OT: RIP Ricky Henderson
- Thread starter Ronnie_B
- Start date
Probably the best baseball player I’ve personally ever saw live or on TV.
R.I.P. Rickey Henderson.
R.I.P. Rickey Henderson.
RIP Rickey , a true Hall of Fame player
www.baseball-reference.com
Rickey Henderson Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More | Baseball-Reference.com
Check out the latest Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More of Rickey Henderson. Get info about his position, age, height, weight, draft status, bats, throws, school and more on Baseball-reference.com
www.baseball-reference.com
Died of pneumonia at 65. That seems unusual.
It’s impossible to explain to younger generations how great Ricky was in his day.
Probably the 99 player in all categories on MLB The Show.
At the end of 2014,Pete Palmer and John Thorn ranked him as the 18th best player all time,behind Mantle at 17 and Gehrig at 19.
I 've always suspected that he was named for teen idol Ricky Nelson as his birth name was Rickey Nelson Henley.
I 've always suspected that he was named for teen idol Ricky Nelson as his birth name was Rickey Nelson Henley.
Last edited:
Given how he could disrupt a game, if you're putting an all-time team together to win one game, I think it has to have RH on it and leading off. And that's not easy given how many great corner outfielders you'd have to pass over to do it.
Besides being a great player, he also popularized speaking about himself in the third person. Let Ricky be Ricky.
How come I don't see this reported anywhere else? Okay. I finally just saw it come up on ESPN.COM
Rickey got his 3000th hit as a Padre on the last day of the 2001 season. That same game was the last one of Tony Gwyn's career.
R.I.P. Rickey
www.mlb.com
R.I.P. Rickey
Gwynn’s farewell, Rickey’s 3,000th | 12/22/2024
Relive Tony Gwynn's final game in the big leagues, as the stars aligned with another magical moment in MLB history, Rickey Henderson's 3,000th hit
www.mlb.com
Last edited:
Some may consider him a Lawrence Taylor- level Gamechanger in that he changed the way leadoff hitters can set the tone with a lead off home run in that wasn’t done before him. Obviously he was an elite base stealer but was also an elite outfielder. The man could do it all.
I saw posts about it on here just after the Princeton-RU game ended but only saw it on ESPN within the last hour. And I'm looking on there for news or scores all day.
He stayed in the majors well past his prime, and when he finally couldn’t stick with a team at age 45, he played in independent leagues. Shows how much he loved the game
With Ricky, a walk was a triple.
I don’t think I have ever seen a single offensive player just disrupt and take over games.
I don’t think I have ever seen a single offensive player just disrupt and take over games.
So true. The closest I've seen is Elly De la Cruz.
But Rickey Henderson was in a class by himself.
In 1978 the Eastern League gave a franchise to Jersey City and they played in the old Roosevelt Stadium. The A's put their AA team there.
A friend of mine told me that they had a teenager who maybe the fastest person ever to play baseball. We went to the game that night and a 19 year old Rickey Henderson stole three bases. I remember it because all three of them were standing up. He ended up stealing about 80 or 90 that year. What a talented athlete.
p.s. The A's had another player on that team that team who turned into a pretty solid MLB pitcher.
Mike Norris
A friend of mine told me that they had a teenager who maybe the fastest person ever to play baseball. We went to the game that night and a 19 year old Rickey Henderson stole three bases. I remember it because all three of them were standing up. He ended up stealing about 80 or 90 that year. What a talented athlete.
p.s. The A's had another player on that team that team who turned into a pretty solid MLB pitcher.
Mike Norris
Just for fun I looked at the West Haven Yankees for that season. They had some pretty solid major leaguers on that team like Steve Balboni and Tim Lollar.
But the interesting thing was that team had two future Yankee managers in uniform on that team. Stump Merrill who was the manager and a 22 year old who hit .289.......Buck Showalter.
Saw him play vs. for the Newark Bears vs. the Somerset Patriots around 2004
Got ejected in the first inning for arguing balls and strikes
Got ejected in the first inning for arguing balls and strikes
One of the greatest players and people I’ve ever played with.
Tremendous teammate
Tremendous teammate
Last edited:
True!
Henderson was born on December 25, 1958, in Chicago in the back seat of an Oldsmobile on the way to the hospital. Henderson later joked, "I was already fast. I couldn't wait." He was named Rickey Nelson Henley, after singer-actor Ricky Nelson, and is the son of John L. Henley and Bobbie Henley.
So Rickey had a Rutgers connection! Nelson was the son of legendary RU alum Ozzie Nelson.
R.I.P. Rickey.
This from a friend when we exchanged email about Rickey …
“When i worked at Russell Athletic....they made all the major league uniforms. Rickey Henderson was one of the few that had special uniform requests. He said the length of the tail of the jersey slowed him down. He wanted the tail to be no more than one inch in length to tuck in...can't argue with the results!!”
“When i worked at Russell Athletic....they made all the major league uniforms. Rickey Henderson was one of the few that had special uniform requests. He said the length of the tail of the jersey slowed him down. He wanted the tail to be no more than one inch in length to tuck in...can't argue with the results!!”
Last edited:
Of course I have many memories of Rickey, but I’m coming up empty on his defensive prowess. Did he have a decent throwing arm? Did he make any memorable catches? Was he notable for his fielding?
Unfortunately “pneumonia” is often the end result of a few possible illnesses.
R.I.P Rickey getting to watch your career was a blessing for all the baseball fans whoever ever had the chance to do so!!!
My best memories of Rickey as a kid were of him turning singles/walks into doubles and triples, quads of a linebacker, cool as could be wearing sunglasses and chains, slapping his thigh with glove before catching a fly ball and missing his lead off HR to start a Yankee game.
RIP to one of the best baseball players of all time.
GO RU
RIP to one of the best baseball players of all time.
GO RU
Former Hudson Reporter sportswriter late Jim Hague wrote a super column about Rickey maybe ten years ago. The paper went bust last year and unfortunately I couldn't find the article to post here.
Jim was Rickey's driver when both were teenagers. Rickey played for the Jersey City A's and Jim was the team's scorekeeper and public address announcer.
Rickey lived at Duncan and Delaware on the city's west side.
I was heartbroken when I heard this yesterday. Coming up he was my favorite player in the early '80s but living out here in NJ I only got to watch him on This Week in Baseball or if we got lucky with the Game of the week afterwards. Greatest all-around player I've ever seen in my 52 years on this planet....
lol are you serious ? He is easily one of the top 40 players all time . What are you talking about ?
Similar threads
Latest posts
-
FB Recruiting Rutgers set to host former Four-Star Defensive Tackle.....- Latest: William J. Leggett
-
