Rickey Still the Best

The Freakanomics blog on the New York Times site hosted Buster Olney as a guest to answer questions about baseball. Many of the questions are stats related, of course, but it also included a question about my favorite player and entertainer.

Q What’s your favorite Rickey Henderson story? — Nann

A Last spring, Rickey went on the ESPN radio show Mike and Mike and, one by one, he addressed the Rickey legends deeming them either truth or myth. He acknowledged that yes, in fact, he did frame the rather large bonus check (I think it was for $1 million) rather than cash it; yes, in fact, he did suffer frost bite in the middle of the summer because he fell asleep on an ice pack in the trainer’s room; and he acknowledged other stories. What I loved about this whole thing was that while a whole other lot of stars would have refused to answer these questions, Rickey answered with candor, and with a smile on his face. It was classic Rickey, because he has always been steeped in confidence, very sure about who he is, and comfortable about who he is.

Rickey Henderson - best leadoff man and most awesome guy in baseball history.