Oakland A’s Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson, Baseball’s ‘Man of Steal,’ Dies at Age 65
Rickey Henderson, an Oakland legend, World Series champion, and one of baseball’s biggest icons, who holds the all-time record for most stolen bases in Major League Baseball history, has died at age 65.
The New York Times confirmed Henderson’s death in an interview with his longtime friend and former teammate, Dave Winfield.
Henderson died just days before his 66th birthday, which would have been December 25.
He was known as The Man of Steal, a reference to his record-setting total of 1,406 stolen bases, far surpassing the second-place player Lou Brock by more than 450 bases.
Henderson also holds the modern-era baseball record for most stolen bases in a single season, with 130, which he set in 1982, during the early years of a rip-roaring decade of dominance on the basepaths for him.
On May 1, 1991, the day Henderson stole his 939th base, surpassing Brock, Henderson gave a famous on-field speech in the middle of the game, thanking his family and friends for their support, acknowledging Brock, and his own accomplishment.
“Lou Brock was the symbol of great base stealing,” Henderson said. “But today, I’m the greatest of all time. Thank you.”
Henderson was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2009.
A player known for his flash and style, Henderson could frequently be seen making snap catches in the outfield, or starting a swaggerful, wide trot to first base after hitting a home run.
Howard Bryant, a prominent sports journalist who wrote the 2022 book that dove into Henderson’s life titled Rickey: The Life and Legend of an American Original, said Henderson was “one of the greatest of all time,” and one of the greatest leadoff hitters of all time. Henderson also set and holds the record for most leadoff home runs.
“The style in which he played, the confidence, just the fearlessness with which he played baseball … he was just such a unique player who could do anything he wanted on a baseball field and you couldn’t keep your eyes off him,” Bryant said during an interview with KQED’s Brian Watt earlier this year.
Across a 25-season career, Henderson played for nine different clubs, including 14 seasons in Oakland over four different stints, as well as several seasons with the New York Yankees.
He won two World Series titles, including one in Oakland in 1989 over the San Francisco Giants. The series was a four game sweep for Oakland, but was interrupted by the deadly Loma Prieta earthquake, which occurred during game three of the series. He won a second title in 1993 with the Toronto Blue Jays.
Born in Chicago, Henderson spent most of his childhood in Oakland, after he moved to The Town with his mother.
A great athlete from a young age, Henderson grew up wanting to be a running back for the Oakland Raiders. He opted to play baseball at the behest of family, friends and teachers, according to Bryant.
Henderson attended Oakland Technical High School, one of multiple schools where many prominent athletes began their careers, helping solidify the city as one of the greatest places for athletic talent and development. The locus of talent was heavily influenced by The Second Great Migration, waves of African Americans moving west out of the south and the midwest, many of whom landed in West Oakland.
To honor Henderson, the Oakland Athletics in 2017 named the baseball field at the Oakland Coliseum “Rickey Henderson Field.”
The field kept the name through the end of the 2024 season, the last year of the Oakland Athletics, with the team’s ownership moving the organization to West Sacramento for at least three seasons beginning in 2025, before planning to ultimately move to Las Vegas.
In his Hall of Fame induction speech, Henderson thanked his mother, wife, and daughter for their support and inspiration. He said he played the game until his body told him it was time to hang it up.
“When you think of me, I would like you to remember that kid from the inner city that played the game with all his heart, and never took the game for granted,” Henderson said.
