Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
I was asked today by my boss if I wanted to hear a good Rickey Henderson story from one of his friends. Of course. I need Rickey stories in my life. I re-fuel my body after days of Manziel posts with stories from characters like Rickey. It’s good for the soul to hear a classic Rickey story.
So here we go.
A few years back, before my wife and I were married, my future mother in law started to date, and later married, a gentleman who grew up in Oakland. After spending some time with him and finding out he was born and raised in Oakland, obviously the conversation moved straight to sports, most specifically, the Oakland A’s.
During those conversations, Rickey Henderson came up. I mean, how could you talk about the A’s and not talk about Rickey? Everyone who follows baseball or knows anything about Rickey Henderson knows about his “Rickey-isms” and stories about him. Some of them are true (“Kevin, this is Rickey, calling on behalf of Rickey. Rickey wants to play baseball,” voice mail Henderson left for Padres GM Kevin Towers) and some of which may just be fable or embellished (The Rickey/Olerud Exchange).
So right around the time Rickey was selected to be in HOF, my step father in law drops the bomb that he grew up with Rickey in Oakland, which to an A’s fan, was so cool to hear. He played baseball and football with Rickey, lived in the same Oakland neighborhood and occasionally spoke to him.
Fast forward to the day my wife and I were married. Ceremony is over, pictures are done and we are waiting to get into the old Exploratorium for our reception (if you are from SF, you know the spot). So my wife and I are in the lobby waiting and my step-father-in-law walks up to me and hands me this ball and a few items from Rickey’s induction ceremony from Cooperstown. On the ball was the following personalized note to me (at least, I think this is what it says:
“To Dan Mansfield
Best of lucky in your married
Rickey Henderson”
You might also notice an umlaut above the “i” in Rickey. Thought that was pretty awesome.
I have told this story and shared this picture with my friends so many times. My friend Logan asks me to text him a picture of this ball every few months when he is drunk. It is one of my most prized possessions and it makes me love Rickey that much more
– End –
Need more Rickey? Here’s 3:20 of Rickey playing True or False with Mike & Mike back in the day.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXiAqh_dVHw]
