Baseball mourns the loss of Rickey Henderson, the 'Man of Steal'

The baseball world is mourning the loss of Rickey Henderson, who passed away on December 20, five days before his 65th birthday.

Henderson is the all-time MLB stolen base leader with 1,406. Lou Brock (1939-2020) follows him on the list with 938. No active player is among the top 100.

"I did a lot of study and that it's impossible to throw Rickey Henderson out," Wikipedia quoted longtime scout Charlie Metro.

He had the most stolen bases in the American League for 12 times and holds the single season record with 130.

Henderson described his running technique to Sports Illustrated: "I wanted to know how to dive into the base because I was getting strawberries on my knees and on my ass... I was thinking about head-first versus feet-first and wondering which would save my body. With head-first, I worried about pounding my shoulders and my hands; with feet-first, I would worry about my knees and legs. I felt that running was more important to me with my legs, so I started going head-first. I got my [low-to-the-ground] technique from aeroplanes."

Regarded as the best leadoff hitter of all time, Henderson leads MLB also in runs scored (2,295) ahead of Ty Cobb (1886-1961) and unintentional walks (2,129; no other player surpassed the 2,000 mark). Barry Bonds is the all-time leader, including intentional walks (2,191).

Henderson played 3,081 Major League Baseball (MLB) games from 1979 to 2003. He played for the Oakland A's (four different stints), New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays, San Diego Padres, Anaheim Angels, New York Mets, Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers. He helped the A's win the 1989 World Series and the Blue Jays claim the 1993 title. He also hit 297 home runs and had 1,115 runs batted in (RBIs).

"It is with profound sadness that we share the passing of my husband, Rickey Henderson. A legend on and off the field, Rickey was a devoted son, dad, friend, grandfather, brother, uncle, and a truly humble soul," stated the Henderson family through the Oakland A's website.

"For multiple generations of baseball fans, Rickey Henderson was the gold standard of base stealing and leadoff hitting," stated MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred. "Rickey was one of the most accomplished and beloved athletics of all time. He also made an impact with many other clubs during a quarter-century career like no other. Rickey epitomized speed, power and entertainment in setting the tone at the top of the lineup. When we considered new rules for the game in recent years, we had the era of Rickey Henderson in mind."

Henderson has been a Hall of Famer since 2009, his first year of eligibility.