Tony La Russa remembers Rickey Henderson
Tony La Russa recalled what a "great teammate" Rickey Henderson was.
Henderson’s greatness, and his brash and bold personality were always evident. But he led by example on and off the field, La Russa, who managed Henderson with the Oakland A’s from 1989-95, said Sunday. Sometimes it was lost what the Hall of Fame outfielder meant in the clubhouse on winning teams. La Russa, reflecting on one of baseball's all-time greats, said it shouldn't be forgotten.
"He’d beat you and he had the flair when he’d run around the bases,” La Russa said, “and he wasn’t afraid. He was one of a kind. As good as any player who has ever played the game."
Henderson, who was inducted into baseball's Hall with 95% of the ballot in 2009, died at 65 Friday from complications from pneumonia and asthma. La Russa, his Hall of Fame manager, talked about him on a conference call with a few Chicago reporters Sunday.
Henderson scored more runs, stole more bases, drew more walks and led off games with home runs more than anyone, and he played in eight postseasons, including 1989 when he and La Russa won the World Series with the Oakland Athletics. Henderson batted .474 in a sweep of the Giants and would win the AL MVP the following season.
"He was so dangerous that teams focused on stopping him," La Russa said. "And look at the career he had. He was a marked man whether he was hitting or base running. People went through all the extremes to stop him and you couldn’t stop him.
"I was just in awe. Teammates were in awe of how hard he played. There were a lot of attempts to intimidate him which never made us happy. You couldn’t scare him and you couldn’t stop him."
La Russa, now a senior adviser for the White Sox, said he had seen Henderson a few times in the last few months.
"I saw him after the season was over, Reggie [Jackson] had a softball game where a bunch of A’s were together," La Russa said. "Then I saw him again in Arizona. And the guys that saw him like I saw him, that’s part of the shock. I had heard he wasn’t feeling well, but there wasn’t any indication it was life threatening."
It's hard to believe he's gone.
"Rickey Henderson was just as great a teammate as he was a great player," La Russ said. "There was nothing about him that was superstar [or] separated himself. He was always in the midst of everything happening in the clubhouse, dugout and on the plane. "