Greatest all around player of our generation. Untainted by scandals, holder of records that will never be broken, and number one in runs, sb, leadoff hrs, and unintentional walks. No one could impact the game like him. How do you play against him? He's leading off the game. You pitch to him, he can go deep. You pitch around him, it's like giving him a double. He's on base, everyone at bat's average goes up, because the pitcher is worried about Rickey. You can't defend against him.
the fact that he had so many walks while being the player that teams least wanted to walk in literally all of baseball too shows what an amazing eye he had
@@matsalvatore9074He was thanking Mr. Brock for his guidance. The old timers knew their records could be broken, Mr. Brock saw that in Rickey. Class move from the old days. Wakefield helped RA Dickey with the knuckleball.
For his entire career, before every single game Rickey would stand stark-naked in front of his locker and chant "Rickey is the best" over and over for several minutes.
I’ve personally met Rickey on more then one occasion, and he was always very nice, polite and never said no to an autograph or picture. The last time I ran into him was actually just a few years ago, maybe 5. He was a base coach for the A’s double A team in my home town in west Texas. The whole time he was talking to my family and I, he kept talking in the 3rd person. “Hey you want Ricky’s autograph? Come over here and get a picture with Ricky.” Normally people like that are total assholes, but because he was so nice and easy going, we just knew that was Ricky being Ricky. He really was a character, I can’t imagine all the stories his teammates could probably tell. ... And by the way, that dude has legs like a horse. It looked like all he did in the gym were squats.
Got pulled over in the Bay area in his red Porsche with mirror tints and barely cracked his window and slid his baseball card out the when the officer knocked on the car window.
Carloss Rodriguezz I also say that Rickey is The Greatest MLB Player of All-Time !!!!! I mean just look at his stats, .420 (OBP --On Base %). PLUS, look at what he did whenever he reached 1st Base !!!!!!!!!
Thing about Rickey, isn't the hits, Boggs, Gwynn, Ichiro did that. Rickey fucked with pitchers and catchers like nobody ever had. He wasn't that fast, he was quick. Half of it was psychological. He was an incredible DISTRACTION
In 93, Mitch Williams had TWO Hall of Famers on base. The scariest one, the one in his head, was on second. You can't tell me that Rickey on second didn't scare him and make him throw a meatball.
Can you imagine being on his team? You could have the locker next tio him, go over his house everyday and Rickey porbably wouldn't know your name. Before Manny was Manny, Rickey was Rickey. Greatest lead-off hitter of all time.
If I had a guy that good on my team, I wouldn't care whether he knew my name or not. He wins games for you. Babe Ruth also had trouble with names and he was pretty good.
@@TempeSoldier123 Babe Ruth wasn't an owner or baseball commissioner! He played against the teams that were available to him during his era. By the way, he was admired by many Negro League plays.. especially those who played against him during off seasons when baseball players would barnstorm. Look it up!
Quite possibly the greatest player of all time. He did the most important thing - scored runs! That is what the game is about....scoring runs, driving in runs.
It's better to really quantify it, Rickey is the first person to reach 1,000 steals, he had 1,406, the next person had 938, that's 460 steals. Jimmy Collins is 46th all time in with 460 steals, that's top 50 out of everyone to ever steal a base from the MLB. If you looked at it on a graph you'd label him an outlier, the best of them weren't even in his ball-park.
Boarding the team plane on his first road trip after signing with the Padres, his manager told him, "Sit anywhere Rickey- you have tenure." Ricky replied: "Ten year? Shit, Rickey been playing 15-16 year!"
Man, the golden age of baseball. Henderson was such a pleasure to watch, the dude was hilarious and talented for days. Miss watching the good old boys.
MY fave is this. Couple of baseball writers for the papers sitting on the bus talking about the Joe Carter walk off in 1993 and where they were. They're talking about high school and college. The newspaper folds at the back of the bus and Henderson says "I was on second base"
Rickey is responsible for possibly my favorite stat of all-time across any sport: He walked 796 times in his career when LEADING OFF AN INNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When you talk about the Ruths, Williams, Mays...he's not there. However, he reinvented not only the lead off position but the whole strategy of baseball. Ted Williams did that but nobody listened.
incredible athlete, i have no doubt barring injuries rickey would have been a great running back in the nfl. you can say all you want about cal ripken playing all those games in a row, but i'd rather have someone who played so hard he got hurt every now and then, but always bounced back and could single handedly change the outcome of a game with his athleticism and fearlessness.
I disagree, Rickey is about 5' 10" at most. He would have had a short career before the linebackers broke him. He was born to play baseball for 24 years.
It's not a coincidence why Rickey Henderson always seemed to be on winning teams. It's not a coincidence that Rickey won both his championships on teams that rented his services mid season ('89 A's, '93 Jays). I mean, the day I see Ichiro Suzuki dominate an ALCS the way Rickey did in '89, then I might entertain the argument, until then, all I see is a below average Seattle team that Suzuki's "greatness" cant seem to lift out of last place. Rickey was a BEAST. Ichiro is a great hitter.
I'll end on this note. "With the first pick in the "OF ALL TIME Fantasy Baseball Draft," Jrstress91 selects Rickey Henderson, left fielder, Oakland Athletics. Nuff said.
Respond to this video... When Mr Henderson was on base every pitcher and catcher knew he was going to run and they still couldn't stop him. The stolen base record will never be touched no one will even come close. The single season record will will last for ever. There will never be another man who can hit and take enough walks then go from 1rst to 2cnd then take 3rd. He made pitchers so nervous they couldn't pitch. He is the Fastest ever on the bases. next to Willie smartest runner
And please don't tell me that Rickey's greatness was because of the team around him. Henderson wasn't a member of the '88 Oakland A's that lost to the Dodgers. I find it ironic how that A's team comes back the following year, adds one piece (Rickey), and proceeds to sweep another team from the same NL West in the World Series. Greatness is what you do when you are on center stage. Rickey dominated on the world's biggest stage, Ichiro Suzuki can't get out of the front row.
I won't get into a greatest of alltime debate, because that is a matter of opinion. However, top five of all time, he is definitely in the conversation.
I would be scared to walk down the street to the bank with a million dollar check in Oakland, but Rickey is Rickey, and is from Oakland, so nobody was going to mess with Rickey.
he was "paid to think" dumbass, what do you think the framed 1 million dollar check was? rickey was one of the greatest baseball "thinkers" of all time. doesn't sound like you think so well yourself.
I don't think he did, I saw him in the early 80's. Maybe when got traded back to Tony Larussa's ROIDZONE. That maybe. I still don't think he did like MGWIRE and Canseco. Have I mentioned that Tony LaRussa is vile scum?
He may have been a cocky little shit at times during his MLB career, but he was one of the best lead off hitters of all time. One of the fastest guys in the game.
Espares1, what do I say to that? I say that anyone who thinks Ichiro was a better leadoff hitter than Rickey Henderson should be pissed tested immediately because they are clearly high on methamphetamine.
Let me help you out. The ALL TIME leader in runs scored. The ALL TIME leader in stolen bases. The ALL TIME leader in walks. The ALL TIME leader in lead off HR's. ALL TIME!!! Meaning, no other player in the history of baseball has more. Granted, Barry Bonds drew more walks but those are steroid induced numbers. Bonds benefited from a performance enhancing drug that drew the intentional pass. You didn't intentionally walk Rickey. You crazy? Over 3,000 hits. 2 World Series Championships. An MVP.
Rickey was a special player, but Top 5?? Ted Williams, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Pete Rose, Rod Carew, Wade Boggs, etc. were greater hitters than Rickey. But as far as THE greatest leadoff hitter, that honor EASILY goes to Rickey.
@manny32011 Cal was a 19 time all star 2x gold glove winner 91, 92, 2x al mvp 83,91 8x silver slugger award winner, rookie of the year 2 x all star game mvp, home run derby winner and broke gehrig's record Get your eyes checked when you talk about someone's stats. Career .276 and 431 homeruns and he didn't play with a lineup of high-priced allstars ad former allstars. Jeter has more world series trophies ,higher batting avg and more gold gloves. when arod left ss jeter started geting them
Bonds dominated (even if the way he attained it was shady) better than anyone I had ever seen. However Rickey is one of top players ever. Top five easy maybe top two or three.
@@justinkline1294 W’s ring Mays 54 season . Never as a SF Giant . No matter, your eyes tell u who’s seriously a special player. Ricky Henderson could never field the way Mays did. You only see the crazy catch he made in the World Series. But living in the Bay Area fans saw all time great catches. When The stick first opened it Had a cyclones fence like u see in most school yards . He’d literally run up the fence and steal HR’s . The wind at the stick Before it was enclosed would make the ball change directions . He rarely missed played one. He had a cannon even pitched in a game . Fast , hit a single turn on first to challenge the outfielders , If they Bobbled the ball he would take second. Ya had to see it or it’s all legend . He hit a lot of wrist HRs . Meaning no arm extension, a super quick swing , and it was bye bye baby.
@@tellthetruthg All good (and somewhat illuminating to me) points about Mays. I had perhaps discounted defensive prowess (though Rickey was no slouch and did it with tremendous style) in my estimation of Mays. I base my judgment of Rickey on "Well, he scored the most runs in history, and runs how you win baseball games, so he must be among, if not the, very best to ever do it." Not a lot of subtlety, I admit.
@@justinkline1294 all round 5 tool player “Say Hey Kid “ is second to none. Fielding , speed, power hitting , hitting for average , throwing . Mays checked all boxes at way above average . Mantle was incredible just Didn’t take care of his body the way Mays did . If had Mantle would have been as good .
wow jrtress91 tell i read the comments you left i didnt think there was anyone more obsessed with Ricky than Ricky... Why are you ripping on ichiro he has had 200 plus hits 9 years in a row
jeter got 5 world series made the best postseason plays ever and didnt finish his career yet you know hes gonna finish his career with 3700 hits or more and btw jeter has over 300 sb and cal has like 80 lifetime im not saying that cal wasnt great we all know he was but jeter is wat better
I love Ichiro. He's one of the best pure hitters I've ever seen. He's also nowhere near Rickey Henderson as a lead off hitter. I'm not sure how many times it needs to be said. Greatness is measured by how you impact the sport. Rickey Henderson had a far greater impact on the OUT COME of a game than Ichiro has ever had. That's just my opinion.
@Ninety2q u kidding me ripken finishe with a 274 avg jeter is 317 liftime thats abt 40 points higher ripken has one gold glove jeter has 4 u are a blind mister get ur eyes done
jeter is gonna finish with 3700 hits and ripken with 3,184, average is 30 points higher then ripken and jeter has a lot of speed and is very underrated hes has over 300 stolen bases lifetime
@@moron5716 Cobb faced Walter Johnson. Best estimates have his hardest fastballs around 91 or 92. Not to be a smart-ass, but Cobb probably saw at least a few 90+ from Johnson, granting that Johnson probably threw 5-6 mph faster than any other pitcher of that generation.
When comparing the two as lead off hitters i dont really like to factor in runs scored because Henderson has played with much better teams but still Rickeys base stealing and ability to draw walks is far more superior then Ichiro so hes the better lead off hitter by far in my opinion. Ichiro on the other hand is a much better hitter, one of the best all time and certainly the best hitter of the past few decades.
