Wasn’t a big fan for most of his career, although he did seem to mature later on in some ways. Back in 82 the year he stole 130 my dad and I were on a west coast trip and went to a midsummer Oakland game. The A’s fell behind 6-0 early and Henderson drew a walk and immediately tried to steal 2nd. They pitched out and threw him out by a mile. My dad commented (correctly imo) that it was a selfish play and bad baseball given the game situation. I also didn’t like how Rickey seemed to invent that odd glove flip after making routine catches on fly balls. I don’t know if he was the first to do it but I recall seeing him do it. This is unfundamental baseball of course. You’re supposed to catch everything with two hands and it always struck me as unnecessary bombast. I also didn’t love when he hoisted 3rd base in the air when he beat Brock’s record, although in retrospect I’m probably being a snob about that and it was kind of cool and also spoke volumes about his personality. He went to quite a few teams. Just struck me as a mercenary me first type, certainly not humble in any event. Over time, the good, playful side of his personality came out and he seemed to mature with life experience, like most people do. In any event, he was an outstanding player.
|