Rickey Henderson
Rickey Henderson, my favorite baseball player of all-time and the all-time leader in
runs scored and
stolen bases, played in twenty-five MLB seasons and won exactly two World Series.
He was also traded in-season exactly twice: in 1989 and in 1993. Which two years did he win the World Series? 1989 (Oakland A's) and 1993 (Toronto Blue Jays)!
So, he won zero World Series in the twenty-three seasons in which he wasn't traded in-season! 1989 was the last year the A's won the World Series
and 1993 was the last year the Blue Jays won the World Series.
Is Henderson the only MLB player in history to win two World Series after being traded in-season? The answer is no! Jake Peavy won
the 2013 World Series with the Red Sox and the 2014 World Series with the Giants after being traded in-season. In addition to Henderson and Peavy, there
are several players who significantly
helped their new team make it to the World Series after being traded in-season.
Appoximately one month after the 1989 trade, Henderson had an
interesting game against the Seattle Mariners. In that game on July 29, 1989, he had four plate
appearances, four walks, five stolen bases, and four runs. In spite of the fact he had no hits, Henderson had four runs. Even with Henderson's effort,
the Oakland A's lost the game by eight runs.
Another interesting fact about Henderson is that he had four (!!) different stints with the Oakland A's: 1979-1984, 1989-1993, 1994-1995, and 1996.
Is Rickey Henderson the only baseball player to have at least four different stints with the same team? Again, the answer is no!
Bobo Newsom had five different stints with the Washington Senators,
Rudy Seánez had four different stints with the San Diego Padres, and
Tony Fernández had four different stints with the Toronto Blue Jays. Henderson
played with Seánez on the 2001 Padres team and played with Fernández on the 1993 World Series-winning Blue Jays team (see above).
Henderson's favorite manager was
Billy Martin, who had five (!) different stints as the New York Yankees
manager (1975 - 1978, 1979, 1983, 1985, 1988).
Martin managed Henderson with the Yankees during the 1985 and 1988 seasons. Additionally, he managed Henderson from 1980 to 1982 with the Oakland A's.
Henderson stole an MLB-record 130 bases in 1982 under Martin's leadership.
Henderson is one of only twenty-nine men to play
Major League Baseball in four different calendar decades. (Another one of those twenty-nine men was
Bill Buckner.) Of those twenty-nine men, only one man hit a lead-off home run in each of
the four decades: Henderson. Henderson hit a total of eighty-one lead-off home runs
during his career, good for first all-time.
Finally, Henderson is one of only seven right-handed batting, left-handed throwing MLB players who
played more than 1,000 games and is the only such player inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Henderson had a very unique, amazing career!