Happy Belated Birthday to the great Hall of Fame, Rickey Henderson.  Primarily playing Left Field, Henderson played for nine different teams throughout his twenty-five-year career: Oakland Athletics, New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays, San Diego Padres, Anaheim Angels, New York Mets, Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox, and Los Angeles Dodgers. During his career, Henderson established himself as arguably the greatest leadoff hitter that ever lived and arguably the most outstanding offensive player in baseball history. 

Career Statistics/Accolades (1979-2003):

.279 BA 3,055 HITS 297 HR 1,115 RBI 2,295 RUNS .401 OBP

  • 10x All-Star
  •  3x Silver Slugger
  •  2x World Series (1989 & 1993)
  • 1989 ALCS MVP
  • 1990 AL MVP
  • 1981 Gold Glove

As an Offensive Player

As a leadoff hitter, your job is to get on base and score, which is what Henderson did. Henderson could hit, batting .300 or higher seven times. Also, he had a good eye at the plate, not only averaging 115 walks every year for his career but also ranking 2nd behind Barry Bonds for the most walks in baseball history with 2,190. Once he got on base, Rickey did what he did best: stealing bases. Henderson led the league in Stolen Bases twelve times in his career, averaging 74 every year, and is the all-time career leader with 1,406. The goal as a player on base is to score, which Rickey Henderson scored 2,295 times, more than any player in baseball history. Let me put it to you this way: if Rickey Henderson led off the inning by getting on first base, based on what Henderson was able to do regarding running the bases, pitchers probably said, “Well, that’s a run!”. 

As a Defender

Henderson spent 19,932 Innings in Left Field, where he was a career .979 Fielder. His 5,215 Putouts in Left Field rank 2nd all-time among Left Fielders, and his 124 career Assists ranks 19th among Left Fielders. I wouldn’t put Henderson among the greatest defensive Left Fielders of all time, but he more than held his own. Besides winning a Gold Glove in 1981, he had multiple seasons of being an above-average fielder in terms of Fielding Percentage. Henderson also spent some time in Center Field, not suggesting he was better in Center Field than Left Field, but was able to hold his own when need be, spending over 3,500 Innings in Center.

Best Years

I guess you have to say that his 1990 MVP campaign was his best season, in which he had career highs in Batting Average (.325) and Base Percentage (.439). He was a finalist for the MVP in 1981 when he finished 2nd to Rollie Fingers, then in 1985, he finished 3rd in the voting behind Don Mattingly and George Brett. It wasn’t just those three years, from 1980-1993; ask anyone who was the greatest offensive player in all of baseball during that time; Rickey Henderson would likely be one of the names mentioned. It is worthy of note, that Henderson often missed some games during the year, only appearing in 150 games in a season a handful of times. But during his prime, when he was healthy, you can see that his numbers in Runs, Walks, Stolen Bases, and OBP were among the highest in the game. Statistics from Baseball-Reference

Legacy

Personally, I don’t think there is any debate on who the greatest leadoff hitter of all-time is. Also, worthy of note for a leadoff hitter, Henderson had some power, hitting over 20 home runs multiple times. What you expect from a leadoff hitter is a guy that gets on base and scores. In terms of getting On Base, Henderson had an OBP.400 or higher fifteen times. Now, in terms of scoring Runs, Henderson scored 100 or more. 

Runs in a season thirteen times in his career. Rickey Henderson was very athletic and durable, which meant he got to play for many years, leading him to eclipse the all-time Runs and Stolen Base record as well as record 3,000 hits. Most of his prime took place with him wearing an Oakland Athletics uniform and winning an MVP, and leading them to a 1989 World Series win. Not only is his #24 retired by the team, he also wore an A’s hat into the Baseball Hall of Fame, which he was inducted in 2009. In 1999, he was ranked #51 on The Sporting News list of 100 Greatest Players of all time.

References: 

  1. Rickey Henderson via Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rickey_Henderson#
  2. Rickey Henderson Career Statistics via Baseball-Reference: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/henderi01.shtml