Dec. 21 (UPI) — Baseball Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson, hailed as the greatest leadoff hitter and base-stealer in the sport’s history, has died at age 65, according to the Major League Baseball network and other reports Saturday.
Henderson, who was nicknamed the “Man of Steal” and accomplished his greatest feats while playing for the Oakland Athletics, died just short of his 66th birthday on Christmas Day, sources told TMZ, the New York Daily News and The (San Jose) Mercury-News.
Henderson played 14 of his 25 major league seasons with the Athletics. He also suited up for the Los Angeles Angels, New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays, San Diego Padres, New York Mets, Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox, and Los Angeles Dodgers.
He is Major League Baseball’s all-time stolen base leader with 1,406 bags. His 130 stolen bases for Oakland in 1982 set the single-season major league record.
Henderson also hit .279, with 297 career home runs, and won two World Series titles, including one with the A’s in 1989.
He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2009, with 94.8 percent of the vote on his first ballot.
“I love the game of baseball,” Henderson said at his induction ceremony on July 26, 2009. “It is an honor to be inducted … and have my name next to players like Jackie Robinson, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Lou Gehrig, Roberto Clemente, and the list goes on and on.”
In 2017, he was honored by the team when the field at the Oakland Coliseum was named “Rickey Henderson Field.”
“Rickey Henderson is the greatest Athletic of all time. It is fitting we honor and recognize his impact on our franchise by naming our playing field after him,” Oakland A’s president Dave Kaval said at the time.
