“Rickey is so very humble” declared Rickey Henderson, who one week after being inducted into the Baseball Hall Of Fame saw his no. 24 retired yesterday in a lavish ceremony in Oakland. When Henderson shattered Lou Brock’s career base-stealing record in 1991, he famously stated, “Lou Brock was the symbol of great base stealing. But today, I’m the greatest of all time.” Such a boast was roundly mocked and repeated often on “SportsCenter” in the days that followed, mostly to present a contrast between Rickey and 44 year old Nolan Ryan, whose 7th career no-hitter against Toronto the same day, gave some portion of the cranky old dude sports media someone else to worship. So with that in mind, it’s kind of awesome to see fans at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum sporting banners and t-shirts that directly quote from Rickey’s 1991 speech. (video link swiped from Big League Stew/Yahoo Sports)
