Editing Rickey Henderson (section)

===New York Yankees (1985–1989)===
In his first season with the Yankees, Henderson led the league in runs scored (146) and stolen bases (80), was fourth in batting average (.314), walks (99) and on-base percentage (.419), seventh in slugging (.516), third in OPS (.934).<ref name="1985 AL Leaders">{{cite web|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL_1985.shtml|title=1985 American League (AL) Statistics and Awards|access-date=August 16, 2008|work=[[Baseball Reference]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080811004758/http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL_1985.shtml|archive-date=August 11, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> Combining his stolen bases with his 24 home runs,<ref name="BaseballReferenceRickyHenderson"/> he became the first AL player to join the [[20–50 club]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Rickey Henderson Career Notes|work=ESPN|url=https://www.espn.com/mlb/profiles/notes/1650.html|access-date=January 5, 2025}}</ref> and its first member to reach 20–80.<ref>{{cite web|first=Craig|last=Muder|title=#CARDCORNER: 1987 TOPPS ERIC DAVIS|publisher=National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum|url=https://baseballhall.org/discover/card-corner/1987-topps-eric-davis|access-date=January 5, 2025}}</ref> He also won the [[Silver Slugger Award]], and was third in the voting for the MVP award. His 146 runs scored were the most since [[Ted Williams]] had 150 in 1950,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://baseballbiography.com/rickey-henderson-1958 |title=Rickey Henderson |access-date=July 7, 2010 |work=Baseball Biography }}</ref> and he became the first player since [[Jimmie Foxx]] in 1939 to amass more runs scored than games played.<ref>{{cite web|first=Steven|last=Goldman|title=Teams: A Critical Guide: Lights Dimmed on Broadway|date=May 24, 2004|work=Baseball Prospectus|url=https://www.baseballprospectus.com/date/2004/05/24/|access-date=December 25, 2024}}</ref> Henderson also became the first player in major league history to reach 80 stolen bases and 20 home runs in the same season.<ref>{{cite news|first=Sam|last=Carchidi|title=Plain old Eric a baseball player of a different kind|newspaper=The Republic|page=B2|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-republic/161557692/|via=[[Newspapers.com]]|date=July 10, 1987|access-date=December 26, 2024}}</ref> He matched the feat in 1986, as did [[Eric Davis (baseball)|Eric Davis]] of the [[Cincinnati Reds]]; they remain the only players in major league history to reach those thresholds.<ref>{{cite web|first=Craig|last=Muder|title=#CARDCORNER: 1987 TOPPS ERIC DAVIS|publisher=National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum|url=https://baseballhall.org/discover/card-corner/1987-topps-eric-davis|access-date=December 26, 2024}}</ref> It was with the Yankees that Henderson, who had previously worn number 35 with Oakland, which was already taken by his Yankees teammate [[Phil Niekro]], switched to his now famous 24, a number he would wear for the rest of his career (with exceptions: (1) he briefly wore number 14 in 1993 while playing with the Blue Jays, (2) he wore his "old" number 35 in 2000 and 2002 while playing with the Mariners and the Red Sox, and (3) he wore number 25 while playing with the Dodgers).<ref name="BaseballReferenceRickyHenderson">{{cite web |title=Rickey Henderson |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/henderi01.shtml |website=[[Baseball Reference]] |access-date=December 22, 2024}} The circles at the top of the article represent the numbers he wore with each team.</ref>

In 1986, he led the AL in runs scored (130) and stolen bases (87) for the second year in a row, and was seventh in walks (89) and extra base hits (64) while hitting 28 home runs (9 of which led off games) and recording a career-high 74 [[runs batted in]] (RBIs).<ref name="1986 American League (AL) Statistics and Awards">{{cite web|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL_1986.shtml|title=1986 American League (AL) Statistics and Awards|access-date=August 16, 2008|work=[[Baseball Reference]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080815105221/http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL_1986.shtml|archive-date=August 15, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[File:Baseball steal.jpg|thumb|Henderson steals a base as a member of the New York Yankees in 1988]]

In 1987, he had a below-average season by his standards, fueling criticism from the New York media, which had never covered Henderson or his eccentricities kindly.<ref>Henderson et al., ''Off Base: Confessions of a Thief'', 90–91, 164–165</ref> Yankees owner [[George Steinbrenner]] issued a press release claiming that manager [[Lou Piniella]] wanted to trade Henderson for "jaking it" (playing lackadaisically).<ref>{{cite news|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1208/is_22_224/ai_62650037|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120708140259/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1208/is_22_224/ai_62650037|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 8, 2012|title=Mariners hope Rickey helps lead them back to the playoffs – Brief Article|work=The Sporting News|access-date=February 17, 2008|first=Larry|last=Stone|year=2000}}</ref> Still, Henderson had his best on-base percentage to that point in his career (.423), with a .291 batting avg., was fifth in the AL in stolen bases (41) and hit 17 home runs despite playing only 95 games.<ref name="1987 American League (AL) Statistics and Awards">{{cite web|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL_1987.shtml|title=1987 American League (AL) Statistics and Awards|access-date=August 16, 2008|work=[[Baseball Reference]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080816134149/http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL_1987.shtml|archive-date=August 16, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> It was the only season from 1980 to 1991 in which Henderson did not lead the AL in steals. Seattle's [[Harold Reynolds]] led the league with 60 steals; Reynolds tells the story of getting an impish phone call from Henderson after the season:

<blockquote>The phone rings. "Henderson here." I say, "Hey, what's going on, Rickey?" I think he's calling to congratulate me, but he goes, '"''Sixty'' stolen bases? You ought to be ashamed. Rickey would have 60 at the break"... then click, he hung up.<ref name="Rickey Henderson 2009"/></blockquote>

In 1988, Henderson led the AL in steals (93), was third in runs scored (118), fifth in OBP (.394) and seventh in walks (82), while hitting .305.<ref name="BBRef"/> Though only in New York for {{frac|4|1|2}} seasons, Henderson set the Yankees' franchise record with 326 stolen bases; the previous high (248) had been held by [[Hal Chase]], who last played for the Yankees in 1913, when the team was still known as the Highlanders. On May 28, 2011, Henderson's total was surpassed by [[Derek Jeter]],<ref name="Yankees SB Record">{{cite web|title=New York Yankees Batting Leaders|work=[[Baseball Reference]]|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/NYY/leaders_bat.shtml|access-date=August 25, 2008}}</ref> who by that point had already played 1,700 more games as a Yankee than Henderson.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.espn.com/blog/new-york/yankees/post/_/id/17158/jeter-becomes-yankees-all-time-steals-leader|title=Jeter becomes Yanks' all-time SB leader|date=May 29, 2011 |first1=Wallace|last1=Matthews|work=ESPN }}</ref>