Baseball Hall of Famer and all-time stolen base leader Rickey Henderson turns 54 today. Rickey Henderson finished his long career with a .279 career batting average, 3055 hits, 297 home runs, a record 1406 stolen bases and a record of 2295 runs scored. Rickey had an on base-percentage of .401 during his career. He played 25 seasons in the big leagues and I can’t think of another great ballplayer who changed teams as often as Rickey did. It reads like this- Oakland 1979-84, NY Yankees 1985-89, back to Oakland 1989-93, Toronto 1993, back to Oakland again 1994-95, San Diego 1996-97, Anaheim 1997, back to Oakland for a fourth time in 1998, Mets 1999-2000, Seattle 2000, San Diego 2001, Boston 2002 and finishing his career as a Los Angeles Dodger 2003.

Rickey Henderson made 10 All-Star teams, was a member of two World Championship teams, he was the AL MVP in 1990 and even won a Gold Glove. He led the league in stolen bases 12 times. He has the record for most stolen bases in a season with 130 in 1982. He also has the record for 81 lead off home runs. He has the most unintentional walks on anyone in baseball history.

Rickey was always an interesting character. He referered to himself in the third person all the time. I’ve never seen a player react to the crowd like Rickey did. Out in left field he was always turning around and looking at the fans who were yelling things at him. Most players just ignore it. The “Rickey Henderson stories” are legion. He claims that he made a lot of them up, said these things just to be a character and people actually took them like he was serious.

Rickey Henderson wasn’t just a guy who stole bases like say a Vince Coleman. Rickey was a great all-around ballplayer. I’d rank him as one of the greatest players of his era and during his prime one of the greatest players I’ve ever seen. He made things happen and he was exciting. He got on base. Even at the end of his career when he wasn’t hitting much for average he still got on base. For all of his flakiness I do not remember him getting into any trouble. He could have played on my team anytime.