Welcome back to volume 17 of today with baseball. For those who are unfamiliar with what the phrase means. Check out the intro blog here.

Today’s Moment? Ricky Henderson declaring himself the GOAT

Full disclosure, your pal Ernie wasn’t born till 1994 so no I was not alive to see Ricky Henderson in his prime but his highlights are truly something special. New age baseball fans may stumble upon Henderson’s baseball reference page and just wonder how the hell he did it.

How did he do what? Henderson was an absolute menace on the base paths. Sure there’s some guys that had wheels like Henderson in the names of Jose Reyes, Billy Hamilton, Dee Gordon and even the beginning of Vince Coleman’s stint in St. Louis.

In a post game interview following the historic day for Henderson and the A’s, Henderson declared himself the greatest of all time after giving high praise to coaches, role models, family and even previous record holder Lou Brock.

https://youtu.be/lssLGZH9fQM

I remember my dad telling me that a lot of people were rubbed the wrong way by Henderson making such a “cocky” comment following the game. He even lost some endorsement deals. I don’t get it, Henderson won the stolen base record title in just hit 12 season in the bigs. How can anyone hate on Henderson’s comments? Literally no one had more stolen bases then him at that point, he was undisputedly the greatest base steal of all time. How can you not appreciate that level of honesty? It’s the truth and it’s refreshing.

Henderson didn’t slow down much either after passing Brock with his 939th stolen bag. Henderson ended his career at 44 with 1406 swipes. He even stole 66 bases at age 39 when he returned to the Bay Area for his 14th year with the A’s.

https://youtu.be/bwQzsMXQ1HE

17 days till opening day!

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