ESPN is reporting that Rickey Henderson has announced his retirement.
All kidding aside, Rickey is a sure-thing, first ballot Hall Of Famer. In his prime, Henderson’s ability to take over a game was uncanny, as the Blue Jays witnessed up close in the ’89 ALCS. Wrote Bill James, “without exaggerating one inch, you could find fifty Hall of Famers who, all taken together, don’t own as many records, and as many important records, as Rickey Henderson.”
I won’t say he’ll be missed, because unless you’ve seen his recent exploits with indie teams in Newark and San Diego, we’ve had a couple of years to get used to life without Rickey. But I’m hopeful that if he’s finally ready to hang up the spikes, some big league club with a leadoff hitter that has trouble drawing walks (sound like anyone you know?) might invite Rickey to spring training as an instructor. And of course, to give lots of interviews.
That’s nice, but where is your tribute to John Olerud?
Xa,
I’m sorry. I’ve been a little slow with the flow of major news this evening. Between walking the dog, having dinner, deleting Rog/fucky/mr. roper’s comments and witnessing Brett Butler’s less than triumphant return to network TV on “My Name Is Earl”, I got a little distracted.
I used to see Rickey at the Oakland Coliseum and he is bar none the best player I have ever seen play. He used to lean up against the wall in left field during the game and do nothing until he had to run in and he was fast enough most times to field from a dead stop. Knowing that the Pacific Needle Exchange, Canseco and McGwire, were juiced only makes Rickey more impressive. Yeah, the Cubs might consider sending Corey Patterson to a Rickey seminar or two, but I was actually rooting for him to make it back to MLB to retire in a uniform. Excellent NYr profile of him earlier this year, btw.
Rickey isn’t done yet! Let Rickey Play, Save the World! Sign the petition. American needs Rickey ! http://www.LetRickeyPlay.com