And that's one of the things that makes this project so much fun for me, is that you're never going to see what he did again - 3,000 hits, 2,000 runs, 2,000 walks and a thousand-plus stolen bases. But they don't play baseball the way Rickey played. You remember the speed and electricity of the game and the way that it wasn't sort of slow-pitch softball where you just sit back and wait, unless you're Earl Weaver in Baltimore Orioles, where you wait for the three-run homer. If you're of a certain generation.īRYANT. And it's so funny because one of the reasons why I also wanted to do this was because Rickey's baseball doesn't exist anymore. SIMON: So his rookie year, Rickey Henderson steals a hundred bases.īRYANT: Yeah - in his first full season.

Money was very central to how Rickey valued his worth. And funny, that seemed to be a harbinger for how Rickey would go about his business. So she gave him a quarter for every stolen base, and he said, I'm going to make a ton of money doing this.

His guidance counselor in the seventh, eighth grade had to bribe him because they didn't have enough players. He played baseball because everyone begged him to play. Rickey wanted to play for the Oakland Raiders. SIMON: He didn't really like baseball? He played just to appease his older brother?īRYANT: Rickey wanted to be a football player. Howard, thanks so much for being with us. He has let one of the great sports journalists in America into his life to tell his story - 'Rickey: The Life And Legend Of An American Original,' a book by Howard Bryant, who talks sports and society on our program. And yet, over his Hall of Fame career, Rickey Henderson was also often derided for sitting out games, for shunning teammates and disdaining the press. He'd get to first base, waggle his fingers, sprint with the pitch, and became the greatest base stealer of all time over 25 years in baseball with nine different teams.

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