Rickey Henderson MLB Baseball Biography and Career Highlights
Every time Rickey Henderson was at the plate or on the base paths, he never encountered an opposing pitcher he couldn’t shake. Henderson hit for average, power and was rarely fooled by pitches out of the strike zone.
Rickey Henderson had more leadoff home runs than any other player in MLB history. He could make a pitcher pay the price for trying to sneak a strike, but if the pitcher tried to get him to chase a pitch, he would fall behind in the count because he didn’t swing many bad pitches.
Henderson was a terror on the base paths, always disrupting the pitcher’s concentration and forcing the pitcher to focus on him instead of the hitter. With his explosive jumps when he was stealing a base, he was sprinting on his third step and always dashed into first base with a header. Some say Rickey was the best leadoff hitter to ever play baseball.
Stealing bases began to get to Henderson because of the violent way he threw his body as he headed toward the base. After a few shoulder spreads, jammed seekers and bruised elbows, Rickey Henderson began practicing crouching as he ran to reduce the height of his dive and help him slide into the bag, rather than over it. Don Medich, (former pitcher) once assists “You turn your back on him and he’s gone!”
However, Rickey Henderson did more than steal bases. his 1,406 stolen bases is more than 400 stolen bases than the #2 man on the list, Lou Brock’s 938. Rickey also hit for power. He holds the record for the most leadoff home runs of all time. He hit 69 home runs to open games. In his career he hit 297 home runs. Many say that if Henderson had been asked to hit lower in the batting order, he could have hit a lot of home runs if he needed to, too. Henderson also covered a lot of ground with his glove. He took a lot of hits away from opposing batters and was a pitcher’s best friend when he hit a line drive into space that no other baseball player could have hit.
Rickey Henderson played the game with passion and at a speed that baseball had never seen before. He set the pace for what men would follow in the future.