Rickey Henderson is a farging corksucker
 

Henderson keeps ball, signs another for young fanESPN.com news services


SAN FRANCISCO -- For all of his accomplishments, you'd think snagging a foul ball in the stands would be small stuff for Rickey Henderson. Hardly the case.


"Everybody was asking me for the ball. I said, 'You're not getting this ball. I always wanted to get a foul ball. This one's going on a shelf at home."
-- Rickey Henderson
Henderson, who caught a foul ball on Monday at AT&T Park, where he was watching the Mets play the Giants, kept the ball instead of handing it to a young fan.

"Everybody was asking me for the ball," Henderson said Tuesday, according to the Star-Ledger of Newark. "I said, 'You're not getting this ball. I always wanted to get a foul ball. This one's going on a shelf at home."

The young fan didn't go home empty-handed, though, as Henderson signed another ball the fan already had.

Henderson joked that his catch in the stands shows he's still got the skills to play the game.

"Showing 'em I've still got good hands. The ball found me. I was so quick."

And if Henderson has his way, fans might soon be catching foul balls hit off the bat of the man himself.

Roger Clemens' big announcement this week has Henderson hoping some club might give him one more chance to make a major league comeback.

Otherwise, he will call it a career -- for good this time.

"Seeing Roger come back, all the seed that it plants is ask me to come back one time," Henderson said Tuesday in the Mets clubhouse before New York played the Giants.

"I'm going to look at it at the end of the year. I might come out with some crazy stuff, a press conference telling every club, 'Put me on the field with your best player and see if I come out of it.' If I can't do it, I'll call it quits at the end," he said.

On Sunday, the 44-year-old Clemens announced during the seventh inning of the Mariners-Yankees game that he would once again put on pinstripes and return to the Bronx to pitch this season.

"I see Roger can come back and play. I can come back and play," the 48-year-old Henderson said. "They say I've done too much. What'd he accomplish? ... The players they put on the field nowadays, they couldn't make it in my day. They'd get sent back to Triple-A."

Henderson played in the independent Golden Baseball League two years ago, trying to attract the attention of big league teams. He hasn't played in the majors since appearing in 30 games for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2003, his 25th year at baseball's highest level.

Henderson, a special instructor for the Mets this season, is the career leader in runs scored (2,295) and stolen bases (1,406) and is second behind Barry Bonds in walks with 2,190. He also has 3,055 career hits, 297 home runs, won the 1990 AL MVP award and made 10 All-Star games. He won an AL Gold Glove in 1981 as an outfielder with Oakland.

Henderson is four months younger than Mets infielder Julio Franco.

"Julio's out there. I know I can play with Julio," Henderson said. "You need to name a whole lot of players before you get to Julio. ... I just want a spring training invite. Most clubs said if I got an invite, I'd probably make their club, but [they] don't have a spot."

For now, Henderson is keeping busy and fit by maintaining the 455 acres he owns near California's Yosemite National Park. He hasn't hit the gym for a while, but he drives a tractor, rides horses and raises cows -- and insists he will win a trophy in competitive fishing one day.

"I'm an old country boy. I don't look like it," he said.

But if he landed a deal like Clemens' one-year contract for $28,000,022, Henderson said he could get himself back in baseball shape in a hurry. By June, no less.

Henderson also is a realist.

"I'm through, really. I'm probably through with it now," he said. "It's just one of those things. I thank the good Lord I played as long as I played and came out of it healthy. I took a lot of pounding."

Henderson said the "bitter" thing about it is that he didn't get to leave the sport on his own terms: finishing on the field.

If his playing career indeed is over, Henderson will stay involved in baseball and even pull on a uniform from time to time to help out. He enjoys coaching players in the fundamentals of leading off and baserunning.

"I always want to be around the game," he said. "That's something that's in my blood. Helping them have success feels just as good."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/s...=ESPNHeadlines

Whatever.

Dissapointed in his use of the first person there.

I don't see what he did wrong.

Baseball needs more Rickey Hendersons. There's so much pressure for everyone in sports these days to act and talk exactly the same. Sports would be much more interesting if there were more Rickey Hendersons and Curt Schillings who reveal the world their quirks and imperfections, and let us feel like we kind of know them as people.

Ditto.

I agree with that too - what's up with this social requirement to give a foul ball to a younger fan? When I was a kid, it would have been exciting to actually catch, or otherwise retrieve a foul ball, but if someone just handed it to me after they caught it, I would have just though they were some poser trying to look good in front of everyone.

meh

farging iceholes

I don't think it's so much the adult/kid angle as it is "former baseball player who probably has shit more baseballs than this kid will ever see in his life" angle.

The problem with that is, in the age we live, people are not only not rewarded for doing that, but they are unmercilessly criticized for it, and when it crosses the bounds that someone somewhere thinks is unacceptable, it could cost a guy his job.

The Rickey's and Charles Barkley's of the world are few and far between, because it's not worth the risk to be that way.

Seriously. You catch a foul ball, you get to keep it. When I was a kid I would have never gone begging for a foul ball that someone else caught, but somehow these days you're supposed to hand it over to the nearest kid. Screw that, if I ever catch one I'm keeping it.

Catching a foulball at a MLB baseball game is a big deal. I can see how this would be a big deal even to a MLB player who finally got to watch.

Don't make me delete this thread. You bet your sweet ass I will!

Ponderous I tell you.

Agreed on Henderson, but Schilling is actually the exact opposite -- he's completely manufactured, never says a word without carefully considering how it will impact his public image. He's a complete phony, but how can you blame him when anyone who shows any personality gets strung up for it.

You won't do it.

When I was two years old, foul ball was headed right to me at a Dodger game. Problem is, we were seated back near the overhang for the next deck up, and a guy leaned over and snagged the ball on its downward path.

I reacted about like most two year olds would, but I survived.

This kid will too.

Are you triple dog daring me? I'll delete this mutha so hard you'll lose posts from other threads.

He has watched MLB games for almost 30 years and snagged as many foul and fair balls as 1 human could possibly want. This would be like an actor buying the last ticket to a sold-out showing of his movie.

and saying in your face to all the people waiting behind him

nobody gives a shit about the kid or people that missed out on the foul ball. it's that henderson is a complete moron.

In the stands as a fan?

I quadruple dawg dare you.

I'd rather have the baseball signed by a hall of famer than a foul ball anyday.

Eih - No big deal here. I guarantee that a signed Rickey ball is certainly worth more than the foul ball. Not to mention the fact that the kid didn't even catch the foul ball so I would think getting an auto from Rickey Henderson would be much more memorable than a getting "gifted" a foul ball from an adult.

I mean, it's not like Rickey ripped the ball out of the kids hands.

I don't disagree on Schilling, but to me, the whole "Schilling character" is more interesting than 98% of professional athletes these days. Posting on fan message boards, possibly painting red paint on his sock for the sake of drama, badmouthing Barry Bonds, his Everquest nerdiness, etc. He's a jackass, but at least he's interesting.

oh shi


this thread is now on double secret probation and just one more slip up from you guys then no more thread.

You have no ma'bles!

I don't want to deny pumpy a chance to weigh in on this. He's sensitive that way.

I hope he signed the ball "Not Yours"

I guess I'm missing the point here...I don't really care about the kid so much as the fact that a future HoFer, one who potentially could still play, would care enough about a foul ball to keep it from anyone else in the stands - regardless of age. Unless it's a matter of self-preservation, I can't imagine why he'd even make the effort to catch it. He's one of the privileged few who has no need for capturing a "piece" of the game as a spectator. He probably didn't even pay for his ticket to the game.

I just picture him clutching the ball and muttering to himself over and over again, "No way man, this is Ricky's Ball, this is Ricky's Ball right here".

Whoa, how did I get involved?

I'm going to go get my glasses and my shoes - so I have them - and you and I can walk out of this thread together, shaking our heads.

I remember Doug Flutie catching a ball at a Red Sox game not too long ago. I'm pretty sure he didn't give it away either, the announcers kept showing him with it during the game. Where's the article about him?

I'm 100% in agreement here. Of course, I've always been a Ricky Henderson fan so that would make it far cooler. Ricky didn't do anything wrong here and probably made the kids day.

Yeah, I'd much rather have a signed Henderson ball.

He's not a fan! He's a freaking Hall of Famer!! The reason people make an effort to catch foul balls is because they'll never step foot on a real field and this is the closest they'll ever come. It's a tangible attachment to the game itself.

let's go. I'm going to blow this f-er up. you too pumpy. clear out.

What about me. :(

don't do it man, i got some shit invested in this thread

dur. you want a henderson ball. unless you start with some bashing pretty quick you are on your own.

I look at it differently, I guess. To think the guy is supposed to give up the ball to a kid doesn't make any sense to me.

I have no idea why this story would bother anyone. The basic story is that he autographed a ball for a young fan. That makes him an asshole?

The act in and of itself isn't "wrong" per say. Taking the act in context with who he is and his profession and it strikes me as moronic.

The desire of this man to cherish a foul ball is so farcical I'm amazed at this thread.

So he wanted to keep the ball. Big deal.

Catching a foul ball or fly ball as a player is a completely different experience than catching a foul ball as a spectator in the stands, so I can see where Rickey's coming from with that.

And come on, he signed a kid's ball. He didn't have to do that and I'd say that was a pretty classy move on his part.

So he wants to try again to play professional ball, realizes he probably won't make it, but hey wants to try anyway. More power to him.

My estimation of Rickey Henderson went up because of this article, not down.

Why can't Ricky look at it the same way from the other side? It must be weird for him so sit in the stands at a baseball game - it's probably a trip for him to catch and keep a ball, since it's the closest he'll come to being an ordinary fan.

So you'd do it differently. So what?

No! I don't care who he gives it to! It's the fact that a MLB player would care whether he kept a foul ball. It's the fact that he acted like my 3-year old in claiming the ball was "his" when he has access to a pile of MLB baseballs at home. It has nothing to do with the relative value of the foul ball versus the signed ball, either - irrelevant. It's the simple fact that he caught the ball to begin with and felt compelled to keep it.

It's like going to a kid's birthday party that is short on cake. Instead of giving up the last piece of cake to one of the kids, I decide to eat the piece I was given. That's an asshole move. You know why? Because I'm in a position to drive to the store and buy myself an entire cake to eat if I want, whereas the kid's just not going to get a piece of cake.

me and ksyrup with enjoy sanityland whilst all you suckas catch foul balls

And it must be weird for Bill Gates to see people so desperate that they'd spend their hard-earned money to play lotto. But it would be ridiculous, IMO, for him to play, notwithstanding "what a trip" it'd be if he actually won. There's nothing illegal about it, and he's perfectly able to do what he wants, but it is offensive to some that he would even consider it. Same with what Rickey did.

You're in crusade-land. The end result is the kid has a Rickey Henderson autograph he didn't have before going to the game, yet Rickey is somehow the bad guy. *shurg*

There's no guarantee the kid would've gotten the last slice of cake to begin with as there's other people at the party for one, and for two, driving to the store and buying a cake to eat is not the same thing as eating a piece of birthday cake. Totally different experience, totally different feeling about it.

Furthermore, Henderson autographed a ball for the kid. That'd be like giving the kid a fantastic cake from one of the best bakers on the planet and I guarantee the kid would be a hell of a lot happier with that terrific cake rather than just the last piece of that one cake.