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<v Speaker 1>You may not be able to throw at football like

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<v Speaker 1>a certain player, but you wanted to be like them.

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<v Speaker 1>You may have never been able to get to the

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<v Speaker 1>height of the sport that they played, but that didn't

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<v Speaker 1>mean you weren't going to imitate them. Imitate them on

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<v Speaker 1>a number of different occasions. There are a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>athletes for me, but there are certain athletes that define

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<v Speaker 1>your childhood, and for me, one of those athletes. One

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<v Speaker 1>of them was Ricky Henderson. He passed away at the

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<v Speaker 1>age of sixty five over the weekend. Greatest leadoff hitter

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<v Speaker 1>of all time, and I don't think it's close. And

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<v Speaker 1>he's also the greatest base dealer of all time, and

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<v Speaker 1>I know it's not close. Four hundred and six career

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<v Speaker 1>stolen bases never be touched. One hundred and thirty steals

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<v Speaker 1>back in nineteen eighty two is a single season record

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<v Speaker 1>will never be matched. Twelve times he led the major

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<v Speaker 1>leagues in stolen bases. That will not be surpassed. He

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<v Speaker 1>ended his career scoring two two hundred and ninety five runs.

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<v Speaker 1>He ended his career with two one hundred and ninety walks.

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<v Speaker 1>He belted two hundred and ninety seven homers that I

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<v Speaker 1>don't think gets nearly enough. Pub He hit eighty one

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<v Speaker 1>homers to lead off a game, which again will not

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<v Speaker 1>be duplicated, and his one hundred eleven career war wins

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<v Speaker 1>above replacement won eleven point one to be exact third

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<v Speaker 1>most ever by a player in the last twenty five years,

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<v Speaker 1>only surpassed by Barry Bonds and a rod which has

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<v Speaker 1>a little bit of taint to it, you know what

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<v Speaker 1>I mean. He collected over three thousand hits, really impressive

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<v Speaker 1>and was a first ballot Hall of Famer. On the

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<v Speaker 1>Hall of Fame, he was listed on ninety four point

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<v Speaker 1>eight percent of the ballots in two thousand and nine.

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<v Speaker 1>There's actually more than one person out there. Some idiot

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<v Speaker 1>chose not to vote for Ricky Henderson, some moron, somebody

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<v Speaker 1>who claims to know baseball, somebody who thinks they follow baseball,

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<v Speaker 1>somebody who feels like they have a larger impact on

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<v Speaker 1>the game than the guy who did all those accomplishments

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<v Speaker 1>that I just told you about, in addition to other

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<v Speaker 1>things that I'll soon inform you of, felt like, hmm,

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<v Speaker 1>I don't think he's a Hall of Famer. Somebody actually

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<v Speaker 1>took that stance somebody had a ballot in front of

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<v Speaker 1>him and saw Ricky Henderson, and before you vote, at

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<v Speaker 1>least you said, you have a pretty good idea of

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<v Speaker 1>what this guy's all about. You don't want to dive

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<v Speaker 1>into the ten time All Star. That's fine. How about

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<v Speaker 1>the fact that this dude was a two time World

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<v Speaker 1>Series Champion. How about the fact that this dude was

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<v Speaker 1>a League MVP. How about this fact that this dude

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<v Speaker 1>had all those numbers I've already told you about war career, steals,

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<v Speaker 1>home runs, hits. What was it about his resume that

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<v Speaker 1>somebody more than one felt like, can't do it, can't

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<v Speaker 1>put him on that ballot today? I digress. Yes, he

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<v Speaker 1>was boisterous, Yes he was self promo. Yes, I don't

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<v Speaker 1>think there's another athlete who's used themself in the third

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<v Speaker 1>person like Ricky Henderson. But he was a special talent,

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<v Speaker 1>There's no doubt about it. As soon as he came

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<v Speaker 1>out of Oakland Tech High School, which by the way,

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<v Speaker 1>also gave us Kurt Flood of Major League Baseball, Joe

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<v Speaker 1>Morgan of Major League Baseball, Veda Pinson of Major League Baseball,

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<v Speaker 1>Frank Robinson of Major League Baseball, Dave Stewart of Major

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<v Speaker 1>League Baseball, Lloyd Mosby of Major League Baseball, Gary Pettis

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<v Speaker 1>of Major League Baseball. All from that one high school.

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<v Speaker 1>It gave you seven other impactful Major League Baseball players.

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<v Speaker 1>I might be pushing it a little bit with Lloyd Mosby,

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<v Speaker 1>but you get he still played Toronto Detroit played quite

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<v Speaker 1>a bit. On top of that, there were two NBA

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<v Speaker 1>the players who came out of Oakland Tech High School,

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<v Speaker 1>Paul Silas, Seattle primarily and turned out to be a

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<v Speaker 1>pretty good coach. Oh and Bill Russell, one of the

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<v Speaker 1>best players of all time. That high school, Oakland Tech

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<v Speaker 1>High School in Oakland, California, gave you all those players.

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<v Speaker 1>Was Ricky Henderson the best? No, it was not. Frank Robinson.

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<v Speaker 1>Bill Russell, you would argue, are the two best athletes

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<v Speaker 1>coming out at least of those names that I've mentioned.

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<v Speaker 1>Sometimes there are better high school players than pros. I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>sometimes guys in high school were as good, if not

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<v Speaker 1>better than the guys who ended up being elite professionals.

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<v Speaker 1>Don't have very often, but once in a while you'll

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<v Speaker 1>find that. But Ricky Henderson is a piece of my

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<v Speaker 1>childhood that was really important because oftentimes when we were kids,

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<v Speaker 1>we would imitate baseball players when we go. We would

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<v Speaker 1>ride our bikes, put the glove through the handlebars or

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<v Speaker 1>glove through the bat the handle of the bat, and

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<v Speaker 1>bag our lunch and head up to the local field

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<v Speaker 1>and play baseball. Every day in the summer, right field

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<v Speaker 1>is out, sometimes left field was out, just so you

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<v Speaker 1>could hit the other way. That's what we did. And

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<v Speaker 1>we would bring the helmets we used to get for

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<v Speaker 1>five bucks at Tiger Stadium. As you go out there

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<v Speaker 1>and while everybody was collecting every single Tiger helmet, we

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<v Speaker 1>would collect every helmet in baseball and we would put

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<v Speaker 1>them on a bench and we would pick one up,

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<v Speaker 1>and then we had to imitate the player we thought

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<v Speaker 1>exemplified that franchise, that team, and for the Oakland A's

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of times, not always, because sometimes it was

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<v Speaker 1>Reggie Jackson, sometimes it was Joe Rudy, sometimes it was

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<v Speaker 1>Joe Morgan, sometimes it was Gene ten, sometimes it was

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<v Speaker 1>Sal Bando, anytime it was Oakland. Eventually somebody would say

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<v Speaker 1>Ricky Henderson, right, he was after that crew. Of course

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<v Speaker 1>that crew was even before Ricky Henderson, but I mean

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<v Speaker 1>all those guys so many great players who played for

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<v Speaker 1>that franchise, and Ricky Henderson was among, if not the

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<v Speaker 1>best to play for that franchise. Now, again, he played

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<v Speaker 1>in a different era of the guys I just mentioned,

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<v Speaker 1>but I'm talking about as you know, childhood. That was

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<v Speaker 1>part of it. And I feel bad for people who

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<v Speaker 1>didn't get a chance to watch him play. Now the

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<v Speaker 1>games weren't on every single day like they are these days.

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<v Speaker 1>And yes, you've had a chance to go back and

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<v Speaker 1>check things out on YouTube perhaps, and that would be

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<v Speaker 1>my hope, right, But he truly was one of the

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<v Speaker 1>greatest players of all time. All the things that he's

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<v Speaker 1>done on on the field of play warrant all the

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<v Speaker 1>attention that he's gotten, but you can't necessarily appreciate it

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<v Speaker 1>unless you either a watched him in person or b

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<v Speaker 1>followed his career as it was taking place and spent

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<v Speaker 1>fourteen years in Oakland in the Hall of Fame career

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<v Speaker 1>that spanned a lot of other teams of course, with

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<v Speaker 1>the Yankees and the Blue Jays and a number of

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<v Speaker 1>other teams a Red Sox for a period of time

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<v Speaker 1>as well. But Ricky Henderson, at the age of sixty five,

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<v Speaker 1>gone away too soon.