RICKEY DON'T QUIT

What keeps Rickey running?: Well past his prime, a future Hall of Famer goes the independent route to prove he still can play ball (Jack Etkin, June 23, 2003, Rocky Mountain News)

Henderson created chaos on the field in a distinctive way. He was as unique off the field, renowned for not knowing teammates' names. Rockies coach Walt Weiss, an Oakland teammate, said, "If you were standing in front of your locker, he had a chance. He'd pick out a letter in your name, usually what your name started with. Like (Rich) Bordi and (Lance) Blankenship, he called them B. 'What's up today, B?' "

Fast-forward to Newark outfielder Piercy, whom Henderson calls "Burger Man." Does he know Piercy's name? "He calls me by my name," Piercy said. "So I'm not sure whether he wrote it down or somebody said it."

Rockies bench coach Jamie Quirk was Henderson's Oakland teammate for 3 ½ years. Asked whether Henderson knew Quirk's name, he said, "I can't say yes or no. I don't know. Rickey would say everything but your name, so you weren't sure if he knew your name.

" 'Hey, Dude. How's it going? Hey, big guy. Hey, man.' Anything but (your name), so you're thinking maybe he doesn't know. But maybe he did."

Quirk said that as a coach, he has run into Henderson at various times, and Henderson always greeted him by name.

Even though they were teammates, Quirk said he can't "say I really know him." And that's understandable, because Henderson typically was in his own orbit. Jay Alves, the Rockies public relations director, held that title with Oakland when Henderson was there.

Billy Beane's locker was next to Henderson's, Alves said. During one season, Beane was sent back to Class AAA and, Alves said, was in the minors at least six weeks. According to Alves, when Beane returned to Oakland and went back to his same locker, Henderson said, "Man, where you been?"

Henderson was Oakland's fourth-round pick in the 1976 draft. He went to high school in Oakland, Calif., and made it to the A's in June 1979, at age 20 - he made it to stay in 1980 - and in his first major league at-bat, doubled against Texas' John Henry Johnson.

The A's traded Henderson to the Yankees after the 1984 season, and the Yankees shipped Henderson back to Oakland in 1989. That was Weiss' second full season in the big leagues. He had grown up just north of New York and was amused to hear Henderson describe Manhattan.

"He said when he was playing for the Yankees, he lived in the city," Weiss recalled. " 'Yeah, I could look out my window, see the Entire State Building.' When he told me that, I was like, 'Man, that's awesome. You can see the whole thing?' "

If Henderson's teammates sometimes laughed at him, they also marveled at his natural athletic ability. Former A's manager Tony La Russa used to praise Weiss, third baseman Lansford and catcher Terry Steinbach for being "grinders." Henderson was anything but a grinder. Steinbach calls him "a thoroughbred" and Weiss, using the word in the most complimentary sense, said Henderson is "a freak."

Rickey Henderson is one of the two guys most of us got to see play who can undoubtedly be said to have been the best all-around player ever at his position and the best at ant position in the game for a period of years, the other being Mike Schmidt. Right now he'd be no worse than the third or fourth best player on teams like the Tigers, Mets, Pirates, etc. Posted by Orrin Judd at June 23, 2003 10:35 AM