If I spoke in Rickey Henderson’s style, I might say, Kevin Weber’s favorite player growing up was Rickey Henderson. Kevin first liked Reggie Jackson but then Kevin liked Rickey best.
When Henderson came on the scene in the early 1980s, I was drawn to his style and charisma. I started to emulate him in my little league games. I batted in a low crouch. Coupled with my short stature, I drew quite a few walks. In my younger days, I ran well. I decided I wanted to be a base stealer, like Rickey. I copied Rickey’s low, first-step style and even started sliding headfirst. When given the option, I wore the number 24. This trend continued through high school, when my playing days ended, and probably made me a better player.
In the 1980s, there were three athletes who consistently took over games in their respective sports. In hockey, it was The Great One, Wayne Gretzky. In basketball, it was Michael Jordan. In baseball, it was Rickey Henderson. Baseball is probably the hardest sport for an individual player to dominate. Yet, Henderson was able to do so because he could dominate with his bat and his legs. As Rickey developed, he added home run power to his game and was always a threat to lead off a game with a round-tripper. As a matter of fact, Henderson hit more lead off homers, 81, than any player in MLB history. However, Rickey was also deadly when drawing a walk. More than any player I’ve ever seen, Rickey Henderson seemed like he was in scoring position when he reached first base. Statistically, that feeling partially holds up, because Rickey Henderson is the all-time leader in stolen bases and runs scored. Just consider this: the man was on base 40% of the time during his 25 year career!
| Split | G | GS | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | TB | HBP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 Totals | 30 | 17 | 84 | 72 | 7 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 11 | 16 | .208 | .321 | .306 | .627 | 22 | 1 |
Rickey Henderson’s final APBA card isn’t too impressive. However, it’s got two things going for it. First, Henderson is rated (F) for speed…and he was 44 years old. Second, this card has a 15-11…which is expected of a Rickey Henderson card. The only thing it’s missing is a 14*. As for accuracy, it’s almost spot on. I project it to produce a .203 average. Other than lacking power numbers, it looks like a Henderson card thanks to the five second column 11s. Also, it seems appropriate this card has five 14s, since Rickey was one of the best at drawing base on balls. Considering a vast majority of Rickey’s career steals happened after drawing a walk, I think he should have considered changing his uniform number to 14*.
Baseball in 2018 has regressed to strikeouts and home runs. Gone are the days of the stolen base. More than any time since his retirement, Rickey Henderson seems like an anomaly. I bet young baseball fans can’t imagine a player like Rickey and the impact and excitement he brought to a game. I’m lucky I grew up in the era of Rickey Henderson. As the years have passed, I appreciate seeing him play at Tiger Stadium in 1985. I remember watching him on TV and being mesmerized just seeing him lead off first base and then steal. When was the last time you remember being excited to watch a ball player lead off or run the bases? I hope the pendulum swings and the excitement of the stolen base becomes in vogue in baseball. Until that time, Rickey Henderson’s 1,406 career stolen bases looks like an unbreakable record.
80’s baseball was awesome, with both power and the running game. A lot of players back then stole 50 or more bags a year. Now we get whiffs, launch angle, shifts, all sorts of relief pitcher nonsense.. Bah. I’ve been a big fan all my life but I am rapidly getting to the point where I don’t want to watch it. It’s September and where is the drama? The AL played an entire schedule just to decide the second wild card.
I also have begun to lose the thrill of modern baseball. For the first time in my life I don’t have a favorite player. Gone are the days of master bunters like Brett Butler working the count and trying to get on base, steal second, or move over on a bunt and score on a single or double. Now it’s every pitcher trying to throw every pitch through the backstop and every hitter is trying to hit it five miles.
In today’s game guys like Pete Incaviglia or Rob Deer would be considered normal players instead of the whiff machines they were.
The game is constantly evolving, and it seems like every decade is different. The current version is more like the 1950’s in terms of homeruns. I’m sure this will run its course and the Rod Carews/Tony Gwynn types will come back in favor.
I’d disagree with the idea that we are reliving the baseball 1950s, even in terms of homeruns. Pitching today bears little resemblance to the 50s, there wasn’t shifting in the 50s except in rare cases that were so rare they bore a name like the Williams Shift, and my guess is that homeruns were a lower percentage of hits in the 50s vs. now. (perhaps someone can provide the exact percentages) Nellie Fox-type infielders were not hitting 25-30 homers, and most importantly, the strikeout was seen in the 50s (and far beyond) as the waste that it is–a totally unproductive plate appearance. Rob Deer would not have lasted long back then. While there may have been low(er)-average homer hitters in the 50s, the problem seemed to get worse in the early 60s when expansion occurred. Just some thoughts here…perhaps some of these hypotheses are testable.
Top of first…Rickey walks….steals second…steals third….fly to right…run scored. That was the equation that started many baseball games. Great APBA cards even during “off” years.
Rickey may have had an ego the size of the titanic, but he could certainly back it up. It’s funny how at first glance this card has “terrible Tuesday” written all over it, but when you sit down and really look at it you say “well I can certainly use him for this, this, and this”