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THANKFUL: Humble Rickey Henderson regales fans with tales from his Hall of Fame career
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — On Nov. 10, in front of an enthusiastic crowd of fans and well-wishers, all-time baseball great Rickey Henderson accepted the 15th annual Living Legend Award at the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory in downtown Louisville, Ky.
In accepting the award, a beautiful custom-made jeweled ring, Henderson joined an impressive roster of previous winners, including Ken Griffey Jr., Hank Aaron, Cal Ripken Jr., and Mike Schmidt. In fact, all 15 Living Legend honorees are also members of the Baseball Hall of Fame. And while election to the Baseball Hall continues to confer a unique imprimatur upon a player’s career, the Living Legend Award has become a special distinction in its own right.
The Living Legend Award ceremony kicked off an exciting weekend at the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory. It included the 20th annual live baseball memorabilia auction by Hunt Auctions, which had some of the most spectacular and enticing items on display. Some of the auction highlights included: a 1979 Rickey Henderson autographed rookie jersey; a 1973 Mike Schmidt autographed rookie jersey; a 1972 Roberto Clemente Gold Glove Award; a circa 1945 Kansas City Monarchs uniform; a Babe Ruth single-signed baseball; and a Willie Mays autographed glove.
Attendance at the event was by invitation-only, although anyone purchasing one of the Louisville Slugger bats signed by Henderson received two admission tickets.
The Louisville Slugger bat made to commemorate the event was a two-toned T141 model bat with a yellow handle and green barrel. It featured a silhouette of Henderson holding a base above his head on the front and a number 24 badge and Henderson’s career highlights on the back. The bats were autographed by Henderson and retailed for $299.99. Only 100 were made and they completely sold out weeks before the event.
A GAME-CHANGER
Hunt Auctions President Dave Hunt honored Henderson by pointing out that he had “generationally changed the game with his unique blend of power and speed,” all while remaining humble and true to his roots.
A short video tribute highlighted four key moments in Henderson’s career: his 939th stolen base, passing Lou Brock on the all-time list; his 119th steal on Aug. 27, 1982 to break Brock’s single-season record; his home run to pass Bobby Bonds as the all-time leader in career leadoff homers; and stolen base No. 1,406, the final steal of his career.
Henderson’s lifelong friend and former teammate Dave Stewart, a four-time 20-game winner, introduced Henderson, who spoke slowly and rambled a bit but nevertheless effectively conveyed his feelings about the moment.
“It’s an honor and a pleasure … to be selected for this honor,” he said. “You know, my dream was to play professional football, but Mom said, ‘No.’ She didn’t want her baby to get hurt. I was disappointed because football was my number one. I sat on the bed in my room and cried for an hour because I loved football more than baseball. But in the long run, Mom was right, because today I’m healthy. I don’t walk with no limp.”
Yes, Mrs. Henderson was right, not only protecting her son from serious injury but giving baseball one of its all-time greats.
“I took joy in the game,” Henderson continued. “I loved to engage the people about the game of baseball, and I enjoyed giving my best to play hard and to try to win a game. … I had no clue about this award. I didn’t know anything about it, but it is something I will cherish ’til I pass.”
Henderson thanked the sponsor of the award and pointed out that he had indeed used the famous Louisville Slugger bats, and was glad that he had.
“The Louisville bats held up,” he said. “They didn’t hurt your hands like some bats do that make you go back to the dugout and say, ‘I’m sorry I play baseball.’”
We later learned that Henderson had ordered a total of 1,782 bats from Louisville Slugger.
Henderson also honored one of his childhood heroes, Muhammad Ali, and had just visited the Ali Museum a few blocks from Louisville Slugger.
“Ali was an inspiration to me,” he said. “The way he believed in giving back is how I felt about the fans. I loved the people with all my heart just because they came out to see me play. I always enjoyed the game, always had fun. Whether it was a good day or a bad day, I was always making the fans enjoy the game … whether it was blowing kisses to the people in the stands or talking to the kids.”
Henderson said Ali’s claim to be “the greatest” inspired him when he stated, “Now I am the greatest,” upon breaking Brock’s all-time stolen base record. At the time, some fans and media criticized Henderson for the remark, believing it to be arrogant, but it was taken out of context and they failed to realize that Henderson meant it as a tribute to Ali. (His praise of Brock was not as widely reported as that one remark).
Henderson also reminisced about his days at Oakland (Calif.) Technical High School and how baseball was never his first love.
“I had a friend in high school who begged me to come out for the team,” he remembered. “I didn’t want to because there were no people at the games. There was no excitement at the baseball games. But I had a teacher who said if I’d play on the team, she’d give me a quarter for every hit and another quarter for every stolen base, and I thought, ‘Hey, I can make me some money this way, and it’ll be better than working.’ So she gave me an opportunity to become a baseball player.”
The idea of multi-millionaire Rickey Henderson playing baseball for quarters elicited laughs, and the fun continued when he brought up two more stories about his childhood.
When Henderson and Stewart played backyard baseball as kids, they were very competitive. Stewart saw himself as a catcher at the time and thought he could outhit Henderson, and also throw him out. Both the youngsters were drafted, Henderson by the Oakland A’s and Stewart by the Dodgers. The first time they crossed paths in the minor leagues, Stewart told Henderson, “The Dodgers changed me into a pitcher.”
Henderson replied, “Yeah, they found out you couldn’t hit.”
The second story involved the two friends when they first arrived in the major leagues, playing for different teams. Henderson said Stewart had two friends take him out on the town one night — the whole night — before a Sunday game that Stewart was scheduled to pitch. The next day Henderson struck out against Stewart the first time up.
“I felt half asleep,” Henderson said, “and the bat felt too heavy. So I borrowed a light bat from a teammate and hit him for a home run. I finally woke up.”
Henderson next remembered Brock, the great St. Louis Cardinals base stealer whose records he broke.
“I ended up meeting Lou Brock,” he said. “We went into Boston and I stole four bases in the game. He interviewed me and told me, ‘You are gonna be the one to break my records.’ He was the one who told me how good I could be. He was the one who made me believe it. I loved and appreciated the motivation he gave me to do what I did.”
Henderson also honored his mother and the invaluable influence she had on his life.
“I can’t think enough of my mom. Without her I wouldn’t be here,” he said. “I thought I was gonna be another Walter Payton. After I started in baseball, I thought maybe I could be another Bo Jackson. I met Al Davis and asked him if I could have a chance to play baseball and football, and he said, ‘Yeah, sure.’ But the Oakland A’s said, ‘No, it ain’t gonna happen!’ I still have a dream about being a football and baseball player like Bo for the Oakland Raiders. … And they need some help.”
Museum Executive Director Deana Lockman summed up the feelings of the crowd when she said, “Rickey, you would have been a legend whatever sport you chose to play.”
After the formal presentation, Henderson joined Rick Redman, vice president of corporate communications for Wilson, the sporting goods company that bought Louisville Slugger several years ago, for a Q&A session with fans and attendees.
Henderson was again engaging, interesting and funny, and you got the sense that the crowd would have stayed all night had the conversation continued. Whatever expectations fans had before the event, Henderson almost certainly surpassed them as he turned out to be a sincere, gracious and, yes, humble winner of the 15th Living Legend Award.
His final remark summed up the night: “I will cherish this award all my life, knowing that I used the product which sponsors it and which made me what I am today.”
LOUISVILLE SLUGGER LIVING LEGEND AWARD WINNERS
2007 Ken Griffey Jr.
2008 Frank Robinson
2009 Hank Aaron
2010 Ernie Banks
2011 Johnny Bench
2012 Tony Gwynn
2013 Cal Ripken Jr.
2014 Ozzie Smith
2015 Andre Dawson
2016 Dave Winfield
2017 Frank Thomas
2019 Mike Schmidt
2021 Derek Jeter
2022 Jim Thome
2023 Rickey Henderson
