Rickey Henderson

Rickey Henderson, still a spark plug at 38, was traded yesterday from the San Diego Padres to the Anaheim Angels. The deal came a day after Angels leadoff hitter Tony Phillips was charged with felony possession of cocaine and benched pending a meeting with baseball's doctors. The Angels entered yesterday's game tied for the AL West lead with Seattle. In return for Henderson, the Padres received righthander Ryan Hancock, who is 3-3 with a 3.63 ERA at triple-A Vancouver, and lefthander Stevenson Agosto, who is 5-8 with a 5.32 ERA at single-A Lake Elsinore.

The New York Yankees yesterday traded Rickey Henderson, their disgruntled leftfielder and leadoff hitter, back to the Oakland Athletics for relief pitchers Greg Cadaret and Eric Plunk and outfielder Luis Polonia. Henderson, 30, in the last year of his five-year contract, returns to his home town and original major-league team, the only club he had said he would consider going to under terms of his no-trade clause. "I'm shocked and surprised because I understood that my agent was very close to making a deal (with the Yankees)

Rickey Henderson made sure he didn't go into the winter still waiting for his 3,000th hit. He became the 25th member of the 3,000-hit club with a bloop double yesterday, doing it in his first at-bat in the last game of the season. "It's a great feeling, a feeling that you can't really describe," said Henderson, the San Diego Padres' flamboyant, 42-year-old leadoff hitter who is baseball's runs, steals and walks leader. "I thought I would never get there because I walk so much.

They are known far and wide for their home-run power, their starting pitching and, over the last two years, the best record in baseball. But beneath the glitz of the Oakland Athletics is a fundamentally sound team that consistently does the little things that win big games. And one of those little things last night helped the A's win the opening game of the American League championship series. With the score tied 3-3 in the sixth, Rickey Henderson's hard slide into Toronto second baseman Nelson Liriano broke up a potential inning-ending double play, allowing two runs to score and sending Oakland toward a 7-3 victory over the Blue Jays.

Rickey Henderson gallivanted around the Toronto Blue Jays' clubhouse like an old frat brother late Tuesday night, spritzing his new teammates with well- shaken bottles of Korbel champagne, leaping from one silly schoolboy skirmish to another, letting people shampoo his hair with bottles of very drinkable Canadian beer. The rest of the Blue Jays were celebrating their second straight American League pennant. Rickey Henderson, age 34, was celebrating something bigger: One more chance to win it all. Over the din in the clubhouse, he yelled to reporters, "I've got a chance to redeem myself on a good thing," and then he laughed gleefully.

The game started so early that the morning sun had no time to cut through the famous Bay Area fog. As Mike Moore delivered the first pitch of the second game of the American League Championship Series, the hills of San Francisco still were obscured from the Oakland side of the bay. Fifteen hours after they had taught Toronto the early facts of postseason life, the Oakland A's coasted through the first three innings looking like they needed several...

Free agent outfielder Rickey Henderson, baseball's all-time stolen-base leader, agreed to a two-year, $4 million contract with the San Diego Padres. Henderson, 37, can earn approximately $2.5 million more in incentives based on plate appearances. Henderson said he had considered Cincinnati and the Chicago White Sox, but decided to stay on the West Coast. "It gave me an opportunity to start fresh and learn from one of the greatest hitters," Henderson said yesterday during a conference call, referring to six-time National League batting champion Tony Gwynn.

Several hours before the Oakland A's would clinch their second consecutive American League pennant with a 4-3 victory, Rickey Henderson was lying flat on his back in leftfield, a few yards in front of the Blue Jays insignia on the outfield fence, stretching his legs. He was decked out in a yellow Oakland warmup shirt with the green collar turned up, a yellow-and-white golf glove on his right hand and a contented look on his face. After all, the player had met his moment. This American League Championship Series had been Henderson's from the moment his takeout slide at second base broke open the first game in Oakland.

Art Howe insists he hasn't any inside information. He doesn't know if Rickey Henderson will be returning to the Oakland Athletics. But the A's manager will be waiting at the clubhouse door with a smile on his face and his arms open wide should general manager Billy Beane figure out a way to sign the future Hall of Famer without busting the team's budget. "Hey, the guy had over a .400 on-base percentage last year," Howe said from his home in Houston. "If [Jason] McDonald doesn't get the job done, who's going to be the leadoff hitter?

Someday, Ruben Sierra would like to be just like Rickey Henderson. He already has most of the hitting, running and fielding down. But someday, the Puerto Rico-born Sierra would like to express himself as well as Henderson does. That's right, Rickey "I Don't Need No Press" Henderson. But also, 33- year-old Rickey Henderson. Suddenly, after such a long wait, Henderson has assumed a leadership role with the Oakland A's, and you need only to look at Sierra to measure what it has been worth.

The gates to Hardball Heaven - also known as the Baseball Hall of Fame - will swing open today for Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice. Henderson, the all-time leader in stolen bases and runs scored, became the 44th player to be elected to the Hall in his first year of eligibility in January. Rice, arguably the American League's most dominant hitter from 1975 to 1986, was elected in his 15th and final year of eligibility on the ballot. Voting is done by veteran members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Rickey Henderson, the all-time major-league leader in walks, runs and stolen bases, led the Newark Bears past the Atlantic City Surf, 8-7, in the Atlantic League yesterday. Henderson reached base four times, scored three runs, drove in two, and stole two bases. In the sixth inning, with the Bears leading, 7-6, Henderson led off with a walk. An attempted pickoff throw went wild and Henderson took second. He then stole third, and when the throw from Surf catcher Melvin Rosario sailed into left field, Henderson trotted home with the eighth Bears run. For the Surf, shortstop Orlando Miller was 2 for 4 with 2 RBIs.

The agent for idled baseball great Rickey Henderson said yesterday that his client would sign a contract with a team from the independent Atlantic League in the coming days. "He's going to play in the Atlantic League," Jeff Borris said of Henderson, 44, the veteran of 24 major-league seasons who is widely considered the greatest leadoff man ever. Could that team be the Camden Riversharks, who play home games against the backdrop of the Ben Franklin Bridge at Campbell's Field?

Orlando Hernandez and Rickey Henderson didn't treat their matchup yesterday as if it was only spring training, nearly coming to blows at one point. Henderson hit a leadoff home run as the Boston Red Sox lost to the New York Yankees, 8-7, in a split-squad game in Fort Myers, Fla. Henderson took a slow, wide shuffle out of the batters' box, apparently angering the pitcher. After Henderson flied out ending the second, the pair exchanged words as they passed while heading to their dugouts.

Rickey Henderson made sure he didn't go into the winter still waiting for his 3,000th hit. He became the 25th member of the 3,000-hit club with a bloop double yesterday, doing it in his first at-bat in the last game of the season. "It's a great feeling, a feeling that you can't really describe," said Henderson, the San Diego Padres' flamboyant, 42-year-old leadoff hitter who is baseball's runs, steals and walks leader. "I thought I would never get there because I walk so much.

Art Howe insists he hasn't any inside information. He doesn't know if Rickey Henderson will be returning to the Oakland Athletics. But the A's manager will be waiting at the clubhouse door with a smile on his face and his arms open wide should general manager Billy Beane figure out a way to sign the future Hall of Famer without busting the team's budget. "Hey, the guy had over a .400 on-base percentage last year," Howe said from his home in Houston. "If [Jason] McDonald doesn't get the job done, who's going to be the leadoff hitter?

Rickey Henderson, still a spark plug at 38, was traded yesterday from the San Diego Padres to the Anaheim Angels. The deal came a day after Angels leadoff hitter Tony Phillips was charged with felony possession of cocaine and benched pending a meeting with baseball's doctors. The Angels entered yesterday's game tied for the AL West lead with Seattle. In return for Henderson, the Padres received righthander Ryan Hancock, who is 3-3 with a 3.63 ERA at triple-A Vancouver, and lefthander Stevenson Agosto, who is 5-8 with a 5.32 ERA at single-A Lake Elsinore.

Free agent outfielder Rickey Henderson, baseball's all-time stolen-base leader, agreed to a two-year, $4 million contract with the San Diego Padres. Henderson, 37, can earn approximately $2.5 million more in incentives based on plate appearances. Henderson said he had considered Cincinnati and the Chicago White Sox, but decided to stay on the West Coast. "It gave me an opportunity to start fresh and learn from one of the greatest hitters," Henderson said yesterday during a conference call, referring to six-time National League batting champion Tony Gwynn.

Maybe you heard that Rickey Henderson got a little ticked the other day when reporters got around to asking him how he felt about Lenny Dykstra being widely acclaimed as the best leadoff hitter in baseball right now. In short, Henderson begged to differ. Henderson, who probably has dibs on the all-time title, seemed to be saying that dispite a wide disparity in their 1993 stats, he still was the champ until somebody knocked him out, or something. He tried to claim that Dykstra had been around as long as he had (he was only six years of major league experience off)

Rickey Henderson gallivanted around the Toronto Blue Jays' clubhouse like an old frat brother late Tuesday night, spritzing his new teammates with well- shaken bottles of Korbel champagne, leaping from one silly schoolboy skirmish to another, letting people shampoo his hair with bottles of very drinkable Canadian beer. The rest of the Blue Jays were celebrating their second straight American League pennant. Rickey Henderson, age 34, was celebrating something bigger: One more chance to win it all. Over the din in the clubhouse, he yelled to reporters, "I've got a chance to redeem myself on a good thing," and then he laughed gleefully.