The Bay Area is grieving legendary Oakland A's player Rickey Henderson. The Athletics and Henderson's wife, Pamela, confirmed his passing in statements issued on Saturday. He was 65 and would have turned 66 this upcoming Christmas Day.
Henderson's name was synonymous with the best of Oakland baseball, his achievements celebrated across the country, and his personality adored by fans.
Henderson's friends from growing up in Oakland and former teammates throughout his 25-year baseball career are mourning his passing and reflecting on what they believe his legacy will be.
Henderson's longtime friend and former teammate Dave Stewart describes Henderson as an athlete who didn't hide away from the public.
"Rickey was visible and people were able to touch him and talk to him and be around him," Stewart said. "And not only that, but Rickey was enjoyable to be around, he’s charismatic, funny, great sense of humor, and just a good human being."
Henderson was born in Chicago but was raised in Oakland.
Stewart, who also grew up in Oakland, said the two first met when Henderson was around 13 years old and playing a championship qualifying game at Bushrod Recreation Center in Oakland.
Stewart said he didn't realize it then, but Henderson was also a star football player.
Henderson went on to be a highly regarded running back playing for Oakland Technical High School.
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"The first time I ever heard about Rickey Henderson was actually when he was in high school playing at Oakland Tech," said Leon "Bip" Roberts, a friend and former teammate of Henderson's.
Roberts was a few years younger than Henderson. He learned of Henderson because his uncle, a college football coach, was hoping to recruit Henderson.
Ultimately, Henderson declined several college football scholarship offers and signed with the Oakland Athletics in 1976.
Stewart recalled how he and Henderson started as "kids growing up in Oakland" and ascended to their respective careers in the minor leagues, then the major leagues.
The two would play against each other in major league games until 1989, when Henderson returned to play for the Athletics again.
"It rekindled our friendship," Stewart recalled.
The two helped take the Athletics to a World Series Championship in the 1989 Battle of the Bay. Then, Stewart went to the Toronto Blue Jays and Henderson was eventually traded to the Blue Jays as well, where the two went on to win another World Series Championship in 1993 with the Blue Jays.
Roberts said that, as an aspiring baseball athlete in Oakland, he looked up to Henderson, Stewart, and their cohort of successful major league players from Oakland.
"That's the impact he had on all of us as players. We wanted to be like Rickey," Roberts recalled.
"If we could be like Rickey, we could make it to the big leagues, and if we could make it to the big leagues, it’s a dream come true, and that dream started with watching Rickey Henderson play baseball," he continued.
Henderson became known as the "man of steal" given his knack for stealing bases. In 1991, he ended up eclipsing the MLB record for most stolen bases. By the end of Henderson's career, which spanned nine teams and 25 years, Henderson wound up stealing a staggering 1,406 bases.
Of Henderson's 25 years in baseball, he spent 14 seasons wearing green and gold.
Henderson is also baseball's all-time leader in leadoff home runs and runs scored.
"When you start talking about the greatest lead-off hitter of all time, Rickey Henderson is that guy and he’s from Oakland," Roberts noted, saying that Henderson's impact inspired a generation of Oakland athletes who came after him.
Roberts said it was a "dream come true" for him to be able to play with Henderson on the Athletics in 1998.
In 2009, Henderson was elected into the Hall of Fame, the first year he was eligible.
He remained an icon for Oakland and the A's. In 2017, the team dedicated the field in his honor.
Henderson was recognized multiple times as the team said its final goodbyes to the Coliseum in September. At that time, on Ricky Henderson Bobblehead night at the Coliseum, Henderson's daughter threw out the first pitch to him.
When the A's played their final game at the Coliseum, Henderson was there along with fellow A's legend Dave Stewart to throw out the first pitch.
Stewart recalled the significance of throwing out that pitch with Henderson, "I thought about the path that we had come from and the journey that we had made separately but together to get to that point in time."
Henderson leaves behind his wife Pamela (his high school sweetheart), their three daughters, his mother, and many loving fans.
His wife said that Henderson "lived his life with integrity, and his love for baseball was paramount.”
"I'm still in disbelief that he's not going to be here anymore," Roberts reflected. "People should know Rickey Henderson was a good dude, he was good dude, and I think that every ball player that’s come from this area of Northern California wanted to be like Rickey Henderson."
