, both Rickey Henderson and John Olerud have said they wish it were true. But it just didn’t happen.

The story went that a few weeks into Henderson’s stint with the Mariners, he walked up to Olerud at the batting cage and asked him why he wore a batting helmet in the field. Olerud explained that he had an aneurysm at nine years old and he wore the helmet for protection. Legend goes that Henderson said, “Yeah, I used to play with a guy that had the same thing.” Legend also goes that Olerud said, “That was me, Rickey.”

Henderson played with Olerud on the Blue Jays and the Mets.

18) Rickey was asked if he had the Garth Brooks album with Friends in Low Places and Henderson said, “Rickey doesn’t have albums. Rickey has CDs.”

19) 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.”

20) In the late 1980s, the Yankees sent Henderson a six-figure bonus check. After a few months passed, an internal audit revealed the check had not been cashed. Current Yankees GM Brian Cashman – then a low-level nobody with the organization – called Rickey and asked if there was a problem with the check. Henderson said, “I’m just waiting for the money market rates to go up.”

21) Rickey was pulled over by a San Diego police officer for speeding. As the officer was approaching Rickey’s car, the window went down a few inches and a folded $100 bill emerged. The officer let Rickey and his money head home without a ticket.

22) When he was on the Yankees in the mid-1980s, Henderson told teammates that his condo had such a great view that he could see, “The Entire State Building.”

23) During one of his stays with Oakland, Henderson’s locker was next to Billy Beane’s. After making the team out of spring training, Beane was sent to the minors after a few months. Upon his return, about six weeks later, Henderson looked at Beane and said, “Hey, man, where have you been? Haven’t seen you in awhile.”

24) To this day and dating back 25 years, before every game he plays, Henderson stands completely naked in front of a full length locker room mirror and says, “Ricky’s the best,” for several minutes.

25) In the last week of his lone season with the Red Sox, Chairman Tom Werner asked Henderson what he would like for his ‘going-away’ gift. Henderson said he wasn’t going anywhere, but he would like owner John Henry’s Mercedes. Werner said it would be tough to get the same make and model in less than a week and Henderson said, “No, I want his car.” Turns out the Sox got Henderson a Red Thunderbird and when he saw it on the field before the last game of the season, Rickey said, “Whose ugly car is on the field?”

There's a good one from the Mets days where Naked Rickey comes up behind a teammate eating at the buffet table rests his johnson on the guy's shoulder. It's in some book.

...AND rests...

(his reportedly prodigious johnson)

please no slash fic.

thx

moderator

he's not still playing in some independent league, is he? but he was last year?

The world may never know

rickey's the best

he's not still playing in some independent league, is he? but he was last year?

-- jergïns, Thursday, August 2, 2007 8:17 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

serious answer: he's a mets coach now

http://www.cantstopthebleeding.com/?p=10667

serious answer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3q1kcftSGug

awes midwestern aspie guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XL4WjXvtQD4
(shades of king of comedy)

ffw to the very end: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zr8m8hONvpw
only worth it because some dude shouts "rickey touched my hand!"

odd silent collectro porn: http://one.revver.com/watch/124798

FineBrothers

Rickey Henderson and Bobby Bonilla playing cards in the clubhouse WHILE A GAME WAS UNDERWAY.

Seriously, I love Rickey. My dad freaked out when I hung a poster of him in my room when I was 12.

Henderson and Bonilla playing cards in the clubhouse WHILE A PLAYOFF GAME WAS UNDERWAY

Henderson and Bonilla playing cards in the OUTFIELD DURING GAME 7 OF THE WORLD SERIES

Henderson and Bonilla playing cards in the OUTFIELD DURING EXTRA INNINGS IN GAME 7 OF THE WORLD SERIES AFTER KILLING A BIRD

Henderson and Bonilla FUCKING A BIRD IN MONUMENT PARK

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/pics/rickey_henderson_autograph.jpghttp://img516.imageshack.us/img516/4411/rickeyrw0.jpghttp://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/pics/rickey_henderson_autograph.jpg

http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/4572/1428qb0.gif http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/4572/1428qb0.gif http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/4572/1428qb0.gif

^^^pls explain this, young man.

someone snatched Rickey's chain

Honor Rickey again

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/bats-right-throws-left-the-best-players-in-major-league-history/

fuck that marginal hof inductee interloper jim rice with a fungo bat but:

http://www.youtube.com/v/RSRptJ8fj-Q&hl=en&fs=1

ignore the above this is better:

That was not a convincing "no" he gave about Game 6 of the 2004 World Series.

I'm going to "Rickey Henderson Night" at the Oakland Coliseum.

They are going to retire his jersey in a pregame ceremony and the first 10,000 fans get a retro-jersey. I love Rickey. discus.

I love Rickey too. He had every right to call himself the greatest. Lou Brock should've stole more bases if he didn't want to witness that.

I wonder if he actually "cashed" that million-dollar check.

damn i feel guilty posting those apocryphal stories upthread after seeing that mlb network special on him from last sunday. if it comes up again near induction time (and it will), watch or tivo the shit out of it. really great interviews, touching stuff.

oh just looked it up it's this sunday they're inducting JHEAH

The Henderson special is on again at 10:30am Saturday and 6:00pm Sunday (eastern).

http://pics.librarything.com/picsizes/12/d3/12d34f437efdbed5935474a5351434d414f4541.jpg

^^I owned and read this as a kid

http://a323.yahoofs.com/ymg/ept_sports_mlb_experts__32/ept_sports_mlb_experts-620854798-1248480943.jpg?ymwK.nBDDH7IpMnE

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Honoring-Rickey-Henderson-The-best-photos-and-q?urn=mlb,178662

^____________________________________^

"They kept that s--- a secret from me ... I wish they had told me. My God, could you imagine Rickey on 'roids? Oh, baby, look out!" — Henderson on steroids, The New Yorker, Sept. 12, 2005

Love. This. Guy.

I haven't cared about the HoF in years, but between Rickey and Rice (who was my hero when I first started watching the game), I'll even listen to Harold Reynolds today.

my god it's full of runs

old and everyone's heard it, but illest quote ever:

"If you could split him in two, you'd have two Hall of Famers." — Bill James, baseball statistician

If you could split him in two, you'd have two guys who are bad at reading off of cards:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSRptJ8fj-Q

http://i.imgur.com/gcutz.jpg

Extremely detailed piece by Daniel Marks that tries to sort leadoff hitters through the years into families, finishing with a ranking of the 25 greatest:

1. Rickey Henderson
2. Tim Raines
3. Kenny Lofton
4. Pete Rose
5, Paul Molitor
6. Richie Ashburn
7. Brett Butler
8. Ichiro Suzuki
9. Stan Hack
10. Craig Biggio

First thought is that the families are too specific--there's like 20 of them, when a more generalized six or seven would be more user-friendly. Carew's omission from the rankings is easily explained: he only led off 370 games. Boggs at #20 less defensible, I'd say, even with the disclaimer that "I do give a fair amount of weight to having done the job for a long time"--he led off almost 1,000 games, and ranks below a number of inferior hitters who led off somewhere between 1,000-1,300 games. Anyway, impressive piece.

http://www.billjamesonline.com/%e2%80%9clet_your_first_striker_always_be_the_coolest_hand_of_the_nine%e2%80%9d/

Sorry, didn't realize that was behind the firewall. Almost always, if it's not by James it's publicly accessible.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/cc/b3/86/ccb3863562ddcd198d62ebdd065062a6.jpg

happy rickeymas! he is 60 today

gather those rosebuds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lssLGZH9fQM

If he were to play next year, I bet he wouldn't score more than 70 runs.

well, if Mike Trout was hitting behind him...

I said he was unique on the general RIP (non-baseball) thread. Checking into that, I haven't yet found a HOF'er with a lower Similarity Score for his #1 comp (just checking post deadball--different game before that). Henderson's was 713--not Raines (way down around 650), but, believe it or not, Craig Biggio.

Ruth and Williams and Bonds and Foxx and Gehrig were all kind of similar; lowest #1 in that group belongs to Ruth at 740 (Bonds). Gehrig/Foxx/Williams are all clustered together in the mid-high 800s.

Mays/Aaron/Robinson/Pujols/Griffey all have #1s over 800, usually drawn from that group.

Mantle would seem to have a foot in both those groups, but looks like he, Frank Thomas, Mike Schmidt, and Gary Sheffield have their own little cluster in the low-mid 800s.

Clemente? Vada Pinson and Al Oliver are both over 850. Jackie Robinson has a number of players in the 800s.

Sandy Koufax would seem to be unique because of his shortened career and extreme skill set, but his #1 is actually Rod Guidry around 900. I thought Ryan might be lower: his #1 is Carlton around 750. For closers, Rivera is generally viewed as being on his own planet, but his #1, Trevor Hoffman, is close to 900. Other famous closers become more and more interchangeable over the course of their careers--won't even bother checking.

That's about 20 minutes' worth of research. I really doubt that there was another post-deadball HOF'er as statistically sui generis as Henderson. If you limited the comparison to a five-year period, maybe even a decade, I'm guessing Henderson and Raines would have a much higher Similarity Score.

Holy shit. Just heard the news. He was my favorite player as a kid. The only athlete I ever had a poster of on my room.

Fuck stats
So much fun to watch play

Excellent point--mutually exclusive. We get caught up in things like Rickey's SB record solely because of the fun, not because there's a number involved.

24

Anyway, Similarity Score is not a stat--it's a way of comparing two players to see how similar they are. I said, off the cuff, that there was no one ever like Rickey. Sometimes I like to check the stuff I say to see if there's any truth to it.

And just to completely contradict myself, something I wrote just after Henderson's HOF induction.

I remember when he came to the NYY and it was Henderson / Randolph / Mattingly / Winfield for a minute

I'm going to "Rickey Henderson Night" at the Oakland Coliseum.

They are going to retire his jersey in a pregame ceremony and the first 10,000 fans get a retro-jersey. I love Rickey. discus.

― (*ﾟーﾟ)θ L(。･＿･)　　　°~ヾ(･ε･ *) (Steve Shasta), Thursday, July 23, 2009 11:48 AM (fifteen years ago)

I still wear this shirsey.

I remember when he came to the NYY and it was Henderson / Randolph / Mattingly / Winfield for a minute

Even with four-team playoff brackets, it's amazing (in retrospect) that they never made the playoffs with this crew. But the Jays/Tigers/Red Sox had incendiary teams too.

my main memory of watching rickey was as a 40 year old on the bobby valentine mets. he had 37 steals that year, which was a far cry from the 66 he had in oakland the year before

The only valuable baseball card I ever had was his rookie card.

why past tense? WHAT HAPPENED?!

https://www.dking-gallery.com/pix/Misc/OakAs_Henderson119_A.jpg

this is the poster i had on my wall as a kid

https://media-photos.depop.com/b1/48877929/2051402663_92c21c83d8a04705950fff71a524b5c4/P0.jpg

That’s dope
I have his 84 Donruss card, will pull that out later

i had this on my bedroom shelf as a kid

https://i.imgur.com/ukSfcnr.png

rip rickey henderson! you were otherworldly

Rickey's rookie card is 1980, so maybe the last great rookie card before Fleer and Donruss jumped in and everything got progressively more complicated.

https://i.postimg.cc/T32jbXVP/s-l1600.jpg

I've got a ton of Rickey cards, but not that one, and mostly late '80s/early '90s.

i have an ‘85 topps

i had this on my bedroom shelf as a kid

🖼

rip rickey henderson! you were otherworldly

RIP

First player I think of when I hear the phrase "high motor"

He wasn't on the juice, he had The Juice. Legend.

130

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a commenter on a globe article noted that only 10 men have played 3000 mlb games and three of them died this year - rickey, pete rose and willie mays

the greatest bats right/throws left player ever

Rickey you were the best

A Facebook friend posted his HOF speech, and, when he singled out the scout who recruited him in 1976, he made mention of the fact that Oakland was willing to overlook his BR/TL combination, so I take it that many teams weren't.

the "ugly girlfriend" of '76