Rickey Henderson has died

BrandyWhine

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Apr 3, 2023
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Sad, sad news. And just before Christmas (his birthday is 12/25).

He was a force and forever is a Hall of Famer.
 

Deweys New Stance

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It's trending on twitter but it's just a bunch of randos who've been posting about it since last night. Not much being said about it on bluesky, and not seeing anything else about it aside from the Winfield's instagram, which doesn't link to any confirmation either. You would think if true it would have been confirmed by his family, MLB, or some other legitimate source by now.
 

Mugsy's Jock

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Rickey was an easy player to jump to the wrong conclusions about -- Rickey had a shortage of pronouns in his vocabulary, and Rickey had no shortage of ego. But Rickey loved baseball as much as anybody whoever played the game, and Rickey played it hard and Rickey played it to win. Rickey was one of my favorite players ever.

Talking about Rickey.
 

E5 Yaz

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When Willie Mays died, Rickey was among those mentioned as the unofficial "Greatest Living Ballplayer." He was that good and, while the personality quirks get the immediate attention, his ability to get the most out of his talent is what should truly be admired and remembered
 

NDame616

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Damnit.

Favorite player growing up, mainly because growing up all I could do is run fast and steal bases so I loved following him.
 

Vinho Tinto

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He was the ultimate weapon in the 80s and played with so much flair. Such a fun player to watch. Probably the only player I can think of who played well for the Yankees, but his time with them is mostly forgotten due to his feats with the A’s. He was unstoppable during the ‘89 playoffs.
 

bosockboy

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When Willie Mays died, Rickey was among those mentioned as the unofficial "Greatest Living Ballplayer." He was that good and, while the personality quirks get the immediate attention, his ability to get the most out of his talent is what should truly be admired and remembered
There’s a plausible argument for him on the MLB Mount Rushmore.

All team leader in runs, walks and steals. 300+HR.

And the face of the MLB speed era.
 

JohntheBaptist

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When Willie Mays died, Rickey was among those mentioned as the unofficial "Greatest Living Ballplayer." He was that good and, while the personality quirks get the immediate attention, his ability to get the most out of his talent is what should truly be admired and remembered
"If you split Rickey Henderson in two, you'd have two Hall of Famers." - Bill James
 

Rasputin

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One of the most entertaining players ever, on and off the field. The world is not as much fun without him. And I hate it when people who share my birthday die younger than they should. Or when they should or older than they should.
 

luckiestman

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One of the most famous ball players of my life. Kind of young for a supreme athlete.
 

Andy Merchant

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Man, awful news. I always loved having Rickey on my Strat-O-Matic teams in the 80s: he was always on base, stealing was almost automatic, he played premium defense, and he had a lot of extra base hits for a speed guy. RIP to an all-time great.
 

jon abbey

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I said it here a few times last year, Rickey gets my vote for best player of my (viewing) lifetime, which started in ‘76. Yankee fans were very lucky to get a few years of his near-prime.

RIP sir, thanks for being Rickey.
 

TapeAndPosts

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Rickey was underrated in the 80s, due to some combination of his personality and leadoff hitters being undervalued. Never forget the Yankees traded him back to Oakland in 1989 for Eric Plunk, Greg Cadaret, and Luis Polonia. He proceeded to have a 9.9 bWAR season in 1990, higher than the other three's Yankee careers put together.
 

jon abbey

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Here is a FB post I made in early 2023:

===============

I came to the conclusion this week that Rickey Henderson gets my vote for best MLB player of my lifetime.

If a player stole 70 bases for 20 straight seasons, they would still be short of Rickey's career record total (1406-1400). No one has stolen 70 in even one season since 2009.

If a player scored 140 runs for 16 straight seasons, they would still be short of Rickey's career record total (2295-2240). No one has scored 140 in even one season since 2007.

Also since you could not walk him as it was essentially giving up a free double or triple and he crouched down so much, often pitchers just said fuck it and grooved one which he proceeded to crush, 297 career HRs, more than Chris Davis or Kent Hrbek (both just behind him).

He was a huge part of the Rickey/Randolph/Mattingly/Winfield top of the Yankee order, fun times. Those four were so fun hitting right in a row that Mattingly was actually my least favorite, and he was of course as good as anyone for a few years. In 1987, all four got voted to start the ASG.
 

Philip Jeff Frye

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My son's first baseball when he was a three year old was Derek Lowe's no hitter against the Devil Rays in April 2002. Rickey lead off and played centerfield, which was one of a small handful of games he played in center field that season. In like the second inning, he made a very good catch on a ball that looked like it might drop in between the middle infielders and him. At the time, it was like "Hmm... that was a nice play." As it turned out, that was the closest the Rays would come to getting a hit.
 

JohntheBaptist

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Here is a FB post I made in early 2023:

===============

I came to the conclusion this week that Rickey Henderson gets my vote for best MLB player of my lifetime.

If a player stole 70 bases for 20 straight seasons, they would still be short of Rickey's career record total (1406-1400). No one has stolen 70 in even one season since 2009.

If a player scored 140 runs for 16 straight seasons, they would still be short of Rickey's career record total (2295-2240). No one has scored 140 in even one season since 2007.

Also since you could not walk him as it was essentially giving up a free double or triple and he crouched down so much, often pitchers just said fuck it and grooved one which he proceeded to crush, 297 career HRs, more than Chris Davis or Kent Hrbek (both just behind him).

He was a huge part of the Rickey/Randolph/Mattingly/Winfield top of the Yankee order, fun times. Those four were so fun hitting right in a row that Mattingly was actually my least favorite, and he was of course as good as anyone for a few years. In 1987, all four got voted to start the ASG.
He was just an absolute machine on the field, maxxed out completely in everything he could do well on a baseball field. Then, on top of that, he was like a character from a folk tale or something--utterly unique, unforced, replete with story after story and legend after legend of his sayings and doings. Just perfectly what you'd want and expect him to be.

Just gutting. For me its Pedro and Rickey as my favorite players I've ever seen. Way too young, and just an absolutely massive piece of baseball history. I feel incredibly lucky I got to watch him play, incredibly. RIP.
 

curly2

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When Willie Mays died, Rickey was among those mentioned as the unofficial "Greatest Living Ballplayer." He was that good and, while the personality quirks get the immediate attention, his ability to get the most out of his talent is what should truly be admired and remembered
Definitely. Rickey is 19th all time in BWAR. At the time of Mays's death, the only living players ahead of him on the list were Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Alex Rodriguez, all of who come with asterisks.
 

bosoxsue

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The Dollop podcast had a great several-episode profile of him in March 2023 (Part I is Ep. 574). He was so fun to watch, especially in person.
 
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patinorange

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Way back when I took a girl to a game at Fenway. She wasn't really knowledgeable about baseball so the expert here was explaining the finer points. Rickey leadoff walk. Several pick off throws to first. "Why is the pitcher doing that?" Rickey steals second standing up. Steals third on the next pitch. Then a balk sends him home. Explaining a balk is not really easy. I think it was Bruce Hurst, not sure. To me, that was Rickey. As others have mentioned, I was waiting for his comeback. Can't believe he was 65, can't believe he died so young. RIP
 

ALiveH

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As great as he was, actually think he was underrated when he played before advanced stats. He led the league in WAR three times and only won one MVP. His MVP season was insane btw, led the league in OPS and OPS+, and in addition was a net positive on defense and led the league in steals with 65.
 

ookami7m

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I can’t be the only poster who read this as “Red Sox sign Pablo Sandoval” right?
When Willie Mays died, Rickey was among those mentioned as the unofficial "Greatest Living Ballplayer." He was that good and, while the personality quirks get the immediate attention, his ability to get the most out of his talent is what should truly be admired and remembered
"If you split Rickey Henderson in two, you'd have two Hall of Famers." - Bill James
I was arguing with someone about making an "all time" team a few years ago and he was arguing against Ricky. I told him then, and I still believe, that if you are making an all time team and Rickey isn't leading off you are wrong.

Word is he was sliding safely into heaven before St Peter called his name.
 

E5 Yaz

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When Rickey Henderson joined the Boston Red Sox in 2002, he had stolen 1,395 bases during his career which began in 1979.
During that same 23-year timeframe, the Boston Red Sox as a franchise had only stolen 1,382 bases.