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Baseball Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson, the all-time stolen bases leader, has died at the age of 65, the New York Post reported on Saturday (December 21).
Henderson, who played for nine MLB franchises during his 25-year career, most notably his four separate tenures with the Oakland Athletics, was reportedly hospitalized with pneumonia in Oakland prior to his death on Friday (December 20), sources with directed knowledge of the situation confirmed to TMZ Sports.
Fellow Baseball Hall of Famer Dave Winfield, who was teammates with Henderson on the New York Yankees, paid tribute to the legendary outfielder in a post shared on his Instagram account.
"I still cannot believe I’ve lost one of my favorite teammates and great friend Rickey Henderson. Rest in peace," Winfield wrote.
Henderson is widely regarded as Major League Baseball's greatest leadoff hitter and baserunner with career records in stolen bases, runs, unintentional walks and leadoff home runs. The Chicago native was the 1990 American League MVP, a 10-time All-Star, a two-time World Series champion, a three-time Silver Slugger Award winner and lead the American League in stolen bases 12 times, becoming the only player in AL history to steal 100 bases in a season.
Henderson's record 1,406 career steals is 50% higher than Baseball Hall of Famer Lou Brock's 938 career total, which ranks second all-time.