Top 5 Hall Of Fame Tribute: Rickey Henderson

There will never be another Rickey Henderson. Baseball greatness is often compared to greatness that came before. Shohei Ohtani is the Japanese Babe Ruth. Mike Trout was once considered this generation's Mickey Mantle. I would be surprised is any ballplayer, now or in the future, gets mentioned as a contemporary of the great Rickey Henderson. 

As I usual do when a Hall of Famer passes, I go through my collection and hope I have 5 good cards to show off. With Henderson, I had trouble narrowing down to 5 great cards. In the end, I decided to honor the "Man of Steal" with 5 cards all depicting him sliding into base, because that's the enduring image we got from Rickey over a thousand times in his career. Humbly, I present my Top 5 favorite "sliding" Rickey Henderson cards in my collection:

 

1990 Score #698 Rickey Henderson (HL, ALCS)

 

Although speed and Rickey Henderson go hand in hand, it's important to remember he was not a one trick pony. With over 3000 hits and over 2000 walks, he was a master of getting on base. 81 times he led off a game with a home run. Henderson made things happen.

1991 Topps #670 Rickey Henderson

 

Last year, Elly De La Cruz led the majors with 66 stolen bases. If he matched that feat every year for the next 19 years, he still would trail Rickey's stolen base total.

1992 Donruss #193 Rickey Henderson

 

In 1982, Henderson set the single season record for stolen bases with 130, just 13 off from the number of base hits he had that season! He was actually caught stealing an amazing 42 times that year!

 

1993 Fleer #294 Rickey Henderson 

One of his most impressive games happened on July 29, 1989. He walked four times in that game, thus having no official at-bats. He recorded an amazing 5 stolen bases in that game!

 

2021 Stadium Club #235 Rickey Henderson 

Obviously, Henderson made his mark mostly with the Oakland Athletics, as well as some peak career years with the Yankees. Even though he bounced around at the end of his career playing for a total of 9 different teams, he kept playing well and kept stealing bases until his final season in 2003 at the age of 44. He stole over 100 bases after the age of 40, and the only two seasons where he didn't reach at least 20 thefts in a year were his final two ones.

He was arguably the greatest player of the 80's, and energy and confidence made him a favorite of baseball fans everywhere. Rest in peace Rickey. There will never be another player like you.