The Oakland Athletics will honor one of their greats, Rickey Henderson. The club announced on Monday that in addition to naming him as a Special Assistant to the President, the field at the Oakland Coliseum will be known as Rickey Henderson Field.
Announced: A's will name the Coliseum field "Rickey Henderson Field." Henderson will also serve as a Special Assistant to the President. pic.twitter.com/wVPx6n8SVT
— Oakland A's (@Athletics) February 6, 2017
It’s a fitting tribute. The A’s have a lot of history. Still, perhaps no player is as synonymous with the Athletics (especially in the Oakland years) as Henderson.
In his career, Henderson played in 3,081 games, which is fourth on the all-time list. While he played for nine teams, more than half of those games (1,704) were with the A’s. Additionally, 867 of Henderson’s career record of 1,406 stolen bases were with Oakland. His single season stolen base record of 130 also happened with the A’s in 1982.
Henderson was an integral part of the team’s last World Series championship team in 1989, winning the American League Championship Series MVP. The following year, Henderson won the American League MVP and helped lead the Athletics back to the World Series, a place they have not been since.
On top of all of that, Henderson is not just an A’s great, but an Oakland icon. He was raised in Oakland and graduated from Oakland Technical High School.
The A’s also announced that the field will be dedicated on Opening Night, April 3 against the Los Angeles Angels. Additionally, a Henderson jersey giveaway night will happen on July 15 against the Cleveland Indians.