OAKLAND, Calif. - The runner takes a few steps away from the base as the pitcher looks back at him. The shortstop takes a couple steps towad second to try to draw the runner back. The pitcher looks toward home, and the runner inches closer to the line. The pitcher lifts his leg. The runner is off. The pitch, the catcher catching it and rising from his croutch, firing. The runner going toward third in a blur. The head-first slide, a pile of dust, ball and runner meeting at the bag.
Just as Babe Ruth and the home run, Rickey Henderson is synonymous with the stolen base. By his fourth season, 1982, when he stole a staggering and record-shattering 130 bases, it seemed like only a matter of time until he held the all-time record. Even Lou Brock, the record holder with 938, identified Henderson in 1981 as the man who would break his record. So when he slid safely into third in the fourth inning of the game on May 1, 1991, ahead of the throw from Yankees catcher Matt Nokes, Henderson lifted third base out from its peg in the field and held it aloft, celebrating the most inevetable record in major league history.
If Henderson had retired on the spot that day, safely with 939 stolen bases, he'd have been elected to the Hall of Fame on the first ballot and celebrated as the best leadoff hitter of all time. But Henderson kept playing, and kept playing, and kept playing. He broke Brock's record in his 12th season in the Majors (it took Brock 18 years to get to that number), then played 12 more. His final total of 1,406 steals was 50 percent higher than the previous record.
Henderson's accomplishment has to rank as the single most unbreakable hitting record in major league history. For perspective, he has more stolen bases than the top three leaders among active players combined. For good measure, he also set the all-time records for runs scored and walks, though Barry Bonds passed him in the latter category. So at retirement he had gotten on base more often, stolen more bases, and scored more runs than any player in history - in other words, the exact three things leadoff hitters are asked to do.
A scout once determined that it took Henderson 2.9 seconds to steal second base, and that no pitcher/catcher combination could get the ball to second in faster than 3.0 seconds. In other words, as long as he stayed true to his form, he could not be caught stealing. Or perhaps former teammate Mitchell Page said it best: "It wasn't until I saw Rickey that I understood what baseball was about. Rickey Henderson is a run, man. That's it. When you see Rickey Henderson, I don't care when, the score's already 1–0."
HONORABLE MENTION:
May 1, 1991: ARLINGTON, Tex - It would take quite an achievement to overshadow Rickey Henderson's shining moment in 1991. Nolan Ryan obliged. At the age of 44, a shocking 25 years after his Major League debut, Ryan stole the attention from Henderson's record by notching his 7th no-hitter, leading the Rangers to a 3-0 victory over the Blue Jays. Ryan and Henderson are forever linked in baseball history, and not just because of their ability to play well deep into their 40s and for achieving career milestones on the same day. The year before, Henderson was Ryan's 5,000th strikeout victim. Henderson took the milestone in stride, saying afterwards, "If he ain't struck you out, you ain't nobody."
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