RICKEY

Sprawling biography of baseball great Rickey Henderson, whose accomplishments certainly merit a tome.

ESPN senior writer Bryant, who cut his teeth covering the Oakland Athletics, is wholly at home with A’s legend Henderson—though, of course, Henderson played for many teams as well as Oakland. Born in Chicago on Christmas Day, 1958, Henderson was named after teen heartthrob Ricky Nelson, and he excelled early on in sports, particularly football, worshipping O.J. Simpson. “O.J. and Rickey played the same position,” writes Bryant, “even though O.J. made you miss him and Rickey would never pass up a chance to flatten you.” Henderson grew up in a highly segregated Oakland, where the beneficiaries of the funneling of athletic talent were local high schools. Though he received scholarship offers to play college football, Henderson chose baseball on the sensible grounds that baseball players had greater longevity. Indeed, as Bryant notes, Henderson played well into his fifth decade, and “as a 40-year-old, he hit a robust .315 and would be named the National League Comeback Player of the Year.” Though Henderson was never the easiest player to get along with, he certainly racked up the scores, particularly as a base stealer. One insider reckons that if Henderson were playing today, he could garner a $500 million contract, while a high school math teacher developed a formula that put Henderson ahead of Ty Cobb as a “small ball player” and just behind Cobb as an all-around player. Small wonder that Henderson, who shares many points in common with all-time greats such as Willie Mays, Satchel Paige, and Al Kaline, went into the Hall of Fame at Cooperstown as soon as he was eligible. Near the end of this satisfying biographer, Bryant points out, “As of July 2021, 22,467 players had appeared in a Major League Baseball game, and no position player who began his career in the 20th century had played more seasons than the legendary Rickey Henderson.”

A readable, appropriately fast-moving portrait of a baseball giant.