May 10, 2005

Run Rickey Run!: Praise Rickey for taking another shot at the bigs -- he will himself anyway.

Rickey Henderson was not on hand when dirt was created. He didn’t steal a base off Walter Johnson, nor did he help carve the first bat out of an old hickory stump with Alexander Cartwright. What Henderson has done, however, is sign with the San Diego Surf Dawgs of the independent Golden Baseball League, in another attempt to get back to the big leagues. The baseball intelligensia has been shaking its collective head. C’mon, Rickey, you’re 46! You’ve spent the last two years in the Atlantic League – in Newark. Newark! Rickey’s response is – so what? And rightfully so. Why should Henderson hang up his record-breaking cleats if he isn’t ready to? Why should he quit chasing a dream when he still has even the slimmest chance to make it come true again? Henderson is without question the greatest base stealer of all-time. His 1,406 swipes will never be touched, simply because it’s unlikely anyone will run as long as Rickey did. He also pounded out 3,055 hits with an unbelievable .401 on-base percentage. He even popped 297 home runs. Does Henderson have the speed he once did? No, of course not. That’s obvious, as he was only able to steal 37 bases last year. At age 45. But would he be completely overmatched at the major-league level after a two-year absence? Doubtful. Look at it like this – even during the twilight of his career, when Rickey was posting batting averages of .233, .227, .223 in near-full seasons, he was still getting on base more than 36% of the time. Not one – NONE – of the 30 teams in the majors has a collective OBP higher than .360. Boston reaches base at a .359 clip, and admittedly, they have no use for Henderson. But what about a team like Kansas City, which seems too mortified to accept the generosity of opposing pitchers? The Royals have exactly one player – the terrifying Tony Graffanino – who has more free passes (10) than strikeouts (8). K.C.’s young players could certainly use Henderson’s advice and tutelage. Shortstop Angel Berroa has a whopping four walks to go with his 28 strikeouts in just 126 at-bats. His on-base percentage? Not surprisingly, just .271. And it’s not like the Royals don’t have a roster spot to give out for a little while. I think Calvin Pickering and Emil Brown could probably do just fine with the Surf Dogs. It doesn’t have to be the Royals. It could be the Los Angeles/Anaheim/San Bernadino/Tijuana Angels (.293 OBP), the Cleveland “What? Me Walk?” Indians (.298) or even Rickey’s old pals, the Oakland “Money, But No Balls” A’s (.313). Henderson would even supply an interesting storyline and sell some tickets. Rickey, as mentioned above, is sitting on 297 home runs. I’m quite sure he has at least a small thought of making that 300-HR mark. Rickey isn't above a little hot dogging and a little self-promotion anyhow, and what basement-dwelling franchise doesn't need a little of that now and then (I'm looking at you, Tampa Bay. You did it for Boggs.)? There’s not a team that, later in the season, wouldn’t be willing to give the old guy one more good run? That’s what Rickey is betting on, and it’s why he’s wearing the logo of the Surf Dogs this summer. Most likely even Henderson knows he’s a longshot, but as a four-legged 50-1 longshot proved this weekend, there’s always a chance. And that makes it worth watching Rickey run again.

posted by wfrazerjr to commentary at 10:51 PM - 0 comments

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