Rickey Henderson played left field for nine teams from 1979 to 2003. Nicknamed The Man of Steal, he is the sport's greatest leadoff hitter and base stealer. He holds the Major League records for career stolen bases, runs scored, unintentional walks and leadoff home runs. In 2009, he was inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame on the first ballot.
I completed this sketch card in July 2012.
10 random facts about Rickey Henderson:
- He is the only player in American League history to steal 100 bases in a season, having done so 3 times (Maury Wills and Lou Brock each stole over 100 in the National League).
- In 1982, Henderson broke Lou Brock's Major League single season record by stealing 130 bases, a total which has not been approached since.
- Henderson was named the AL's MVP in 1990.
- Henderson is the all-time stolen base leader for the Oakland A's.
- His 1,406 career stolen base total is 50% higher than the previous record of 938 by Lou Brock.
- During the 2001 season, Henderson broke three Major League career records and reached an additional major career milestone. He broke Babe Ruth's record of 2,062 career walks, Ty Cobb's record of 2,246 career runs, and Zack Wheat's record of 2,328 career games in left field.
- On the final day of the 2001 season, he collected his 3,000th career hit, a leadoff double.
- Out of high school, he received scholarships to play football for over a dozen colleges, but ended up playing baseball instead because of the abundance of shortened careers for football players.
- Henderson was known for referring to himself in the third person.
- As a young player, Henderson was so proud of a $1 million signing bonus that he framed it instead of cashing it, thus losing several months' interest.
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