Rickey Henderson, considered by baseball experts, including journalists and fellow players, to be one of the greatest players of all time, died on Friday, December 20, at the age of 65.

Henderson moved to Oakland with his family at age seven and grew up on 61st and Dover Streets near Bushrod Park. He attended Oakland Technical High School, where he played football and baseball. In 1976, as a senior at Oakland Tech University, he was named California State Baseball Player of the Year while also playing football and track.

Multiple sources confirmed Henderson’s move to The Oaklandside. His death, which sparked hours of speculation on social media, was also confirmed by the East Bay Times.

Henderson started with the Major League Athletics in 1979 and played in the major leagues for 24 years, setting records that will likely never be equaled. These include stolen bases. Henderson electrified fans with 1,406 stolen bases, 50% more than the number of bases stolen by runner-up Lou Brock. He was also considered the greatest leadoff hitter of all time, with the most home runs in a game (81) and an uncanny ability to get on base. And coaches and teammates relied on him as a consistent scorer who scored the most runs – baseball’s core statistic. Henderson tapped home base 2,295 times during his day.

Perhaps most incredible from the perspective of the sentimental, narrative nature of the game is that Henderson played most of his career for his hometown team in Oakland, the Athletics. Although he had several stints in other cities, including a long and imaginative stint with the New York Yankees, he delighted his fans in Oakland. Even after his retirement, Oakland remained his home.

Affectionately known as “The Man of Steal,” Henderson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2009 along with Jim Rice, another ballplayer who came of age in the late ’70s and ’80s. The number “24” was retired by the track and field teams that same year.

In his introductory speech, Henderson thanked a long list of coaches, teammates and his family. He spoke poignantly with emotion about the role his mother, Bobbie Henderson, played in his upbringing and how she pushed him to become the best player he could be.

In 2006, the Oakland Unified School District decommissioned the playground at the former Carter Middle School in North Oakland. Shortly thereafter, neighbors, community leaders, parents of Oakland Tech students and alumni formed the Field of Dreams Committee. A year later, the field became a shared venue for Oakland Tech and local nonprofit sports organizations. In 2009 it was renamed Rickey Henderson Field. Henderson spoke at the renaming ceremony, saying, “Perhaps local youth could now become more involved in baseball, allowing them to pursue and achieve their own dreams, just as teenager Rickey Henderson did so many years ago.”

In 2017, the Athletics renamed the Oakland Coliseum field “Rickey Henderson Field” to honor the Oakland legend and Hall of Famer.

“It’s almost too hard to believe that #24 would no longer be with us in 2024, (the A’s) last year in Oakland,” said Bryan Johansen, co-founder of baseball fan group The Last Dive Bar, and one the first to announce the news of Henderson’s death, said the Oaklandside. “He was and always will be the greatest of all time. I am absolutely heartbroken.”

One of Henderson’s last public appearances was at the final Athletics game at the Oakland Coliseum. Henderson and Dave Stewart threw the final ceremonial pitch. They wore the team’s popular Kelly Green “Oakland” jersey. The two Oakland natives grew up on local clay courts and won a championship together in the 1989 earthquake-stricken Classic Series against cross-town rivals the San Francisco Giants.

“The fans came here today to remember all the great times they had,” Henderson told The Oaklandside at the last game. “This is a special day. We’re all here together again today.”

In addition to his spectacular successes on the field, Henderson was known for his outlandish personality, peppered with a dry, cool sense of humor typical of Oakland. Over the years, hundreds of players shared anecdotes about Rickey interactions that would later be defined as “Rickeyisms” – hard to believe, sometimes true, and always entertaining.

One story involved Toronto Blue Jays first baseman John Olerud hitting Rickey at first base. Olerud, who unusually wore a helmet on the field as a precaution after suffering an aneurysm in college, played with Henderson in the Canadian city in the early 1990s. They even won a championship together. Rickey apparently smiled at him and innocently said to Olerud, “You know, I also played with a guy on the field who was wearing a helmet!” Olerud said, “Rickey, that was me.”

Sometimes his statements and actions were not well received. Over the years, including during his time with the A’s, Henderson sometimes clashed with his managers, particularly Hall of Famers Billy Martin in Oakland and New York and Tony La Russa in Oakland. La Russa, the A’s longtime boss, criticized Henderson during contract negotiations in 1992 and publicly criticized him another time for not being a team player.

Henderson disputed this by speaking about himself in the not-so-selfless third person, charmingly saying, “Rickey is a team player.”

For his part, La Russa often let Rickey do whatever he wanted on the field. During the team’s successful seasons in the late 1980s and early 1990s, he famously said he gave Rickey no running signals. “He had the green light,” La Russa told reporters.

Henderson had plenty of opportunities to define himself as a unique player during one of the game’s most popular eras. His performance in the 1989 playoffs after being re-acquired by the A’s during the summer trade deadline was great. Sports Illustrated reporter Peter Gammons said his performance during the American League Championship Series “could be considered the best individual performance since then.” The playoff system began in 1969.” Rickey led all players in that series in runs, slugging, homers, On-base percentage, total bases, steals, walks and “conversations with fans,” Gammons wrote. He also frequently mocked Jays players, citing his two-homer performance the day before it happened.

Henderson also set the standard for professional financial independence. On November 28, 1989, he signed a four-year contract with Oakland worth $12 million, a record for the sport at the time.

At the Athletics’ final game in September, Henderson signed autographs and chatted with fans. He hugged track and field player Max Schuemann and other current players and joked with Dave Stewart.

When news of his death first broke Friday evening, longtime Henderson, A’s and baseball fans everywhere mourned the Oakland baseball legend.

“The year you broke Lou Brock’s record, I cut the daily stolen base numbers out of the paper. You were my first sports hero!” Read a tweet from a fan in the Philippines.