Three days after being elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame with a record 937% of the vote, Rickey Henderson announced that he’s still willing to play if a GM will have him.
After announcing that he was retired he then went on to say, “if a club came out and said they needed a left fielder, they needed a guy to get on base and steal a few bases, they can always ring my phone and I’ll come on down and help their ballclub, that’s how much I love the game.” Rickey continued gracing the press conference with a few more Rickey gems:
I believe today, and people say I’m crazy, but if you gave me as many at-bats that you would give the runners out there today, I would out-steal every last one of them.
I can go out and steal as many bases as [Jose] Reyes steals. [Ed. Jose Reyes had 56 steals last year].
I might have lost a step or two, but I learned a step or two in knowledge that I can pick a pitch and walk to second base.
Now I know he was probably joking but this is Rickey Henderson. This is a guy who after playing professional baseball for 25 years with nine different teams then went on to play with a few Independent Leagues including the Newark Bears in 2004 (.462 OBP in 91 games) and the San Diego surf Dawgs in 2005 of the Golden Baseball League where he helped the team to a league championship.
I’ve been working at my job for four years now and I can’t wait to retire and never see any of these people ever again. Ricky can’t get enough of the daily grind of the baseball season. And I don’t blame him. It would be a dream come true to trot out onto the baseball field everyday of every year. Who cares if he becomes a punchline to a joke (he already has)? Who cares if people complain about his ego? Rickey Henderson is everything I want in a professional athlete, even more so if he’s on my team. I want the players on my teams to want to prove to the world that they’re the greatest. I want them to have egos that they have to back up. The guys with the biggest egos are usually the guys with the most to prove so they work harder and smarter than the guys who are just happy to be there.
Manny Ramirez and Barry Bonds are untolerable assholes. So was Ted Williams and Pudge Fisk. Pete Rose would do anything to win a game and Ty Cobb would knife a guy just for fun. Are these the people I want my kid to look up to? Hell no. But they’re the best players to watch on the field.
So good for you Rickey. Keep thinking you’re the best. Sure you might not integrate into normal society well but you were a hell of a goddamn baseball player. And when you become an even more miserable prick inyour old age when your motor functions fail you I’ll still call you the best leadoff hitter of all time. I won’t let my kids near you, but I’ll point from far away, maybe with a pointy stick ,and say, “Kids, that there is Rickey Henderson. You can either be normal or you can be great. He was great.” Then they’ll say, “Dad, you’ve been telling us this for 30 years. We’re old now and have families of our own. Have you been taking your Alzheimer’s medication?” And I’ll say, “Kids, that there is Rickey Henderson. You can either be normal or you can be great. He was great.” Then they’ll take me to a home and lock me up.
Rickey surely was the greatest leadoff hitter of all time, but why is that even a distinction? He was a great player. Period.
No one cares who the best #3 hitter of all time was. Or the best cleanup hitter.
Seems arbitrary and takes away from Rickey’s greatness. Let’s be honest. He was the leadoff hitter, but how many of his PAs came leading off the game? 20%?
amen, Hef. im right there with you on Rickey…i’d love for him to sign with the indians, regardless of age. considering the fact that a lot of teams give time to guys who can’t do shit and have no idea what they’re doing, why not give it to a guy who can’t do shit, but at least knows where to be and how to get shit done?
best thing about rickey? plate discipline…and that doesn’t go away. would he steal a ton of bases? who knows, but you gotta think there are some teams out there where he’d be an immediate upgrade over whomever is leading off.
I called this in the comments a few days ago.
If I was like Mike NYC I would link to it but it’s not worth the effort.
Im sold. Sign him up Kenny.
i know we have a few ricky gervais fans on here. next monday, he’ll be on bravo’s inside the actors studio.
Rickey told me when he was coaching 1st for the Mets last year (I had sweet fucking seats) that if given the chance he could steal 80 bases easy…He loves talking to the fans..I miss Rickey as the first base coach…he was having a blast with all the people in the stands but then you would see one of the guys get on 1st and he already knew the pitchers tells and everything…simply amazing…except when he is playing cards during the Playoff games with Bobby Bo
Rickey is the last true leadoff man. I wish everyone leadoff hitter in the league would emulate him.
What about Kenny Lofton, Curtis Granderson is pretty good too.
Grady, also.
Fuck Grady he should be a goddamn clean up hitter.
Kenny. Good point. I don’t think Curtis quite fits the mold as far as working walks and pitch counts. That’s what I meant. There’s obviously good leadoff hitters still, but nothing like a guy who really set up the entire lineup by working counts, making pitchers throw a lot of pitches and just getting on base by any means necessary. Kenny was probably the closest thing. Nowadays, we have guys like Soriano and Rollins and Reyes leading off. Not exactly prototypical get on base guys t here.