When the Athletics celebrate their first game at Sutter Health Park in Sacramento on March 31, they will also honor a franchise legend.
Every A’s player will wear No. 24 in honor of the late Rickey Henderson next Monday, when the team hosts the Seattle Mariners. Henderson’s three daughters will throw out ceremonial first pitches prior to the game.
Henderson died of pneumonia at the age of 65 in December.
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The A’s have also announced that they will wear commemorative patches with “RICKEY 24” on them for the entire 2025 season.
Henderson played for nine franchises in his 25-year MLB career, including four stints with the A’s. He won two World Series and was named AL MVP in 1990. A 10-time All-Star, Henderson was the AL stolen base leader an unmatched 12 times and surpassed 100 steals in a season on three occasions, making him one of only two players to accomplish the feat, alongside Vince Coleman.
In May 1991, Henderson’s base-stealing prowess earned him a place in baseball history when he swiped his 939th career base, breaking Lou Brock’s record while with the A’s. Henderson, who played his final MLB season in 2003, finished with 1,406 career stolen bases, reinforcing the nickname “Man of Steal.”
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Henderson played his first six MLB seasons in Oakland before he was traded to the New York Yankees. He returned to Oakland in a June 1989 trade that helped boost the A’s to a World Series title that year. Henderson stole 52 bases, hit nine home runs and drove in 35 runs in 85 regular-season games following the deal.
In the 1989 playoffs, he batted .441 with three home runs, eight RBI, 11 stolen bases and 32 total bases, earning ALCS MVP honors along the way to his first World Series championship with Oakland.
Henderson was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame as part of the 2009 class.