A year of cheers and tears for MLB in 2024
Passing of Rickey Henderson caps a year of highs and lows
It’s in our DNA as sports fans. We prefer to believe our heroes are immortals, like the Greek gods of mythology, however the jarring deaths in 2024 of Hall-of-Famers Rickey Henderson, Willie Mays, Whitey Herzog and Orlando Cepeda, combined with 89 other ex-MLB players, served to prove, only, that we are all human. Still, we are comforted by an ingrained, time-honoured tradition, over 150 years old, wherein feats and figures of baseball prowess, stay with us and forever make us smile.
Such is the case with Rickey Henderson, the greatest leadoff hitter in major-league history.
Henderson played professional baseball for 30 years, including some time in the majors in four different decades, the ‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s and ‘00s. In his Cooperstown induction speech, he shared how he had been thinking of a career in football as a teen, but his mother convinced him to choose baseball because of the longer careers and the lesser possibility of injuries. Clearly, she chose wisely.
Griff (3rd person reference in honour of Rickey) worked with Tim Raines and the Montreal Expos for many years and comparisons were always being made in promo material about who was the better leadoff hitter. That came during the decade of the ‘80s, when Rickey was in his prime. We settled on calling Raines the best in the National League, because Rock often batted third in the order and that was an easy way out. Fact is some of Rickey’s leadoff feats were other worldly.
Henderson crushed 81 home runs leading off games (sorry George Springer, you will always be second), stole 1,406 bases, scored 2,295 runs, earned six MVP Top 10s, including winning the award in 1990, and joyfully demonstrated the truth that natural, non-pharmaceutically-enhanced, spontaneous athletes could compete quite nicely with the cheaters.
There are so many Rickey stories that make people smile – some that are true and some that are fiction, but have become enshrined in the legend of Rickey.
Here are several of Griff’s favourite tales involving the Man of Steal.
Henderson played pro ball from 1976 to 2005 and in the majors from ’79 to ‘03. This first story likely came in one of his final three pro years, hanging on in independent ball. Inside the clubhouse, his teammates were discussing “Where were you when Joe Carter homered to win the ’93 World Series?” One guy said, “I was a sophomore in high school.” Another said, “I was just starting in college.” Then there was a teammate with, “I was home watching on TV.” Quietly, Henderson said: “Rickey was on second base.” Priceless.
Which leads us seamlessly to that iconic “touch ‘em all, Joe” moment, Game 6 of the ’93 Series. With Phils closer Mitch Williams on the SkyDome mound to begin the ninth, leading 6-5, Henderson led off with a four-pitch Wild-Thing walk. The key moment in that base-on-balls sequence was Rickey calling time, with Williams in mid-windup. The flaky Phillies bullpen ace was rightfully annoyed and, so, who knows how rattled he may have been issuing a four-pitch walk, leading to the tying run reaching first base with nobody out.
Mitch, a lefthander, was forced to stare directly into the intimidating eyes of Rickey, leading off first, a threat to go on any pitch. Unable to use a full windup and with a mind divided, Wild Thing allowed a one-out single to Paul Molitor and a 2-2 series-winning blast to Carter. He never hit a bigger home run.
Another great Rickey story? Henderson was traded by the Mets to Seattle in mid-season, 2000. As Jays fans all know, John Olerud wore a helmet when playing the field. Henderson, according to Rickey-lore, said to Olerud, “Hey, Rickey played with a guy with the Mets who wore a helmet in the field.” John responded, “Rickey, that was me.” Great story, but I asked Olerud in St. Marys at his Canadian Baseball Hall-of-Fame induction about it and he just laughed.
There are so many Rickey stories and all of them are joyful. RIP.
Ninety-three MLB players mourned in 2024:
Hall-of-Famers: Henderson, Mays, Cepeda, Herzog and one player that has Cooperstown worthy numbers, Pete Rose. RIP.
Significant contributors to our Game: Either significant contributors to baseball’s history, or men that played for the Expos or Blue Jays: Billy Bean, Luis Tiant, Fernando Valenzuela, Rocky Colavito, Rico Carty, Gary Sutherland, Rudy May, UL Washington, Tony Scott, Doug Creek, Denny LeMaster, Jimy Williams, Billy Gardner and Ozzie Virgil Sr. RIP.
Others that played since ’73 and left us too soon: Doug Bird, Sean Burroughs, Mike Cubbage, Jose DeLeon, Bud Harrelson, Al Fitzmorris, Jerry Grote, Don Gullett, Ken Holtzman, Ed Kranepool, Jim McAndrew, Bill Melton, Ed Ott and Merv Rettenmund. RIP.
PROGRAM NOTE: The Exit Philosophy podcast with Griff and Mal Romanin will return next Thursday, January 2 after taking a week off. However, knowing how some of our listeners hang on every NFL pick that we make vs. the spread, here are this week’s Griff and Mal selections.
Mal … Week 16 picks 1-2 … Season 14-16 … Week 17
Rams -6.5 Cards @ Los Angeles
Commanders -4.0 Falcons @ Washington
Broncos +3.0 Bengals @ Cincinnati
Griff … Week 16 picks 2-1 … Season 20-10 … Week 17
Patriots +4.5 Chargers @ Foxboro
Packers +1.0 Vikings @ Minneapolis
Titans +1.0 Jaguars @ Jacksonville
NOTE: If you have any questions for the Griff’s Baseball Mailbag leave them in Comment section.
Happy and Healthy New Year to all from Griff’s The Pitch and Exit Philosophy.