Rickey & What Could Have Been

Rich Rupprecht, of the Press Democrat, shares some great Rickey Henderson stories.

Say whatever you want to say about Rickey…go ahead. But, to me, he was the most exciting thing in baseball in the 1980′s…and the game’s best player at that time. Further, for what it’s worth, you could probably make a case that he was also one of the top ten players in the game for a good part of the ’90′s as well.

There have been many great offensive players who had their prime in my lifetime. Barry Bonds, Frank Thomas, Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez, Mike Schmidt, Albert Pujols, George Brett, etc. But, Henderson had something on all these guys. If you wanted to take some of these guys out of the game, you just walked them. (See the treatment that Bonds got after he BALCO’ed up.) But, with Rickey, the last thing you wanted to do was walk him…because that’s when he would wreck your game.

It’s now painful to look back at this June 22, 1989 report from the New York Times:

The Yankees, uncertain whether Rickey Henderson was worth a new three-year contract and desperately in need of pitching help, yesterday made the trade that seemed unlikely four days ago: they sent Henderson back home to the Oakland Athletics for two relievers and an outfielder.

The deal, completed yesterday at noon, will bring the Yankees help for their wavering bullpen. In return for Henderson, who has not agreed to a contract with the Athletics and can still become a free agent when the season ends, the Yankees will receive Eric Plunk, a right-hander; Greg Cadaret, a left-hander, and Luis Polonia, an outfielder with speed.

In Decline? The Yankees were willing to part with their left fielder and leadoff hitter because of a feeling throughout the organization that his skills had begun to fade. The 30-year-old Henderson, who has 819 career stolen bases, had been caught 8 times in 33 attempts this season, sometimes by alarmingly wide margins. His batting average of .247 is well below the career average of .292 he had entering this season, and he has hit only 3 home runs. But he is leading the league in walks with 56.

The team believed it would have been taking something of a gamble by signing him to a three-year contract, even though the two sides were relatively close. The Yankees were offering a pact that would have paid Henderson about $2.4 million a year; Richie Bry, Henderson’s agent, was asking $2.8 million.

Yanks S.V.P. Syd Thrift and G.M. Bob Quinn really screwed the pooch with that call on Henderson. And, letting Rickey go played in big hand in the Yankees being so terrible in 1990.

Thank goodness that Gene Michael started calling the shots in 1991.

Looking back at it all now, I wonder how things might have been different if Rickey had stayed in New York…

For all we know, Thrift and Quinn just may have cost Rickey a plaque in Monument Park.

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