Rickey becomes sixth Oakland "A" to enter Hall

Not a .. ungh… Yankee….

I want to share a great story/memory of Rickey…
Back in the early 90’s, my Grandma took me to a baseball card show to get Rickey’s autograph. It was $20 back then I think to get it signed on a ball. We stood in line for at least 30 minutes and when I got up there Rickey was nice and polite. He signed my ball and I moved along. However, I noticed that my Grandma wasnt behind me. I look back and she is introducing herself to Rickey Henderson! He graciously stands up and shakes her hand and answers all her questions with a “Yes Ma’am” or “No Ma’am”. Here he was holding up a line of at least 100 people to chat with my Grandma. So she goes on to tell him about my Grandpa who is now bed ridden in his old age, but still watches every A’s game. Rickey tells my Grandma to go over to a table across from his and grab a photo of himself and bring it back for him to sign and bring home to my Grandpa. She says she doesnt have any more money, but Rickey says dont worry about it, “I’ll take care of it later”. She brings it back and he writes 4 sentences to my Grandpa and signs it for him. He then came around the table and gave my Grandma a hug goodbye.

It was one of the greatest things I have and will ever see from a ballplayer. My Grandma still has that signed photo on the top of a bookcase. Thanks for a wonderful memory Rickey!

Well deserved!! MY MAN!

I wonder if Rickey will grow a ’stache for the ceremonies.

but congrats dear Rickey anyway.

Link

“Rickey Henderson’s first-ballot election into Hall of Fame today is only fitting for the greatest leadoff hitter in baseball history. We are proud that much of Rickey’s career was spent here in his hometown of Oakland, where he provided Bay Area fans with so many thrills as perhaps the most exciting player of his generation. On behalf of the entire Oakland Athletics family, we congratulate Rickey on baseball’s highest honor.”

I’m not sure that he deserves to be, but given the Yankee connection, I’m surprised he isn’t.

On June 24th 1979, I went to a doubleheader vs. Texas. Starting in the outfield was a guy wearing #35, but had no name on his jersey. The voice of god announces him as Ricky Henderson. My friend looks at me and I shrug my shoulders, “Who’s he?” Wow little did I know at that time I was seeing the debut of the best leadoff man ever. I was in Jr. high then, now he’s in the hall. And yesterday going through some old boxes in the garage I find a ticket stub from that day. Wonder if I should send it to the hall, or keep it. Quite the delimma, It was a great day to remember, or should it be shared?

It has me smiling ear to ear, and beer to beer.

Rickey because, hell, it’s Rickey. Jim because, well, who else deserved it more?

A good year for the Hall.

(Hang in there, Mark … like Rice, it might take 15 years, too.)

You can look at weekend packages on the Cooperstown site:

http://www.sportstravelandtours.com/page.cfm?id=577&cobrandname=Baseball20Hall20of%20Fame

I don’t even care that it will be packed with Sawx fans, it’ll still be worth it

hate having to type this. 4th a’s player. hunter (generic) reggie (f’n ankees) sadly, don’t count.. rickey rollie eck dwilliams rule.

…should be the day when the A’s honor Rickey Henderson, if at all possible.

(The A’s honored Dennis Eckersley on AN Day II, so there’s precedence!)

We need to fix the problem of jerks in the BBWAA. 28 people were able to find anyone more worthy then Rickey??? There were no other true all-time greats on the list. Not even close. The fact that there are some idiots with hall of fame votes ruins it for great players. Who cares if some players in past decades, who also deserved unanimous voting, didn’t get it? Just because some didn’t get it we are going to continue the tradition? That’s stupid. I have a solution: writers who continue this tradition, and have shown that they will do it no matter what, lose their vote. If you aren’t going to truly vote, then why should they be allowed to vote at all? First, look back the past few years and see who didn’t vote for players who deserved unanimous (Cal Ripken jr., Tony Gwynn, and Rickey. I’m 14 years old so if you feel more players then this deserved it, your opinion is probably more informed then mine.) and if someone did not vote for 2 of them, their votes in the succeeding years will be very closely monitored. If someone did not vote for all 3, they lose their vote. Second, form a committee of around 25 of the most respected baseball writers in the country (Peter Gammons, etc.) that decide every year which first ballot players are worthy of unanimous. Third, if people continue to not vote consistently for players who are unanimous worthy, they lose their vote. Simple as that. Then we’ll get a true hall of fame.

Couldn’t tell you the date. Couldn’t tell you who they played. Don’t have the ticket stub. But I remember my excitement that I was going to get to watch Rickey, McGwire, and Canseco. I remember our seats were out in right field. And I remember the A’s won.

Days like today make it easy to forget everything else. The down seasons, the payroll cuts, all of it. Today, it’s just fun to be an A’s fan.

Rickey’s speech that day. Can’t wait… and the A’s better pick a number and retire it this season, and let the fans know well in advance when they’re doing it, because I can’t travel to Cooperstown but I darn well want to be at the Coliseum when they retire his number.

Congratulations, Rickey- you more than earned it, and they should’ve given you the unanimity you so richly deserved.

I chose Rickey to be my favorite player early in the 1983 season when I was only five years old, and I could not have chosen any better. I hope to be there on induction, because if I can’t make it to his induction day, I can’t see justifying making it to anyone else’s.

My favorite Rickey moment was his take out slide in the 1989 ALCS.

Rickey Henderson greatest Oakland A’s player ever. I can’t even think of who would be 2nd.

I just read on the Blue Jays’ blog that someone said Henderson should go in with a Blue Jays cap. I hope he was kidding.

Rickey was my first favorite player — I was a little ‘un when he was with the A’s, but he was part of my first awareness of the awesomeness of the game so seeing him going into the Hall makes me feel old suddenly, but seems so dearly overdue. There’s no better first-ballot player in this modern game.

Rickey, I salute you.

I half expect you to steal Jim Rice’s plaque, hold it above your head and tell him he was a great ball player, but that YOU ARE THE GREATEST!

It’s funny ‘cuz it’s true.

I started following the A’s in the early 1970s. Since I was a very little kid, I had no idea how incredible it was to have a baseball team with three World Series in a row. But when Finley broke up that dynasty, the A’s descended into mediocrity (and worse), and Charlie O seemed bent on selling the team to New Orleans or Denver, I grew pretty bitter. I even (gulp) switched allegiances from 1978-80, in part because the Giants were a more interesting team, in part because my best friend was a huge Giants fan (peer pressure will do terrible things).

My brief period of apostasy ended when Finley sold the team (though failing, thank goodness, to sell it away from Oakland). And a huge part of what made the 1981 A’s worth following was Rickey Henderson. Henderson, of course, left and returned multiple times, but I’ve been rooting for the A’s steadily and unswervingly for these last twenty-eight seasons. And Rickey provided many of the best memories during the first half of that run.

I don’t like picking a single all-time favorite anything, but if I had to pick a favorite Oakland Athletic I would, without hesitation, pick Rickey. I’m so happy he’s in the Hall!

you probably crouched just like Rickey in the little league batter’s box.

All of us small and fast kids saw ourselves in Rickey. I, for one, crouched like a little bastard, and I became an on-base machine once the coaches stopped pitching. No 11-year old could get a ball into my strike zone, and it mitigated my complete lack of hitting ability. It made me into a leadoff hitter, just like Rickey!

You’re the best, Rickey!

Giambi back in town. Rickey in the hall… what a week to be an A’s fan… and then this:

July 24-26 OAK @ NYY
July27-29 OAK @ BOS

Whose in?

but this is disturbing, to say the least:

Henderson wasn’t sure which team’s cap will go on his Hall of Fame plaque. He gets some say in the matter, but ultimately it’s the Hall’s decision.

Can you imagine the uproar if he goes with anything other than an A’s cap?