SAN FRANCISCO — Oakland Athletics’ great and Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson has passed away at the age of 65, as reported by multiple sources, including our media partner, The East Bay Times.
Henderson held the distinction of being the Athletics’ all-time leader in runs scored (1,270), walks (1,227), and stolen bases (867). His remarkable feat of setting the modern-era record for stolen bases in a single season occurred in 1982 when he swiped 130 bases for the A’s.
In 1989, he earned the American League Championship Series MVP title with an outstanding performance. During this time, Henderson batted .400, hit two home runs, drove in five runs, stole eight bases, and scored eight runs, contributing significantly to the A’s triumph over the Toronto Blue Jays in a five-game series. This victory paved the way for the A’s to claim the World Series title that season by sweeping the San Francisco Giants, with Henderson boasting a remarkable .474 batting average in those four games.
He won an American League MVP award in 1990, when he hit .325 with 28 home runs, 61 RBIs, 119 runs scored and 65 stolen bases for an Oakland team that won the American League pennant but was swept by the Cincinnati Reds in the World Series.
Henderson was inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame in 2009.
In 2017, the Athletics renamed the playing surface at Oakland Coliseum in honor of Henderson, saying he was “the greatest Athletic of all time.”
ESPN contributed to this article.
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