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Rickey Record Henderson plays the game like no one else ever has
Updated: Thursday October 04, 2001 9:36 PM
Rickey Henderson has always rubbed people the wrong way. Ten years ago, when he proclaimed he was The Greatest after breaking Lou Brock's career stolen base record, we all laughed and shook our heads. When we've heard Rickey, over the years, talking about Rickey -- Rickey always has been one of Rickey's favorite subjects -- we've dismissed him as just another all-full-of-himself jock. A couple of years ago, remember the story about him playing cards in the Mets' clubhouse? During a playoff game? Rickey, Rickey, Rickey ... And here he still is. A decade after breaking the stolen base record, years after setting the mark for most home runs to lead off a game, almost a full season after becoming the most-walked man in baseball history, Rickey is still around, still setting records, still in our face with that toothy smile and those wraparound shades and all that Rickey talk. At 42 years old, he's still Rickey. And now it's time to face up to the truth. No one has ever played baseball quite like Rickey Henderson. Wednesday night in San Diego, Henderson tied Ty Cobb for the most runs scored, ever, scurrying from first on a Ryan Klesko double to score the 2,245th run of his career. He broke the mark Thursday, fittingly, by driving himself in -- hitting a home run off Luke Prokopec . Just another number? The fact is, this should be more important than 70 or 755 or 4,256 or .400 or a lot of numbers in baseball. The fact is, baseball is all about scoring runs. If it were a board game, scoring runs would be on the top of the instructions sheet under OBJECTIVE OF GAME. So baseball, in a very real sense, is all about Rickey. Rickey's always understood that. It's the rest of us who are just now coming around. Over the course of his remarkable 23-year career, Henderson has become the game's best leadoff man. He has stolen bases, he's taken an extra base when he could, he has forced throws, hassled infielders, driven pitchers wild, beaten out relays and legged out hundreds of infield hits. He has scored. He knows, he knows. Home runs are sexier. Home runs get the people on their feet. Home runs make better highlights. Henderson watches Barry Bonds get all the ink lately and, seemingly, is OK with it. Rickey got the record he was after. "This is the one," he said the other day in San Francisco as the runs record inched closer and closer. "It's complete to me now." Henderson says all the right things these days. He talks about scoring runs, how somebody has to knock him in once he fights his way on. "This means more," he says of the runs record, "'cause this is really a team record. I got to rely on my teammates to go out and drive me in." But Rickey, maybe for the first time ever, is being a tad modest. As they say in baseball, you have to get on to score. Henderson always has been able to do that. Back in late April, Henderson broke the record for walks in a career, passing Babe Ruth. If all goes right, before the end of the season, Henderson will reach 3,000 hits (he's three short). He'll be only the 25th player to do that. So Henderson's resume soon will read like this: Most walks (2,137), career. Most homers to lead off a game (79), career. Most stolen bases (1,395), career. Most runs scored (2,246), career. 3,000-hit club. Can you say Hall of Fame? Can you say no question? "All three of them [walks, stolen bases, runs] would probably be unbreakable nowadays," Rickey says, and the statement comes off more as fact than boast. They are amazing records, almost certainly unbreakable. Henderson only figures to add on to them, too. He may not be back in San Diego next season. At 42, he is not as fast at the plate or on the base paths as he once was. But if not San Diego, there may be other places. He still has the legs. He still knows how to play baseball. He still knows how to score. He is, still, Rickey. John Donovan is a senior writer for CNNSI.com. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer. Comments? To e-mail Donovan, click here.
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