Winger for Hire
Praise Beebo
With the 5th pick in the 2nd round (25th overall), the Homestead Grays select left fielder and all-time stolen base king, Rickey Henderson
The "Man of Steal" is hands down the greatest lead off hitter to ever step in a batters box. He holds numerous records including most home runs to lead off a game (81) and most runs scored (2295) to go along with his stolen base record (1406), which is 50% more than the 2nd place player. He was a first ballot Hall of Fame inductee (94.8%) and is described by Bill James as, "Without exaggerating one inch, you could find fifty Hall of Famers who, all taken together, don't own as many records, and as many important records, as Rickey Henderson" and "If you could split him in two, you'd have two Hall of Famers."
Rickey wasn't all speed. He slugged 297 homers, which was inside the top 100 when he retired and is more than a lot of other players who were considered to be power hitters. He also has the best Power/Speed Number, behind only Barry Bonds. In his career Rickey Henderson, who pitchers wanted to do everything they could to keep him off the bases, lead off an inning with a walk 796 times.
Career Stats
3081 Games Played
10961 At-Bats
.279/.401/.419 Triple Slash
3055 Hits
1406 Stolen Bases
2190 Walks to 1694 Strikeouts
297 Home Runs (140th all-time)
1115 RBI
1 MVP (5 other Top 10 finishes)
1 Gold Glove
3 Silver Sluggers
10 All Star Games
110.8 bWAR (14th among position players)
9.9 bWAR season in 1985
He also won 2 World Series (1989 with Oakland and 1993 with Toronto). He has 33 stolen bases in 60 postseason games.
"There are certain figures in American history who have passed into the realm of cultural mythology, as if reality could no longer contain their stories: Johnny Appleseed. Wild Bill Hickok. Davy Crockett. Rickey Henderson. They exist on the sometimes narrow margin between Fact and Fiction." - Tom Verducci
“It wasn't until I saw Rickey that I understood what baseball was about. Rickey Henderson is a run, man. That's it. When you see Rickey Henderson, I don't care when, the score's already 1–0. If he's with you, that's great.†- Former Teammate
"Baseball is designed to be an egalitarian sort of game in which one player among the 18 is not supposed to dominate... Yet in the past quarter century Henderson and Barry Bonds have come closest to dominating a baseball game the way Michael Jordan could a basketball game." - Tom Verducci
"You have to be careful because he can knock one out. But you don't want to be too careful because he's got a small strike zone and you can't afford to walk him. And that's only half the problem. When he gets on base he's more trouble still." - Former Coach
"He stole all those bases and scored all those runs and played all those years not because of his body, but because of his brain. Rickey could tell from the faintest, most undetectable twitch of a pitcher's muscles whether he was going home or throwing over to first. He understood that conditioning isn't about strength, but about flexibility. And more than anyone else in the history of the game, he understood that baseball is entirely a game of discipline — the discipline to work endless 1–1 counts your way, the discipline to understand that your job is to get on base, and the discipline to understand that the season is more important than the game, and a career more important than the season. Maybe he'd get a bit more credit for all this if he were some boring drip like <American League Icon>, blathering on endlessly about humility and apple pie and tradition and whatever else, but we're all better off with things the way they are... Everyone had their fun when he broke <Stolen Base Legend>'s stolen base record and proclaimed, 'I am the greatest', but he was, of course, just saying what was plainly true." - Tim Marchman
The "Man of Steal" is hands down the greatest lead off hitter to ever step in a batters box. He holds numerous records including most home runs to lead off a game (81) and most runs scored (2295) to go along with his stolen base record (1406), which is 50% more than the 2nd place player. He was a first ballot Hall of Fame inductee (94.8%) and is described by Bill James as, "Without exaggerating one inch, you could find fifty Hall of Famers who, all taken together, don't own as many records, and as many important records, as Rickey Henderson" and "If you could split him in two, you'd have two Hall of Famers."
Rickey wasn't all speed. He slugged 297 homers, which was inside the top 100 when he retired and is more than a lot of other players who were considered to be power hitters. He also has the best Power/Speed Number, behind only Barry Bonds. In his career Rickey Henderson, who pitchers wanted to do everything they could to keep him off the bases, lead off an inning with a walk 796 times.
Career Stats
3081 Games Played
10961 At-Bats
.279/.401/.419 Triple Slash
3055 Hits
1406 Stolen Bases
2190 Walks to 1694 Strikeouts
297 Home Runs (140th all-time)
1115 RBI
1 MVP (5 other Top 10 finishes)
1 Gold Glove
3 Silver Sluggers
10 All Star Games
110.8 bWAR (14th among position players)
9.9 bWAR season in 1985
He also won 2 World Series (1989 with Oakland and 1993 with Toronto). He has 33 stolen bases in 60 postseason games.
"There are certain figures in American history who have passed into the realm of cultural mythology, as if reality could no longer contain their stories: Johnny Appleseed. Wild Bill Hickok. Davy Crockett. Rickey Henderson. They exist on the sometimes narrow margin between Fact and Fiction." - Tom Verducci
“It wasn't until I saw Rickey that I understood what baseball was about. Rickey Henderson is a run, man. That's it. When you see Rickey Henderson, I don't care when, the score's already 1–0. If he's with you, that's great.†- Former Teammate
"Baseball is designed to be an egalitarian sort of game in which one player among the 18 is not supposed to dominate... Yet in the past quarter century Henderson and Barry Bonds have come closest to dominating a baseball game the way Michael Jordan could a basketball game." - Tom Verducci
"You have to be careful because he can knock one out. But you don't want to be too careful because he's got a small strike zone and you can't afford to walk him. And that's only half the problem. When he gets on base he's more trouble still." - Former Coach
"He stole all those bases and scored all those runs and played all those years not because of his body, but because of his brain. Rickey could tell from the faintest, most undetectable twitch of a pitcher's muscles whether he was going home or throwing over to first. He understood that conditioning isn't about strength, but about flexibility. And more than anyone else in the history of the game, he understood that baseball is entirely a game of discipline — the discipline to work endless 1–1 counts your way, the discipline to understand that your job is to get on base, and the discipline to understand that the season is more important than the game, and a career more important than the season. Maybe he'd get a bit more credit for all this if he were some boring drip like <American League Icon>, blathering on endlessly about humility and apple pie and tradition and whatever else, but we're all better off with things the way they are... Everyone had their fun when he broke <Stolen Base Legend>'s stolen base record and proclaimed, 'I am the greatest', but he was, of course, just saying what was plainly true." - Tim Marchman
