Rickey Henderson: A 1980s Icon Seen Through His Baseball Cards
In the playground, we wanted to run as fast as Rickey. Someone would pretend to be Rickey, while someone else would pretend to be Carl Lewis—the winner of the race proving which one of the actual men was fastest.
I stay away from singing the praises of professional athletes. Off the field, Henderson was human, capable of immense grace and kindness, while also being temperamental and impatient. But Henderson came to define the 1980s through baseball.
Henderson was brash, confident, and in some ways excessive in a way that defined his greatness in the 80s. He stole bases unlike anyone else. In 1982, his fourth year, Henderson broke Lou Brock's single-season stolen bases record of 118 with 130. And he didn't care if he got caught. While breaking the record in 1982, Rickey also led the league in getting caught stealing with 42. There'd be no place in today's game for that. But the thing is, everyone in the stadium knew he was going to steal, which made every on-base appearance a thrilling, tense spectacle - like watching Michael Myers stalking people on "Halloween."
Henderson had style from how he was built to how he would celebrate a home run with a tug of his shirt and let go of his bat midway through his downswing. And then there were those awesome sunglasses. When many kids were wearing Ray Bans, Henderson wore sports sunglasses that made him look like The Terminator.
Rickey Henderson 1958-2024
In a 1991 article for the LA Times, a reporter asked Henderson if he wore his glasses to look cool. His reply to the reporter: “Cool?” he said, mockingly. “I’m cool without the glasses. I style pretty well, don’t you think?”
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After spending 4 1/2 seasons with the New York Yankees, Henderson was traded back to Oakland midway through the 1989 season. In Oakland, Henderson helped the A's clinch the pennant en route to his first World Series Championship as Oakland swept the San Francisco Giants.
1990 would be his greatest season ever. He would lead the league in runs, stolen bases, on-base percentage, and OPS for the year. He won his first and only AL MVP award. Henderson led the A's to the 1990 World Series but were swept by the Cincinnati Reds.
In 1991, Henderson would accomplish arguably his greatest feat, breaking Lou Brock's all-time stolen bases record of 938. After breaking the record, Henderson famously said, "Lou Brock was the symbol of base stealing, but today I'm the greatest of all time." Henderson would go on to steal a career 1,406 bases, nearly 50% more than Brock, who remains second all-time. That year, Henderson even became the star of a Rolaids commercial without saying a word.
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In 2001, Henderson broke another iconic record, surpassing Ty Cobb on the all-time runs scored leaderboard while with the Seattle Mariners. He finished his career with 2,295 runs to Cobb's 2,245. Henderson retired in 2003.
Henderson was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2009 on his first ballot. He was a 10-time All-Star, a three-time Silver Slugger, and a Gold Glove Award recipient in 1981. He passed away on Dec. 20, 2024, due to complications from pneumonia at the age of 65.
