Written by Nick Szafranski When you hear about the best players of all-time; Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron and Willie Mays always come to mind. Why must it be a home-run slugging player that is considered the greatest?
Rickey Henderson dominated more in stolen bases ever then Hank Aaron did in Home-runs. In Rickey’s twenty-five major league seasons he accumulated 1,406 stolen bases averaging more than 56 per season.
Lou Brock has the second most stolen bases all-time with 938. Rickey has 50 percent more stolen bases than Brock. Think about how amazing that really is… that would be if Barry Bonds had his 762 home-runs and Hank Aaron, in second place, would only have 381.
Henderson led the American league 12 times in stolen bases and the majors six times. In 1982 Rickey set the major league record by swiping 130 bases during the season. Let me put that in perspective for you, Willy Taveras led the ML with 68 stolen bases last season. Rickey more than doubled that total in 1982.
Only 27 people in MLB history are a part of the “3,000 hit-club,” Rickey Henderson is one of them. He is a gold-glove winner and a ten-time all-star. And did I mention that he won the MVP award in 1990?
Rickey Henderson has the second most walks (BB) all-time, only behind Barry Bonds. He has the most un-intentional walks in MLB history. The scariest stat is that he led off an inning with a walk 796 times in his career…As a pitcher you never want to walk the first batter and to give Rickey Henderson a free-pass…..wow.
He led off a game with a home-run more times than any other player in history with 81 in his career. Rickey had some pop in his bat with 297 trots. That puts him ahead of sluggers Roger Maris, Ryne Sandberg, and Roberto Clemente.
Rickey played on nine different teams in his 25-year career, playing for the Athletics in four separate stints. He preformed for every team with dominant consistency.
When Rickey got on base you knew he was going to score, and that’s what he did. He stepped on home-plate more times than anyone else in history. Scoring runs may be the most important thing in all of baseball and he did that. You cant win, if you don’t score and Rickey was a winner. He was a two-time World Series champion, once with the A’s and once with the Blue Jay’s.
Rickey knew how to get on base better than anyone else and when he got on base he wreaked havoc. He walked, he stole, he scored, and he won. Rickey is the best.
Wow! I had no idea RH was that well-rounded. )I remember him when I was a kid, he was virtually untouchable on the base-path. I remember when he broke the record.....holding the base in the air like the picture. But I had no idea he dominated like you say he did. You make a good argument for "best ever".
ReplyDeleteRickey was damn damn good, but by no means was he the best. First of all, as you pointed out, he only led the league six times in stolen bases, yet he averaged over 56 steals a season. That means other people were getting lots of stolen bases. This is because it was a different game. Pitchers have developed better pickoff moves and have begun pitching out of the slidestep because of him. If he played today, there is NO WAY he would have as many stolen bases as he did.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, Rickey is in the 3000 hit club, but only because he played for such a long time. He was phenomenal at drawing walks, but very mediocre with the bat, only posting a .279 batting average. And he definitely does not have more homers than Frank Thomas, who is a member of the 500 home-run club and is one of the greatest hitters who ever lived.
ReplyDeleteAll in all, Rickey is one of the greatest, but not the best ever. People put Willie Mays ahead of him for many reasons, including the fact that Willie won the MVP multiple times and was in the top 5 for MVP voting about every year. Meaning basically every year Willie Mays was the best player in the league, much unlike Rickey. Willie was a much better fielder winning the gold glove 12 times when Rickey only won it once. Willie's batting average is more than 20 points higher and his OPS is more than .100 higher than Rickey's. Finally, LEAST of all, Willie had 660 touch-em-alls. Willie could hit for power and average, he could field and throw, and he could run. He is the ultimate 5 tool player is not only placed ahead of Rickey because of his home-runs.
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