On Monday, Jan. 12, 2009, former Oakland A's all-star Rickey Henderson became just the 44th player to get inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.
Henderson is widely considered to be the greatest leadoff batter of all time. He has the single-season record for stolen bases with 130. He has the career stolen base record of 1,406. He has the record for most runs scored across a career with 2,295. He is also the only batter in MLB history with 3,000 hits and 2,000 walks across a career.
Yet, none of these even come close to being amongst the greatest moments in the career of Ricky Henderson. Here is a list of the greatest and funniest moments in the career of the legend Ricky Henderson in no particular order.
10) In the early 1980s, the Oakland A’s accounting department couldn't figure out why their books were off $1 million. An investigation lead to Henderson. When asked about a $1 million bonus he had received, Rickey said instead of cashing it, he framed it and hung it on a wall at his house.
- Nestled between "Dogs Playing Poker" and several framed autographed pictures of himself.
9) Henderson once called San Diego GM Kevin Towers before a game and left the following message: “This is Rickey calling on behalf of Rickey. Rickey wants to play baseball.”
- To his credit, there were four Rickey's on the roster at the time.
8) During a game in Seattle an on-deck batter overheard Rickey muttering to himself after he struck out. As the next batter was walking past him, he heard Henderson say, “Don’t worry, Rickey, you’re still the best.”
- Rumor has it that he says the same thing to Little Rickey when he can't "rise to the occasion".
7) Henderson once asked a teammate how long it would take him to drive to the Dominican Republic.
- Evidently he thought that the Dominican Republic was a sisters store of the Banana Republic.
6) Henderson once fell asleep on an ice pack and got frostbite—which forced him to miss three games—in mid-August.
- For three days straight Henderson was heard saying, "Don't worry, Little Rickey, you're still the best."
5) In the last week of his lone season with the Red Sox, Chairman Tom Werner asked Henderson what he would like for his ‘going-away’ gift. Henderson said he wasn’t going anywhere, but he would like owner John Henry’s Mercedes.
Werner said it would be tough to get the same make and model in less than a week and Henderson said, “No, I want his car.” Turns out the Sox got Henderson a Red Thunderbird and when he saw it on the field before the last game of the season, Rickey said, “Whose ugly car is on the field?”
- What? It was a red thunderbird. Did they think he was a mid 1980s Brooklyn-born Italian?
4) A reporter once asked Rickey if he talked to himself, “Do I talk to myself? No, I just remind myself of what I’m trying to do. You know, I never answer myself so how can I be talking to myself?”
- You try and argue with that logic.
3) Rickey was asked if he had the Garth Brooks album "With Friends in Low Places" and Henderson said, “Rickey doesn’t have albums. Rickey has CDs.”
- When asked if he invests any of his money in CDs, Henderson responded, "No, I like iTunes."
2) When he was on the Yankees in the mid-1980s, Henderson told teammates that his condo had such a great view that he could see, “The Entire State Building.”
- He could see the whole thing, so what?
1) To this day and dating back 25 years, before every game he plays, Henderson stands completely naked in front of a full length locker room mirror and says, “Ricky’s the best,” for several minutes.
- Who was the guy that kept track of that streak?
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