Players of the Past: Rickey Henderson

The 1st time I saw Rickey Henderson was when he played for the Seattle Mariners [in 2000]. At that point in his career [at age 41], he was already the All-Time Leader in Stolen Bases with over 1,000, he had 74 career Leadoff Homeruns [the 2nd closest is Brady Anderson, with 43!]. Those credentials cannot be denied. But their was just one flaw in Rickey Henderson's career: He was one arrogant baseball player. But, he had the ability to back it up. Nobody in the history of Major League Baseball could drive a pitcher more crazy than Rickey Henderson could. For instance if Rickey reached 1st base via a base hit or getting hit by a pitch, he'd steal 2nd base on the next pitch & steal 3rd on the next one! I think he stole 3rd base more often than he stole 2nd base! He was just an incredible athlete.  He played not only with the Mariners, but for every other team in the league. He even played in South Korea in 2005! But my favorite Rickey Henderson story was when he was with the Mariners in 2000:

During the playoffs that year, the Mariners were in New York to face the Yankees [who Rickey had played for in the '80's] & Rickey was checking into the team hotel. But he didn't check into the hotel under the name "RICKEY HENDERSON" he checked under the name "RICHARD PRYOR". Yes, Rickey Henderson checked under the name of the legendary comedian who, at that time, had been DEAD for 4 years!