Rickey Henderson 1958-2024

[stevejrogers]

Seeing chatter on socials, including blue check marks in the know among Oakland and his friend circles (Dave Winfield chief among them) accounts that Rickey has passed at the age of 65.

[MFS62]

Also seen here, citing Dave Winfield:
https://detroitsportsnation.com/mlb-sto ... 24/465688/

Rickey could run fast, but nobody can outrun the Grim Reaper.
Now you can rest, in peace, Rickey.

Later

[metirish]

Sucks , if I had to guess I would have thought he was older

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

oh fuck

[Lefty Specialist]

Wow. Way too young at 65. Cause was complications from pneumonia, which leads to vaccination questions.

[TransMonk]

He was an exciting catalyst to the exciting 1999 team.

RIP

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

No one ever scored as many runs.

[G-Fafif]

It represented a veritable footnote to his legendary career, but a helluva Met season in 1999. Once in a while, I'd think, "Ohmigod, that's Rickey Henderson leading off for us."

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

I was one of those guys who dismissed Rickey as a punk for most of his career and didn't appreciate his greatness until he became such an invaluable Met.

Howard Bryant's bio has mixed reviews but I think he wrote it well, with mostly Mrs Rickey providing the info. Makes sense of how he played and how he achieved all he did. Lots of smart baseball people discounted him too.

[smg58]

The Met moment that I though best encapsulated Rickey was a game at Wrigley Field where somebody on the Cubs hit a no-doubter to left field, and Richkey didn't even get out of his crouch.

[stevejrogers]

Sad year for iconic #24s in baseball history :(

[metirish]

[DocTee]

Upon Willie Mays' passing this summer, RH was among a few who could vie for the title of "greatest living ballplayer"

Sadly that was a short tenure, if indeed he held the crown.

[Frayed Knot]

One of the most unique talents ever. Could be a problem child now and then but I think most of his teammates liked him (as per the Piazza post).

A Christmas Day baby, he would have turned 66 on Wednesday.

Pneumonia doesn't only speak to vaccines (or lack thereof). It often sets in when one is sedentary for long periods which may indicate an ongoing or lengthy illness.
It was long known as 'the old man's friend' meaning that you died from it and that relieved your suffering from whatever was really ailing you: cancer, etc. I even
had a bout of it during a ten day hospital stay. It's more treatable now than during 'the old man's friend' days but it still kills its fair share.

Was the last active ML older than me.

[batmagadanleadoff]

I was one of those guys who dismissed Rickey as a punk for most of his career and didn't appreciate his greatness until he became such an invaluable Met.

Howard Bryant's bio has mixed reviews but I think he wrote it well, with mostly Mrs Rickey providing the info. Makes sense of how he played and how he achieved all he did. Lots of smart baseball people discounted him too.

I loved him. I recognized his extraordinary greatness pretty much since the beginning of his career and he was always one of my faves. Bill James once wrote of Rickey -- "If you could split him in half, you'd have two Hall of Fame caliber players." And then there was the unforgivable and uncharacteristically tone-deaf quote by Howie Rose early on in Rickey's Mets stint -- (paraphrased) -- "I don't know what the big deal is about Rickey. Take away his stolen bases and you have an ordinary player."

I figured he'd live into his 90s. He was supposedly a health nut, physically fit and with the resources to get the best medical care out there.

Sad.

[batmagadanleadoff]

I was one of those guys who dismissed Rickey as a punk for most of his career and didn't appreciate his greatness until he became such an invaluable Met.

Howard Bryant's bio has mixed reviews but I think he wrote it well, with mostly Mrs Rickey providing the info. Makes sense of how he played and how he achieved all he did. Lots of smart baseball people discounted him too.

I loved him. I recognized his extraordinary greatness pretty much since the beginning of his career and he was always one of my faves. Bill James once wrote of Rickey -- "If you could split him in half, you'd have two Hall of Fame caliber players." And then there was the unforgivable and uncharacteristically tone-deaf quote by Howie Rose early on in Rickey's Mets stint -- (paraphrased) -- "I don't know what the big deal is about Rickey. Take away his stolen bases and you have an ordinary player."

I figured he'd live into his 90s. He was supposedly a health nut, physically fit and with the resources to get the best medical care out there.

Sad.

[Frayed Knot]

I remember a Marty Noble story from Rickey's first NYM spring training.

It was check-in/physical day and Noble, who had been around locker rooms from before the days of weight lifting (and steroids) relayed a series of stories about players who turned the heads of other players because, even amongst professional athletes, most had never seen a body like ______. He named several from across the years, Stevie Henderson being one I remember. So in bringing the story up to date he was sure that none of his new NYM teammates had EVER seen a body like that when Rickey first made an appearance in his new locker room. Probably not more than 5' 10", but just sculpted.

[metirish]

Funny story

[Edgy MD]

Rickey's death had been rumored all day. Reasonably decent sources had been confirming it, and reasonably good sources (including teammates) had been denying it. Nothing official had been reported, so I was living in the belief that it wasn't so. I had begun posting a thread here about the ambiguity, but that felt like a ghoulish way of being first with the news or something, if it did break that way.

Greatest player in the history of the Oakland Athletics — despite spending very close to half his career elsewhere — and strangely the curtain draws closed on his amazing life at about the same time it closes on the franchise.

In fact, I think only original Athletic Eddie Plank has a stronger claim at being the greatest in the history of the organization.

[metirish]

[Edgy MD]

Rickey's first-pitch homer off the foul pole sealed the 1999 elimination game against Cincinnati. Not that it needed much sealing, the way Leiter was pitching, but in my book, the homer took the wind out of the Reds.

I believe he is the second member of that team to enter the hereafter, after poor Darryl Hamilton, who was murdered back in 2015.

[Gwreck]

Everyone knows about being the all-time leader in steals and runs scored, and probably the .401 lifetime OBP, but he also hit 297 homers! What a player.

[Frayed Knot]

Yeah. To call him the greatest leadoff hitter of all time is almost to damn him with faint praise.

[Edgy MD]

Rickey pulled it all off despite being the rare double-disadvantaged guy who batted righty and threw lefty.

If he threw righthanded, he might have put up all that insane amount of production from second base or something.

[Bob Alpacadaca]

I think he was born on Christmas. I remember reading a story where he was being interviewed about Billy Martin and got very emotional when talking about him passing away and how much he meant to him and his career.

Way too young.