Was Rickey Henderson the Greatest Baseball Player Ever?

Rickey Nelson Henley (Super Man) Henderson
Oakland Athletics, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, Toronto Blue Jays, Oakland Athletics, San Diego Padres, Anaheim Angels, Oakland Athletics, New York Mets, Seattle Mariners, San Diego Padres, Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers OF.

Rickey Henderson was enshrined into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, NY this past weekend. Henderson is only the 44th player ever to be inducted into the Hall on their first ballot. Over a 25 year career "Super Man" became the all-time leader in steals (1,406), caught stealing (335), runs (2,295), games led off with a home run (81) and interviews/conversations referring to himself in the third person (921,065). Rickey love him some Rickey. Henderson also still holds the single season record for steals with 130 ('82), caught stealing with 42 ('82) and steals in one post season series with 8 in 1989 ALCS. The career season highlights for Rick include being the AL steals leader in 1980, '81, '82, '83, '84, '85, '86, '88, '89, '90, '91 and '98. He led the majors in steals in 1980, '82, '83, '88, '89 and '98. He was the major league leader for runs scored in 1981, '85, '86, '89 and '90. He also led the AL in walks for the years 1982, '83, '89 and '98. Rickey was the AL most Valuable Player in 1990 (he was runner-up in 1981), the 1989 ALCS Most Valuable Player, a three-time Silver Slugger winner, ten-time All-Star, Gold Glove outfielder and the TSN Comeback Player of the Year in 1999. Rickey also has two World Series Championship rings, from Oakland in 1988 and Toronto in 1993. Now I wanna make this clear, Rickey Henderson's career statistics make him (by far) the greatest leadoff hitter ever. Period. These numbers and accolades alone do not make Rickey the greatest player ever though. Not even his Eazy E-like jheri curl he rocked from the first day of the 80's to the last. The "Soul Glow" that whipped off of Rick's hair while he was rounding second and diving for third is comparable to Brett's pine tar. He could've (should've) been thrown out of games for that foul. No the numbers and the amazing do only put Mr. Henderson in rarefied air, but, not the greatest. What makes Rickey Henderson the greatest baseball player ever is the numbers, the hair and Rickey's awesome behavior and classic phraseology. Before "Manny being Manny", there was "Rickey saying that Rickey was being Rickey". This cat took like eight minutes to run the bases after a homer. He was pimpish like that. The guy once took a limo from his hotel to to the ballpark, he was only a few blocks away and most of his teammates walked. Rickey don't walk! Teammates have reported seeing Rickey standing naked in front of a mirror before a game declaring, "Rickey's the best! Rickey's the best!" Now that's good stuff. According to Tom Verducci (of Sports Illustrated), during one off-season, Henderson called Padres general manager Kevin Towers and left this message: "Kevin, this is Rickey. Calling on behalf of Rickey. Rickey wants to play baseball." Now that's Hall of Fame stuff there! On the Mike and Mike in the Morning radio show Rickey broke this beauty out, "People are always saying, 'Rickey says Rickey.' But it's been blown way out of proportion. I say it when I don't do what I need to be doin'. I use it to remind myself, like, `Rickey, what you doin', you stupid Rickey....' I'm just scolding myself." Awesome. A Padres teammate (reportedly Steve Finley) once offered him a seat anywhere on the bus, saying that Henderson had tenure. Henderson replied, "Ten years? What are you talking about? Rickey got 16, 17 years." That's better than any single season record Rickalodean could've ever gotten. While playing for Seattle in 2000, Henderson was said to have commented on first baseman John Olerud's practice of wearing a batting helmet while playing defense, noting that a former teammate in Toronto did the same thing. Olerud was reported to have replied, "That was me." The two men had been together the previous season with the 1999 Mets, as well as with the 1993 World Champion Blue Jays. Wow. This one also happened in Seattle, Rickey struck out and as the next batter was walking past him, he heard Henderson say, “Don’t worry, Rickey, you’re still the best.” Yes Rickey. Yes you are. A reporter once asked Henderson if Ken Caminiti’s estimate that 50 percent of Major League players were taking steroids was accurate. His response was, “Well, Rickey’s not one of them, so that’s 49 percent right there.” Rick even had superior math skills. Rickey was asked by another reporter if he had the Garth Brooks album, with Friends in Low Places, and Henderson said, “Rickey doesn’t have albums. Rickey has CDs.” Music aficionado? Check. But the greatest and most Rickey moment was just after breaking Lou Brock’s stolen base record, Henderson told the crowd, base in hand and with Brock (hilarious) right next to him, “Lou Brock was a great base stealer, but today, I am the greatest of all-time.” Rickey should know, Rickey the best baby.