Great news baseball fans- the immortal Rickey Henderson is back! Last week, the 48-year old "Man of Steal," told the Oakland Trib that he wanted to play for the A's in September. His 1-for-3 performance in the 2007 Celebrity All-Star game was so electrifying, that it must have caught the eye of Omar Minaya, for the Mets have hired Rickey to be their hitting coach. In celebration, the Lefty offers some Rickey highlights.Top five Rickey Henderson quotes:
#5 "I like playing for Oakland, they have a very colorful uniform."
#4 "All I'm asking for is what I want."
#3 “Listen, people are always saying, ‘Rickey says Rickey.’ But it’s been blown way out of proportion. People might catch me, when they know I’m ticked off, saying, ‘Rickey, what the heck are you doing, Rickey?’ They say, ‘Darn, Rickey, what are you saying Rickey for? Why don’t you just say, ‘I?’ But I never did. I always said, ‘Rickey,’ and it became something for people to joke about.”#2 "I'm like a branch floating in the breeze." (When asked if criticism from Yanks' boss George Steinbrenner bothered him)
#1 "Rickey's gonna be Rickey. Period. No matter what I'm going to do or play or come here early, I'm gonna be Rickey. Rickey is not going to change and not be himself. I've been in this world too long to try to change Rickey and what he does . My mother don't even try to change me. She raised me, but she ain't gonna change me."
Top Six Rickey Henderson Moments (I needed six):
#6 After striking out as a Seattle Mariner in 2000, a teammate heard Rickey say, “Don’t worry, Rickey, you’re still the best.”
#5 By hitting a homer on Ocober 5, 2001, Rickey broke Ty Cobb's 73-year old career record for runs scored. To commemorate the feat, he slowly rounded the bases, then slid into home plate.
#4 The phone call Rickey made to Padres GM Kevin Towers in which he left this voice message: “This is Rickey calling on behalf of Rickey. Rickey wants to play baseball.”
#3 After his 73 game stint in 2002 with the Red Sox (at age 43) Sox Chairman Tom Werner asked Rickey what he would like for his ‘going-away’ gift. Bad move. Rickey wanted Werner's Mercedes. When the Red Sox made the gesture of buying Rickey a red T-Bird, he asked “Whose ugly car is on the field?”
#2: When Rickey was unsatisfied with his contract in 1992, he told the Sacramento Bee, "'I'm not happy, so I'm going to ask to be traded. It's been going on too long. I don't think I'm treated fairly. They don't deserve what I do." The next day, he said, "You are fools. It's a big joke. Rickey tricked everybody. Thank you all."
#1 And of course, when #24 broke Lou Brock's all-time stolen base record he addressed the Oakland fans with, "Today, I am the greatest of all-time." Lou Brock was standing next to him. He also handed out commemorative certificates to anyone who would take one that read, "I was there when Rickey Henderson broke Lou Brock's all-time stolen-base record of 938 with steal number 939." Classy!
Important note: Special Thanks to Baseball Almanac, a new Rickey article from from Newsday's Jim Baubach and a February post from the Random Burrito for supplying a wealth of "Rickey being Rickey" moments and quotes.
4 comments:
Some more memorable Ricky quotes ...
"If they are going to pay me like Mike Gallego, I´ll play like Mike Gallego".
"I shouldn't have been running no harder than I ran. I thought the ball was out of the ballpark. I hit a ball like that, I think the ball is going out of the ballpark."... )Rickey just prior to his release from the Mets )
"I think playing cards gave me the opportunity to relax in the game."
"If I hadn't gotten on base and Molitor singled, Carter wouldn't have gotten the pitch he got to hit period. Mitch Williams was worried about me stealing third base with one out. He tried to get the ball to the plate with a slider. He hung it, and Joe hit it out of the park."
"If you talk about baseball, you can't eliminate me, because I'm all over baseball... It's the truth. Telling the truth isn't being cocky. What do you want me to say, that I didn't put up the numbers? That my teams didn't win a lot of games? People don't want me to say anything about what I've done. Then why don't you say it? Because if I don't say it and you don't say it, nobody says it."
Wow- that was quite a comment.
The greatest Rickey moment for me is still the John Olerud story.
I like the Olerud story, but it sounds more and more contrived. Apparently, both Rickey and Olerud deny the whole thing. I still like to believe its true.
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