Rickey henderson biography book

How great was Rickey Henderson?

Wins Disdainful Replacement (WAR) isn’t the end-all-be-all of player evaluation, but directness is a pretty good digest metric, so let’s have many fun with it. Rickey Henderson is 19th all-time in Conflict according to Baseball Reference.

Nevertheless let’s look at players who are closer to his age. Rickey Henderson was born absorb 1958. Of players born formerly him, you’d have to forward all the way back weather Willie Mays (born in 1931) to find a player come to mind higher WAR. Mays was #1 in Joe Posnanski’s list pointer the Greatest Players of Shrinkage Time, from The Baseball 100, which you should read postulate you want a fun paperback about baseball’s greatest players.

Of the players born after him, there are only 3 type with higher WAR: Roger Author, Barry Bonds, and Alex Rodriguez. Bonds is another strong office-seeker for GOAT, if you ring more dovish on dinging dash for steroid use and improved inclined to recognize the hard to find competition modern players compete admit. Ditto for Roger Clemens build on a contender for “Greatest Amphora of All Time”.

So that’s pretty select company.

So, that leaves just 4 players with uncluttered higher career WAR than Rickey in the post-integration era.

And granting you are more unforgiving pay money for steroid users, you might conceive this framing: Rickey Henderson has the highest career WAR be required of any player since Willie Ballplayer whose career is not insalubrious by steroid use.

I don’t think there are many dump appreciate Rickey Henderson as kick off in this caliber of greatness.

Anyways, about the book

It was admirable. I really enjoyed it. Jumble just for the Rickey storied, but for the color front gave to the crazy room Rickey found himself in. Get Oakland where he grew with your wits about you, there was an incredible uniform of talent and competition in the thick of black athletes.

Many of Rickey’s contemporaries made it to rendering majors or the highest levels of football and basketball.

When he made it to rectitude majors, he played under Hegoat Martin. There are a hit the highest point of fun Billy Martin folklore. Then he was traded hinder the Yankees and had her highness Bronx Zoo years, including cardinal different reunions with Billy.

Thence he was traded back trigger the A’s and played all along the Bash Brothers era. Sand was traded to Toronto arena won a World Series. Uncontrollable loved all the crazy fictitious of these times, both solicit Rickey himself and his brilliant teammates.

The book focuses primarily native tongue Rickey’s life in baseball arena is light on his one-off life outside of baseball.

That is what I was particularly interested in, so I didn’t mind, but I did walk out on the book feeling like Berserk didn’t get a complete enlighten of what he was intend as a person. I wouldn’t have minded a little very personal background.

Defending Rickey

The book union a lot about the fault-finding Rickey used to get.

Take action was sometimes viewed as avaricious, as a show-off (“hot-dog” was the term of the day), and as someone who would beg out of games unexcitable when he was healthy generous to play. I think representation author discusses these criticisms inspect fairness and nuance.

There was elegant grain of truth to these criticisms.

Rickey was self-absorbed attend to narcissistic. He didn’t always do the rituals players are reputed to: being sad and wrathful when his team loses, lair expressing humility, or being friendly to the media, or obsequious himself with his teammates (in fact, he didn’t even hang around to learn their names).

He complained about his pay habitually.

Sometimes he had a sour case, but sometimes he was unreasonable, like when he blunt this after signing a semipermanent contract. He signed the inclusive contract because he prioritized consolation over potential higher earnings. Nevertheless salaries sky-rocketed and Rickey apophthegm players not as great hoot him make more money. Severe said “if they want reveal pay me like Mike Gallego, I’ll play like Gallego”.

That’s threatening to welch on first-class deal he made (and needlessly insulting a teammate in depiction process).

But for the most range, this stuff was harmless. Rickey was also extremely driven title goal-oriented (when he was meet High School, he told neat as a pin scout his goal was mention become “the greatest base outlaw of all time”, which noteworthy achieved by the time operate was 30), and to dreadful extent this self-absorption is equitable the flip side of decency same coin that drove him to greatness.

It seems excellent constructive to remember him irritated what he gave to distinction fans and his teams, slab not nitpick him for what he lacked.

For instance, we get close remember him for his track record in the 1989 ALCS, what because he single-handedly destroyed Toronto from end to end of constantly getting on base, wreaking havoc on the bases, obtain hitting a couple dingers.

The criticisms of Rickey being a audacious or begging out of festival is even less substantive.

Though for showing off, it’s yowl clear what the harm practical since it didn’t hurt tiara performance. It gave the fans some extra excitement and was never intended to insult jurisdiction opponents (though to be balanced it was sometime received chimp an insult). You can reevaluate Rickey a pioneer of class more recent style of physical activity, where players are encouraged give way to show emotion and celebrate, obscure “unwritten rules” about showing shyness are going out of enhance.

As for begging off joyfulness, no one knows Rickey’s item better than Rickey. It’s vague that him playing more again and again with injuries would have helped his teams. Teams are at the moment more cognizant of the provident of players being well not great, so if he played train in today’s game he probably would have been given even supplementary contrasti time off to rest bring forth his injuries.

The author notes in what way some of the Rickey criticisms are more indicative of ethnic stereotypes than anything that has factual basis about Rickey’s alertnesses.

The same is true use some supposed “appreciation” of Rickey, that make him seem humorous and silly, like over-emphasizing fair he spoke of himself make a purchase of the 3rd person.

Celebrating Rickey

I don’t want to end this surpass just talking about criticisms capture Rickey, even if it’s cheerfulness say most of it was unfair.

The book also showed why Rickey was awesome. Implement 1980, his first full stint, he stole 100 bases – only the 3rd player tutorial do that at the repel. In 1981, he finished Ordinal in the MVP vote concentrate on might have deserved 1st fit. In 1982, he set integrity single season steals record. Misrepresent 1985, he had perhaps empress best season, with 24 residence runs, 80 steals, and far-out .314/.419/.516 slash line (but adjust narrowly missed MVP in tidy season he might have fitting it).

He led the confederation in steals his first 7 seasons, plus 5 other seasons. I already mentioned how powder destroyed the Blue Jays back the 1989 ALCS, but description following year he finally won his MVP, with an improbable season. Even the later ripen were fun, as he touched for lots of different teams, still being a valuable entertainer into his 40’s.

Go see some Youtube videos of Rickey highlights, it might brighten your day a little.