SF Giants legend Will Clark shares a hilarious Rickey Henderson story

Rickey Henderson, the best base-stealer in MLB history and a Hall-of-Famer, sadly passed away last Friday on December 20th. SF Giants legend Will Clark shared a classic story of Henderson which perfectly encapsulates his personality and skill.

Henderson was an absolutely phenomenal baseball player, largely remembered for his time with the Oakland A's. He is regarded as the best leadoff hitter in MLB history and it is not hard to understand why. He stole 1,406 bases in his 25-year career and also launched 297 career home runs, showing he possessed both power and speed.

He is the MLB career leader in steals and it is not particularly close. The next closest is Lou Brock with 938 steals. Henderson also holds the MLB record for most times leading off the game with a home run which he did 81 times.

Legendary SF Giants first baseman Will Clark shares hilarious Rickey Henderson story

What an absolute nightmare he must have been to face starting off a game. You did not want to pitch around him because you knew if you walked him he could take second easily, but if you laid it in there you knew he could hit the ball out of the ballpark.

Beyond the statistics, Henderson had a larger than life personality. That personality is perfectly excapsulated by Clark who shared a hilarious story about Henderson on KNBR. The link for the clip is here and is also below:

In the clip, the former first baseman Clark shares a story of a time that Henderson got on first base when Henderson was a member of the A's and Clark was on the Giants in a Spring Training game.

"When Rickey got to first base, he always talked in the third person...He goes, 'Thrill, Rickey wants to run,'...I look in the dugout to Roger Craig and go, 'He's running right here,'...So we pitching out, Rickey slides in safe at second, he jumps up and starts pointing at me and says,'I told you, Thrill, Rickey gone!'"

This story perfectly captures the cockiness that Henderson played the game with. He was so good at stealing bases that he could straight up tell the first baseman he was going to run, triggering a pitch out, and he was still safe at second base. He was cocky, but if anyone could back it up it was Rickey.

It is a shame that the great Rickey Henderson has passed on, but Will Clark's great story at least allows us to remember Henderson for the swagger and skill that he possessed.

On a personal note, when my Dad was a kid, he went to Oakland A's games and he said that he went down to go get autographs but was not as boisterous or demanding as the other kids. Rickey picked up on that and said to him, 'Hey kid, you've been polite and quiet this whole time. What do you want?' And he gave my Dad a signature. That just shows that Rickey also cared about the fans and was willing to be sweet and kind to a kid like my Dad.

We at Around the Foghorn send our condolences to the Henderson family and fondly remember the life and legacy of Rickey Henderson, one of the best players in Bay Area baseball history and major league baseball as a whole.