Rickey Henderson is Major League Baseball's career leader in stolen bases and runs scored with 1,406 stolen bases and 2,295 runs scored in his 25 year career. Per every 162 games (1 full season) he averaged 74 successful stolen bases and was successful in over 80% of the steal attempts in his career. Rickey was inducted in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2009. He is currently a coach with the Oakland A's organization and teaches younger players what he knows best, baserunning. I had the pleasure of meeting the 'man of steel' during spring training.
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| Rickey talking to players |
One day during spring training myself and about 20 other minor leaguers had a half hour baserunning talk and demonstration with Rickey. The main focuses of his talk was about what he does best, stealing bases. After hearing Rickey talk about baserunning and stealing bases, it is very clear that he was able to accomplish all that he did because of his mindset. Rickey joked he used to stand in front of the mirror and practice dusting off his jersey to make sure he looked good doing it after he stole a base. He talked about getting a big lead, but most importantly being comfortable with your lead. Rickey was never going to surprise anyone when he stole, everyone in the stadium knew he was going, it was only a matter of when. Which brings me to another point that he made, picking the right time to steal the base. Rickey said he was ready to steal on every pitch, he was looking for tendencies, trying to get a great jump off the pitcher and give the catcher no chance to throw him out. He even said that he wasn't the fastest guy in the league, but that he was very quick and could reach top speed within only a couple of steps. After seeing him running effortlessly I still think he could steal 30 bases in a season.
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| Rickey talking to the group while I'm listening (#8) |
The best part about meeting Rickey is that he is so down to Earth. I have seen him several times since then and listened in a conversation he had with my roommate, Jeff Bercume, about getting jumps when stealing bases. He still clowns around and laughs with minor league guys during practices. He is quite a character, but he is a very nice guy and I have heard that he is very active in the community of Oakland, where he grew up. It was also pretty cool because my parents were in town when I had the chance to meet Rickey so my mom was able to get some good pictures.
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| Rickey talking and demonstrating how to round first |
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