Rickey Henderson, who broke Lou Brock’s single-season base stealing record in
1982 and retired as MLB’s all-time stolen base leader (1,406) and all-time runs
scored leader (2,295), died at age 65 on Friday December 20, 2024.
The 1990 American League MVP, Henderson is regarded by many as the best
leadoff hitter in Major League Baseball history.
He was a 10-time All-Star and won a pair of World Series titles. Henderson posted
a lifetime .279 batting average, with 3,055 hits, 297 home runs, and 1,115 RBI’s.
He was elected a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 2009 after receiving 94.8% of the
Baseball Writers’ Association of America vote – which was the third-highest
percentage.
Henderson, who is the Oakland A’s greatest player of all time, began his career
with that franchise in 1979. He would play for nine teams – never the Cardinals –
and in his first full MLB season in 1980 stole 100 bases to break Ty Cobb’s
longstanding American league record of 96 set 65 years earlier.