Rickey Henderson honored with celebration of life at Oakland Arena
On December 20, 2024, the sports world was shocked and saddened to hear of the passing of Rickey Henderson, a kid from Oakland who grew up to be one of the best all-around players the game has ever known.
But he never forgot his hometown and, on Saturday, his hometown remembered him with a heartfelt celebration of life.
As fans began to fill Oakland Arena to pay tribute to the man who earned the nickname "The Man of Steal," Lola Leal from Hayward said it really wasn't something she could miss.
"Oh, I have to be here today," she said. "Rickey was a big part of my life when I was little, with the '89 championship, and just growing up with him with the Bash Brothers and Dennis Eckersley. So, I had to be here to pay my respects for Rickey."
Henderson stole his way into baseball immortality with a stolen base record of 1,406. Many believe it's a record that will never be broken.
"Going to the games, watching him steal a base was just amazing. It was a work of art," said Joel Lacsina from Union City. "He was the best to ever do it, so it was just amazing, just amazing. He was the 'Man of Steal.' The greatest all-time baseball player. If you were to ask me, who's my favorite baseball player, it's Rickey Henderson...all day, all day."
But Henderson did much more than that. He scored more runs and hit more lead-off home runs than anyone in MLB history, and he did it with an air of swagger before swagger was even cool.
Henderson idolized Muhammad Ali, and that was reflected in his comment in 1991 after surpassing the base-stealing record of the great Lou Brock.
"Lou Brock was the symbol of great base-stealing," he told the crowd at Yankee Stadium. "But today, I am the greatest of all time!"
"He had that swagger about him that was always one of the best things about him," said Leo Urbi, a fan from San Leandro. "No one will ever break his stolen base record, ever. That's done."
Despite his greatness, those who met him said he was a personable, down-to-earth guy. Rodney Patterson met Henderson at a softball event in 2024 at the Coliseum. He took a picture with his hero and was impressed by his physical stature.
"When I saw him, his arm was as big...his bicep was as big as my head!" said Patterson. "Then, I realized those were the guns that hit home runs! And he chuckled, shook my hand and said, 'Thank you, sir.' "
Hall of Fame slugger Dave Winfield was one of the former players who attended Saturday's event. He was a teammate of Henderson's when he joined the New York Yankees — one of nine teams Henderson played for in his 25-year career.
"What I really, really enjoyed about Rickey is that every day, he came to work full of joy, happiness, energy, positivity," said Winfield. "He was a winner. He was a friend. He was a brother. One of the best that ever played the game."
Henderson was on the A's when they beat the Giants in the 1989 World Series. The following year, he signed a new contract making him the highest-paid player in Major League Baseball at the time. But despite all his accomplishments, in his Hall of Fame speech in 2009, Henderson asked people to remember him for how much he loved the game.
"When you think of me," he said, "I would like you to remember that kid from the inner city that played the game with all his heart and never took the game for granted."
Rickey Henderson was 65 years old when he passed away. It was with all their hearts that the fans remembered the kid from Oakland who played for the love of the game, and no one who watched him will ever take him for granted.