If I had blinked, I would have missed it.
Rickey Henderson, MLB's all-time stolen base leader, was certainly not just fast.
It wasn't just that Henderson had an incredible talent, like he instinctively knew when pitchers were going to start pitching and what pitches to throw.
And Henderson didn't just get on base a lot. That said, he did get on base with a career .401 on-base percentage, and that certainly helped.
“If your uniform isn't dirty, you haven't done anything at the baseball game.” Henderson once said:.
It was all of those things and more for the Hall of Famer who passed away this week at age 65.
A talented running back in high school, Henderson turned down a college football scholarship and instead signed with the Oakland Athletics in 1976.
In 1980, his first year as a full-time regular in the majors, Henderson recorded 100 swipes, breaking Hall of Famer Ty Cobb's 65-year-old American League record.
Two years later, at age 23, he stole 130 bases, breaking Hall of Famer Lou Brock's previous record of 118 and setting the modern single-season record.
Henderson's audacity was certainly intriguing to those who confronted him.
“He always said, ‘Ricky has to go!’ right before he stole it.” Hall of Famer Rod Carew wrote this three years ago..
The right-hander stole bases in every city and at every stop.
In his age 41 season, he was still going strong. That year, he split time between the Mets and Mariners, stealing 36 bases.
His record will last forever, as will his Cooperstown jersey.
“My favorite hero was Muhammad Ali,” Henderson said in his induction speech into the Baseball Hall of Fame. “He said this one time, quote: 'I am the greatest,' end quote. That's what I always wanted to be, and now I'm [Baseball Writers’ Association of America] voted me into the Baseball Hall of Fame, so my journey as a player was complete. I'm now among the greatest players of all time, and I feel very, very humbled at this moment. ”
