OAKLAND – The torch was passed from Willie Mays to the Hall of Fame baseball player of choice. My choice was Rickey Henderson.
Greatest Living Ballplayer.
Mays laid claim to the title, with barely a murmur of dispute, for more than 40 years, from his final at-bat on Oct. 16, 1973, until he passed away on June 18, 2024. Nobody carried the torch longer.
Nobody carried it for a shorter period than Rickey. Six months and two days. He deserved more time to be celebrated for all he brought to the sport of baseball, to fans of the game, to the Oakland A’s and the city itself.
On Saturday, six weeks and one day after he left this earth, Rickey was celebrated by family, friends and fans, some flying from various corners of America and others driving from all areas of California and perhaps beyond. They came out of the rain and inside the Oakland Arena to spend a couple hours with Rickey’s widow, Pamela, their three daughters and his mother.
Mostly, though, they wanted to share a few moments to savor memories of Oakland A’s baseball and feel the spirit of Rickey.
“Rickey played with swagger before swagger was even a thing,” said Renel Brooks-Moon, who emceed the program along with A’s players Shooty Babitt and Bip Roberts.
Oakland Athletics
“That man,” Ken Griffey Jr. said of Rickey, “changed baseball forever.”
The room was plush with celebrities, mostly athletes or those with a connection to sports. Reggie Jackson, Barry Bonds, Frank Thomas, former New York Yankees teammate Dave Winfield. Joe Torre, who never managed Rickey but understood his significance in the history of the game, came from the East Coast to offer a golden salute.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
Basketball Hall of Famer, Gary Payton, another child of Oakland, was among the speakers. He took a moment to admire a photo of Rickey adorning the stage and made a pronouncement: “That man right there,” Payton said, “is Oakland.”
Dave Stewart, whose relationship with Rickey dates to the 1970s in Oakland, making him more of a brother than a former teammate, also shared memories. Former A’s teammates Jose Canseco, Dennis Eckersley and Carney Lansford attended, as did former A’s manager Tony La Russa and former general manager Sandy Alderson.
And, naturally, there was a musical performance by another Oakland legend, MC Hammer, joined by his wife, Stephanie.
With all the luminaries in the arena, though, it was the presence of fans that spoke loudest. They changed Rickey’s name, chanted “Run, Rickey, Run,” and generally swooned over highlights of Rickey playing for the A’s.
No player in Bay Area sports history was more beloved by those who bought tickets to watch him play. The elderly and elegant Ginger Bream, who in the 1980’s and 90’s coordinated events for the Oakland A’s Booster Club, routinely baked cookies and brought them to the ballpark. For Rickey.
Young Erin States was a kindergartner attending her first baseball game in 1989 when she forged a bond with Rickey that was deep and enduring. Twenty years later, when Henderson was being inducted into the Hall of Fame, Erin was in New York with her husband and child.
The handmade sign little Erin made – bright yellow ‘Hi Rickey’ with a red heart – became familiar to the A’s and to Henderson, who always made time for Erin. Or, as he referred to her, his “No. 1 fan.”
Their relationship began in ’89 when Rickey was at the peak of his powers. Returning to Oakland in June for his second stint with the A’s, he posted a .425 on-base percentage, stealing 52 bases (caught only six times) and scoring 70 runs in 85 games. He then owned the nine-game postseason, slashing an absurd .441/.568/.952, scoring 12 runs, stealing 11 bases and bashing three homers.
That Stewart, who earned pitching wins in two of the four games required to sweep the local rival San Francisco Giants, was named Series MVP became a running joke between the two.
Stewart, noting that Rickey batted “.500,” allowed himself a grin.
I’d never seen anything like it before. And haven’t seen anything like it since.
Rickey understood the game at a genius level, had superior speed and instincts, and was about as strong as his chiseled 5-foot-10. 190-pound physique would suggest. The all-time leader in stolen bases played 25 years and blasted a home run every 17.5 at-bats. The all-time leader in runs scored won a Gold Glove and three Silver Slugger Awards.
The passing of Mays meant the torch had to be passed. The argument for Griffey is weakened by the absence of career records. The argument for Bonds is strong but complicated. A 2022 ESPN ranking had Bonds first, Griffey second, Mike Trout third and Mike Schmidt fourth. Rickey was fifth.
Fifth?
Maybe I’m biased, but I beg to differ. Rickey was No. 1, for only 185 days, much less time than he deserved.