Loves Me Some Rickey

by Eric Simon on Jan 13, 2009 8:00 AM EST

Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice were elected to the baseball Hall of Fame by the BBRAA. Bert Blyleven appeared on 62.7% of the ballots. Tim Raines (21.9%) and Alan Trammell (17.4%) came nowhere near the 75% needed for election; both are eminently qualified and it's an ongoing embarrassment to the BBRAA that neither exceeded even one-third of the support afforded a pedestrian slugger like Andre Dawson (67%). But that's an argument for another day. For now I'd like to spend a few words on Rickey.

Rickey Henderson was probably my first ever favorite player. I grew up a Mets fan but I always loved those early nineties Oakland A's teams, with hulking mashers like Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire and awesome-at-everythings like Rickey. I remember fawning over Rickey's rookie card at a local trade show. I remember all of the stolen bases and leadoff homeruns. I also remember when the Mets beat out the Orioles and the A's and signed Rickey in December 1998 for one year and $1.8 million. After estimating that he'd be worth $10 million were he still in his prime, Rickey came in with the goods:

"I can still hit if that's what it calls for me to do. But in my game, being a leadoff hitter, hitting doesn't make a difference if you can get on base 40 percent of the time."

In 1999, the 40-year-old Rickey hit .315 with a .423 on-base percentage, a .466 slugging percentage and 37 stolen bases. The .423 OBP is the sixth-best in team history. His 40.1 VORP is a Met record for a player in his forties. Or 39. Or 38. Or 37, 36 or 35. It is, in fact, the best Met season ever for a player over 33. It's the fourth-best left-fielder season the Mets have ever had and the thirteenth-best outfielder season in franchise history.

In the 1999 playoffs he went 5-for-16 with three walks against the Diamondbacks in the NLDS (.400/.500/.400). Of course, he stunk in the NLCS against the Braves (as did most of the Mets), and there was his (and Bobby Bonilla's) predilection for card-playing that got him into hot water after Game 6.

Rickey mostly stunk for 31 games in 2000 (though he had a .387 on-base percentage despite hitting just .219), and the Mets released him in the middle of may. He unofficially retired three years later at the age of 44 and, while it's not clear that he ever officially retired, he seemed to indicate that he did just that upon accepting the job as Mets first base coach in 2007.

Retirement or no, eligibility for the Hall of Fame only stipulates that a player must be inactive for five seasons, which Rickey had been prior to his election yesterday. He is the game's all-time leader in stolen bases (1,406) and caught stealing (335), runs scored (2,295) and unintentional walks (2,129; he is second in total walks with 2,190; Bonds, 2,558). He is 4th on the career plate appearance list (13,346), 4th in times on base (5,343) and 21st on the all-time hit list (3,055). He also has the most leadoff homeruns with 81.

Rickey was one of the greatest to ever play the game, in his own mind and in everyone else's. I will continue to cherish his terrific 1999 season with the Mets (as well as everything else about that season, save the way it ended), and he remains one of my favorite ballplayers, eccentricities and all.

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I also was a big Ricky fan

I would have to agree. Growing up, Rickey Henderson was probably my favorite player. Those A’s teams of the early 90’s were great. The 1-2 punch of Rickey and Carney Lansford at the top of that lineup was one of the best lead-off combo I ever saw play.

by kerelcooper on Jan 13, 2009 8:28 AM EST reply actions

Speaking of

Hall of Fame candidates and baseball cards, likely my first favorite player ever was Rock Raines. When I was five or so, I got a pack of Kay-Bee Toys “”http://www.rickeyhendersoncards.com/rickey_henderson_card_gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=625" >Superstars of Baseball" cards, cheap cardboard buried under a ton of gloss. I’d never heard of Raines, obviously—he played in Montreal after all—and knew nothing of his baserunning or on-base ability, other than what was on the back of the card. But there’s something very appealing to a five-year-old about a man named Rock, and his was easily my favorite card in the set. I stuck with Raines my whole life, even buying a White Sox hat and rooting hard for them in the post-season of 1993 (to give you an idea of what that meant, I didn’t even own a Mets hat in 1993).

Maybe Raines can pull a Jim Rice, but I’m not very hopeful.

by Alex Nelson on Jan 13, 2009 8:30 AM EST reply actions

it probably didn't help Raines

that he was up against Rickey. Raines was a good player, and probably the second best leadoff hitter of his day (if not all-time), but he doesn’t really hold a candle to Rickey. It’d be like if Ryne Sandberg was on the ballot the same year as Rogers Hornsby.

by cjmulrain on Jan 13, 2009 8:47 AM EST up reply actions

Tim Raines, Allan Trammel, and Andre Dawson

are all better than Jim Rice.

by squid92 on Jan 13, 2009 9:07 AM EST reply actions

also:

Bert Blyleven

by JoshNY on Jan 13, 2009 12:17 PM EST up reply actions

And Lee Smith.

by BobbyV_Incognito on Jan 13, 2009 6:17 PM EST up reply actions

Happy for Rickey

Rickey’s one of those guys that I always remember was a treat to watch just about anywhere. Truly great.

Slightly OT: I caught a few minutes of the HOF coverage on MLB teevee and got to listen to Jon Heyman talk about Jack Morris and Bert Blyleven. Paraphrasing, Heyman absolutely thinks Morris has to go in to the HOF because he was a “winner” who pitched well when it counted and won at least 14 games in 13 seasons. Blyleven, however, is a stat compiler who was never an impact player and only gets support because of “people on the internet” who look at his numbers without ever having seen him pitch. Heyman also noted that Blyleven was not as good at compiling wins as Don Sutton.

I proceeded to spend the next five minutes punching myself in the face, which was about as useful as listening to Jon Heyman talk about baseball.

'Oh yes, I know all about that duty-of-a-citizen stuff. It doesn't go. There are exceptions to every rule, and this was one of them. When a man risks his liberty to come and root at a ball-game, you've got to hand it to him. He isn't a crook. He's a fan.'

by Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright on Jan 13, 2009 9:33 AM EST reply actions

Your time would be better spent punching Heyman in the face.

We've got ourselves a ball club, the Mets of New York town!

by kingcritical on Jan 13, 2009 9:42 AM EST up reply actions

I would have expected that to have happened already several times.

by squid92 on Jan 13, 2009 9:58 AM EST up reply actions

I once emailed Heyman about his Morris-Blyleven stance

and in about 2 sentences his response turned into some rant about Moneyball and steroids and Billy Beane knowing about his players’ steroid usage. It was bizarre. I’ll try to find it and post it on here.

by James Kannengieser on Jan 13, 2009 10:12 AM EST up reply actions

That's great

Love to see it if you can find it.

by Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright on Jan 13, 2009 10:13 AM EST up reply actions

please do

King of the bling come to lay down the evidence//Not George Bush, L-Millz be da president

by Sam Page on Jan 13, 2009 11:21 AM EST up reply actions

wow

I need to see that. Heyman is a massive moron.

by JoshNY on Jan 13, 2009 12:18 PM EST up reply actions

this is exactly why the BWAA voting for the HOF is a flawed system

because they are reporters, not analysts. or maybe you want people into the hall based solely on whether or not that make for great stories, but I, like most, want it based solely on objective achievement (well, maybe theres room for SOME other stuff, but the majority of the criteria is on performance).

heyman is a good reporter. he get decent scoops, especially during the hot stove season, and is a solid writer. but his analysis is farcical. morris was almost always the better story than blyleven, but better pitcher? not by any measure. what a joke.

by kendynamo on Jan 13, 2009 11:29 AM EST up reply actions

it's a Hall of FAME

not a Hall of Great Players. I don’t know, I’ve never had a big problem with who the HOF decides to put in or not (other than excluding Shoeless Joe and Pete Rose, and now McGwire and I’m sure the rest of the steroid guys). It’s a subjective voting criteria….personally, if I were voting (or starting my own Hall), I would make the standards very stringent and only induct the truly great, and Blyleven would be excluded anyway. The problem is that the Hall has inducted worse players than Blyleven, a problem I wouldn’t have in my hypothetical HOF.

by cjmulrain on Jan 13, 2009 2:31 PM EST up reply actions

also, best ricky story (and only one you need)

rick henderson standing before a mirror, buck naked, minutes before game time: “Rick is the best, Ricky is the best, Ricky is the best, Ricky is the best, Ricky is the best…”

by kendynamo on Jan 13, 2009 11:32 AM EST reply actions

Ricky and Eccintricity

I was getting ready to write my post when I saw yours. That’s exactly what I loved about him (uh…not standing naked but) the fact that he was completely different from the everyday major league baseball player. The guy was a gym rat who was in better shape than most guys 10 years his junior. It obviously paid off on the field as well.

Everything from his crouched batting stance, his pimp stepping around first after hitting a home run and the way he would sort of slap at a routine fly ball w/his glove as if to say: “Yeah, that ain’t nothin’.” Congrats to R.H.

"The two most important things in life: good friends and a strong bullpen." - Bob Gibson

by LOUtheMETandNATSfan on Jan 13, 2009 11:38 AM EST up reply actions