Former Oakland Athletics baseball player and Major League Baseball Hall of Famer, Rickey Henderson, passed away this Friday at the age of 65 due to a case of pneumonia.
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Stolen bases were Henderson's trademark, leading the Major Leagues (MLB) 12 times. He stole over 100 bases in a season three times, setting a record of 130 in 1982 with his Oakland team. With this mark, he surpassed the previous record set by Ty Cobb, a former center fielder.
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He was best known as the greatest leadoff hitter and base runner in baseball history who redefined the leadoff position. Throughout his career, he accumulated 1,406 stolen bases and 2,295 runs scored, records that still stand in history.
He broke the single-season record of Lou Brock, who played for the St. Louis Cardinals, of 118 steals, by totaling 130 in 1982, and led the league in steals for seven consecutive seasons and 12 in total.
He broke Brock's all-time steals record on May 1, 1991, when he stole his 939th base with Oakland. In a well-known scene, he ripped third base from the ground and showed it to the crowd before giving a speech that concluded with: "Lou Brock was a great base stealer, but today I am the greatest of all time."
The Stolen Man played for nine teams, standing out with Oakland where he played for 14 seasons in different periods and 5 seasons with the New York Yankees.
He finished his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers at the age of 44 in 2003, scoring a run on his last play on a Major League field.
With 25 seasons in MLB, Henderson accumulated a long list of accolades and achievements: one Most Valuable Player (MVP) award, 10 All-Star selections, two World Series titles, and a Gold Glove. The star goes down in history as one of the longest-lasting and most complete players in baseball history, not only for his talent and statistical achievements, but also for his charisma and passion when stepping onto the diamond of the game.
Henderson is the third prominent member of the Baseball Hall of Fame with ties to the Bay Area who passed away this year, following the deaths in June of former Giants stars Willie Mays and Puerto Rican Orlando Cepeda.