Latest / OneLegUpAlex Media / How Rickey Henderson Had One Leg Up On and Off the Basepaths 12-22-24

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How Rickey Henderson Had One Leg Up On and Off the Basepaths 12-22-24 · OneLegUpAlex Media

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  Speaker 1: Hey, thanks for listening to the One Leg Up Network.
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: I'm Alex Scarrett. Before we go on to remember Ricky Henderson,
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  Speaker 1: I just want to give this shout out to Fanatics
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• 0:25
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• 0:29
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  Speaker 1: description below and type the code visible twenty five. And
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: if you do use my link, you do support the
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  Speaker 1: One Leg Up Network through Commission. Here's your host to
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Alex Garrett. After we got off the air with lou
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  Speaker 1: Terminello yesterday, news broke that at the shocking age of
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  Speaker 1: sixty five, Ricky Henderson had died. And it's one of
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  Speaker 1: those things where you can't believe it. You're stunned, you're shocked.
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  Speaker 1: And here on the One on Up Network, I wanna
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  Speaker 1: say that, like I said on Instagram and Twitter, I
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  Speaker 1: had known Ricky during the Mets era when he was
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  Speaker 1: on the Mets I had known him when he was
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  Speaker 1: on the Newark Bears because he actually signed my book
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  Speaker 1: of Wit in Newark. That was pretty special. And then
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  Speaker 1: the final time I got to see him was actually
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  Speaker 1: at the Pinstripe Pride event in February of twenty twenty three,
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  Speaker 1: where we stopped and got a picture with each other. See,
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  Speaker 1: to me, Ricky was just an all around cool guy,
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  Speaker 1: and he didn't he knew he was a great baseball player.
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  Speaker 1: But the stature he was as the stolen based king,
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  Speaker 1: as the man whose name is now or was on
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  Speaker 1: Athletics's field in Oakland at the Coliseum. But when you
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  Speaker 1: were around him, in my experience, make you feel like
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  Speaker 1: he was bigger than you. You know, he made you
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  Speaker 1: feel like he was a buddy, a friend, someone you
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  Speaker 1: could just talk to. Yeah, I know, people say he
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  Speaker 1: talked to himself in the dugout and Ricky did this,
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  Speaker 1: and Ricky said that. But at the end of the day,
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  Speaker 1: he was just a legend on and off the field.
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  Speaker 2: He was.
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  Speaker 1: A hard worker, a hard player. I guess you gotta
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  Speaker 1: be when you steal all those bases and make all
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  Speaker 1: those records, and I believe at least stolen base record
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  Speaker 1: may not be broken. I aired a guy who up
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  Speaker 1: to get sixty bases tolen in five seasons or something
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  Speaker 1: like that. Mab my math is wrong to make that happen.
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  Speaker 1: But Ricky was a once in a lifetime player. He
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  Speaker 1: was a very unique character too. I often bound. He
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  Speaker 1: kept to himself sometimes. But that's why it was awesome
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  Speaker 1: to see him at the pinchright pride of it, because
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  Speaker 1: Hall of Fame signings got him out there to see
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  Speaker 1: the fans who remember him in a lot of different iterations.
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  Speaker 1: He was an a, he was a Yankee, he was
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  Speaker 1: a Mets. He was even a Red Sox. Johnny Damon
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  Speaker 1: posting about that connection and how he played with the
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  Speaker 1: Ricky and then I guess omar me and I have
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  Speaker 1: brought Ricky back, according to Reyne Gron with the Mets
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  Speaker 1: in six as a coach. And it was Billy Wagon
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  Speaker 1: who actually said that he was the first base coach
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  Speaker 1: at the time. So the world lost a great person,
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  Speaker 1: the world lost someone whose antics are never going to
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  Speaker 1: be forgotten, and the world lost a baseball icon at
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  Speaker 1: the age of sixty five. But what he said when
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  Speaker 1: he got inducted in the Hall of Fame about his
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  Speaker 1: mom made me think of some synchronicities here on the
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  Speaker 1: wallen the GUP network. So let me take my skate
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  Speaker 1: off and settle down and tell you what I mean
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  Speaker 1: after you hear this cut of Ricky Henderson at his
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  Speaker 1: induction ceremony, thanking his mom.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks to my mother, Bobby. Back in high school, my
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  Speaker 2: dream was to play football for the Oakland Raiders, but
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  Speaker 2: my mom thought I would get hurt playing football, so
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  Speaker 2: she chose it baseball for me. I guess mom do
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  Speaker 2: knows best. Thanks Mom.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks to MLB for posting that. But did you hear
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  Speaker 1: what he said? He wanted to play football for the Raiders,
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  Speaker 1: the Oakland Raiders, and his mom encouraged him to change course,
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  Speaker 1: and because of that, she helped bring to baseball a
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  Speaker 1: historic figure of the game. You know one of the
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  Speaker 1: names I follow on X name that Yank. I want
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  Speaker 1: to get you some stats actually honored Ricky Henderson. This
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  Speaker 1: player hit the majors in seventy nine as a speedy
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  Speaker 1: hitter in Oakland, led the league in war two times,
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  Speaker 1: runs five times, on base percentage one time. He is
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  Speaker 1: the career leader in runs, stolen bases and caught stealing.
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  Speaker 1: In twenty five years. He played in three thousand eighty
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  Speaker 1: one games, playing for nine different teams. This man was
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  Speaker 1: on a team with Mattingley from eighty five to eighty
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  Speaker 1: nine before he was traded to Oakland. He last played
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  Speaker 1: in two thousand and three. This man is a Hall
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  Speaker 1: of Famer MVP, ten times All Star, two time World
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  Speaker 1: Series Champ, one time goal glub and of course the
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  Speaker 1: answer was Ricky Henderson with a career one hundred eleven
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  Speaker 1: point two w R, three thousand fifty five hits, two
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  Speaker 1: hundred ninety seven home runs in less than eleven thousand
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  Speaker 1: at bats. This man was a cheat code, so says
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  Speaker 1: name that Yank. Inducted into the Hall of Fame in
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  Speaker 1: two thousand and nine, the nineteen ninety MVP Beatfielder and
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  Speaker 1: Clemens and votes he is forever in our hearts as
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  Speaker 1: the best lead off hitter to ever exist, and maybe
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  Speaker 1: resting peacefully among the other baseball gods. But those dats
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  Speaker 1: I just told you. That's because his mom told him, Hey,
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  Speaker 1: I don't want you to play football, play baseball, And
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  Speaker 1: he went on to become the greatest baseball player. And
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  Speaker 1: I know he always threw those accolades, But this guy
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  Speaker 1: was truly a cut above when he said that about
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  Speaker 1: his mom.
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  Speaker 2: My mom thought I would get hurt playing football, so
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  Speaker 2: she chose it baseball for me. I guess mom do
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  Speaker 2: knows best. Thanks Mom.
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  Speaker 1: It reminded me of what my mom said to me
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  Speaker 1: at five years old, because remember, being more than one leg,
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  Speaker 1: I still had that competitive drive, that ambition to play.
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  Speaker 1: I was already starting to compete in the game's physically challenged.
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  Speaker 1: But she said to me at five years old, you
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  Speaker 1: know you should go into the broadcasting side and announce
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  Speaker 1: the game you love. So I follow mom's advice, and
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  Speaker 1: her advice, her foundational advice to go into broadcasting, matched
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  Speaker 1: with my dad's know how how to get places to
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  Speaker 1: meet people, really grew me up in this environment of
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  Speaker 1: sports media, the sports world where I would eventually run
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  Speaker 1: to Ricky Henderson when he was a met I would
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  Speaker 1: run into him in Newark, as I mentioned, to get
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  Speaker 1: an autograph in the Book of Wit. But because my
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  Speaker 1: mom and his mom encouraged us, I believe that's the
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  Speaker 1: reason why that picture with Ricky Henderson happened. Because both
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  Speaker 1: of our moms changed the directions of our lives, maybe
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  Speaker 1: different timelines. Right he was a little older obviously, but
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  Speaker 1: we both followed what our moms told us, go this direction,
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  Speaker 1: and then our paths cross multiple times. I got the
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  Speaker 1: chance to Nahim to thank him for signing that Book
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  Speaker 1: of Wit and get that picture with him at American
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  Speaker 1: Dream in twenty twenty three. But while that picture is
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  Speaker 1: the surface, after hearing that little bit about his mom
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  Speaker 1: and how heg he was encouraged to divert from football
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  Speaker 1: and go to baseball, and how I was encouraged to
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  Speaker 1: go from trying to play the game that I love
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  Speaker 1: to calling the game that I love and being around
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  Speaker 1: events regarding the game that I love as a media person,
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  Speaker 1: as a podcast, as a fan. That is why we met.
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  Speaker 1: So I credit Ricky Henderson's mom and my mom for
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  Speaker 1: making that meeting happen not once, but multiple times. And
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  Speaker 1: I don't take those opportunities for granted, and I feel
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  Speaker 1: honored that I even get them in the first place.
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  Speaker 1: And so I think we owe Ricky Henderson's mom a
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  Speaker 1: huge thank you for encouraging him to go into baseball,
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  Speaker 1: because look what that started, and look at the legacy
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  Speaker 1: left behind. Thank you. It's not only Ricky's mom, Bobby,
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  Speaker 1: but Ricky himself. We will miss you, Ricky. Thank you
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  Speaker 1: for inspiring so many young kids growing up watching you
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  Speaker 1: play the game that you loved, and encouraging them to
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  Speaker 1: play the game they love. And we can safely say
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  Speaker 1: you add one leg up on and off the base paths.