Rickey Henderson's passing gives Oakland another painful loss to mourn

Growing up in the Bay Area, my baseball idol was Dwayne Murphy. I wore my hat like him, placing it lightly atop my head so it would fall off whenever I ran down a fly ball just like Murph. However, my friends and I really wished we could play like the A’s biggest star — Rickey Henderson.

We wanted to run like him, and we wanted to hit like him. We all did our best impersonation of Henderson in his most unique batting stance, and after swinging and missing at pitches, we wondered how in the world could anyone hit out of such a low, exaggerated crouch — and hit home runs, too.

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Rickey could do amazing things on a baseball diamond. And he was a kid from the East Bay just like us.

The Oakland Tech High School star reached the major leagues with the A’s at 20 years old in 1979, and those who saw him play football as a running back say he probably could’ve reached the NFL. He was that talented of an athlete.

Favorite stories and memories of Henderson were shared all day Saturday after the greatest leadoff hitter and all-time stolen bases king died at age 65.

The baseball world lost a true original and one of its all-time greats. It’s especially crushing for the city of Oakland and A’s fans in the East Bay because it’s another painful loss to mourn.

The A’s will no longer play at the Oakland Coliseum, their home since 1968, because owner John Fisher is relocating the team to play in West Sacramento for at least three years while a new ballpark is built in Las Vegas.

When the A’s played their final game at the Coliseum last September, the sorrowful day brought franchise legends back to say goodbye — to pay respects to the decrepit concrete edifice off the 880 Freeway but also to honor the fan base that supported the team for 57 seasons. Henderson was among the A’s royalty that day, and he got the much-deserved honor of throwing out the final first pitch of the Oakland Athletics era.

Henderson displayed the swag of the East Bay in his own way. He caught fly balls in left field with his trademark snatch catch. He even styled during his home run trot. And he often talked about his accomplishments in third person because, frankly, Rickey could do things only Rickey could do.

Henderson defined the Billy Ball A's of the early 1980s under manager Billy Martin, who employed an exciting, aggressive style of baseball to manufacture runs. The plan of attack perfectly fit Henderson, who terrorized pitchers with his speed and produced "Rickey Runs" by getting on base, swiping second and third and then scoring. In 1982, he stole an astounding 130 bases, an MLB modern-day record.

When he returned to the A’s in a 1989 trade with the New York Yankees, Henderson said the only team he’d leave New York for was Oakland, his “home.” That fall, he helped win the club’s fourth World Series championship in the East Bay. The following year, he earned the lone MVP award of his 25-year Hall of Fame career by hitting .325 with a 1.016 OPS, 28 home runs, 119 runs scored and 65 stolen bases.

Memories are all that remain of the A’s in Oakland, which has watched its NFL team (Raiders) and NBA team (Warriors) leave over the past five years. The passing of a legend like Henderson adds to the pain.

The only solace is that, while the A’s are long gone to West Sacramento, Rickey Henderson will forever be a part of the East Bay as one of its most favorite sons.

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