‘Well, Hang Tight. Rickey’s Gonna Give You That Chance.’
Another great Rickey Henderson remembrance, this one from Joe Posnanski:
I’d argue that no player in baseball history was ever more alive
than Rickey Henderson, which is why his shocking death just days
before his 66th Christmas hits so hard. Rickey played a cautious
sport with abandon. Rickey played a timid sport with flash. Rickey
irritated and thrilled and frustrated and dominated and left us
all wanting more.
“When we were kids,” his teammate Mike Gallego said, “we played in
the backyard emulating Pete Rose’s stance or Joe Morgan’s. I
believe Rickey emulated Rickey.”
Yes, Rickey was his own thing, entirely, completely, from the way
he crouched at the plate (“he has a strike zone the size of
Hitler’s heart,” Jim Murray famously wrote), to the way he slid
headfirst on the bases (he modeled his slide after an airplane
landing) to the way he held out virtually every spring (“You have
to say Rickey’s consistent,” Don Mattingly said during one of
those holdouts, “and that’s what you want from a ballplayer:
consistency”) to the way he referred to himself in the third
person (“People are always saying, ‘Rickey says Rickey,’” Rickey
said, “but it’s been blown way out of proportion”) to the joyful
confidence he exuded every time he stepped out on the diamond from
age 20 to age 44.
“You wanna throw me out today?” he would ask catchers the first
time he stepped to the plate. “Well, hang tight. Rickey’s gonna
give you that chance.”
I don’t want to spoil a single word of the story Posnanski closes his piece with. Just be sure to read through to the very end.
See also:
From ESPN’s obit, by Howard Bryant and Jeff Passan:
He played his last game at 44 years, 268 days old Sept. 19, 2003,
for the Dodgers, and his stolen base total remains more than 1,000
ahead of the current active leader.
Here’s the list of career steals leaders among active players, led by Slarling Marte with 354 and Jose Altuve with 315. There are only four other active players with more than 200. Rickey had 1,406. Lou Brock is second place on the all-time list with 938 steals. So even if Marte (who is already 36 years old) or Altuve (34 years old) were to steal as many additional bases as Lou Brock did in his entire 19-year career — the guy who is second-place all-time — they’d still be well short of Rickey’s record. In the entire history of Major League Baseball there are only nine players who stole half of Rickey’s career number. But as FanGraphs’s Dan Szymborski observes, “The funny thing with Rickey is that you take away the stolen bases, he’s still easily in the top 10 for LF WAR all time.”
Also from ESPN:
Stories about Henderson were as legendary as his play, such as the
true story of him once framing a million-dollar bonus check and
hanging it on his wall — without first cashing it.
Last but not least, give a listen to this quick story from Giants great Will Clark, about a preseason game against Rickey’s Oakland A’s when the A’s coaches tried to give him the “don’t steal” sign. You know what Rickey did.
★
Another great Rickey Henderson remembrance, this one from Joe Posnanski:
I’d argue that no player in baseball history was ever more alive
than Rickey Henderson, which is why his shocking death just days
before his 66th Christmas hits so hard. Rickey played a cautious
sport with abandon. Rickey played a timid sport with flash. Rickey
irritated and thrilled and frustrated and dominated and left us
all wanting more.
“When we were kids,” his teammate Mike Gallego said, “we played in
the backyard emulating Pete Rose’s stance or Joe Morgan’s. I
believe Rickey emulated Rickey.”
Yes, Rickey was his own thing, entirely, completely, from the way
he crouched at the plate (“he has a strike zone the size of
Hitler’s heart,” Jim Murray famously wrote), to the way he slid
headfirst on the bases (he modeled his slide after an airplane
landing) to the way he held out virtually every spring (“You have
to say Rickey’s consistent,” Don Mattingly said during one of
those holdouts, “and that’s what you want from a ballplayer:
consistency”) to the way he referred to himself in the third
person (“People are always saying, ‘Rickey says Rickey,’” Rickey
said, “but it’s been blown way out of proportion”) to the joyful
confidence he exuded every time he stepped out on the diamond from
age 20 to age 44.
“You wanna throw me out today?” he would ask catchers the first
time he stepped to the plate. “Well, hang tight. Rickey’s gonna
give you that chance.”
I don’t want to spoil a single word of the story Posnanski closes his piece with. Just be sure to read through to the very end.
See also:
From ESPN’s obit, by Howard Bryant and Jeff Passan:
He played his last game at 44 years, 268 days old Sept. 19, 2003,
for the Dodgers, and his stolen base total remains more than 1,000
ahead of the current active leader.
Here’s the list of career steals leaders among active players, led by Slarling Marte with 354 and Jose Altuve with 315. There are only four other active players with more than 200. Rickey had 1,406. Lou Brock is second place on the all-time list with 938 steals. So even if Marte (who is already 36 years old) or Altuve (34 years old) were to steal as many additional bases as Lou Brock did in his entire 19-year career — the guy who is second-place all-time — they’d still be well short of Rickey’s record. In the entire history of Major League Baseball there are only nine players who stole half of Rickey’s career number. But as FanGraphs’s Dan Szymborski observes, “The funny thing with Rickey is that you take away the stolen bases, he’s still easily in the top 10 for LF WAR all time.”
Also from ESPN:
Stories about Henderson were as legendary as his play, such as the
true story of him once framing a million-dollar bonus check and
hanging it on his wall — without first cashing it.
Last but not least, give a listen to this quick story from Giants great Will Clark, about a preseason game against Rickey’s Oakland A’s when the A’s coaches tried to give him the “don’t steal” sign. You know what Rickey did.