Rickey Henderson - Early Years

Early Years

Henderson was born in Chicago, Illinois, and named Rickey Nelson Henley, named after singer-actor Ricky Nelson, to John L. and Bobbie Henley on Christmas Day, 1958, in Chicago, in the back seat of an Oldsmobile on the way to the hospital. Henderson later joked, "I was already fast. I couldn't wait." When he was two years old, his father left home, and his family moved to Oakland, California, when he was seven. His father died in an automobile accident ten years after leaving home. His mother married Paul Henderson in Rickey Henley's junior high school year and the family adopted the Henderson surname. As a child learning to play baseball in Oakland, Henderson developed the ability to bat right-handed although he was a naturally left-handed thrower — a rare combination for baseball players, especially non-pitchers. In the entire history of Major League Baseball through the 2008 season, only 57 non-pitchers are known to have batted right and thrown left, and Henderson is easily the most successful player in this exclusive group. Henderson later said, "All my friends were right-handed and swung from the right side, so I thought that's the way it was supposed to be done."

In 1976, Henderson graduated from Oakland Technical High School, where he played baseball, basketball and football, and was an All-American running back with a pair of 1,000-yard rushing seasons. He also ran track, but did not stay with the team as the schedule conflicted with baseball. Henderson received over a dozen scholarship offers to play football. Despite a childhood dream to play for the Oakland Raiders, he turned down the scholarships on the advice of his mother, who argued that football players had shorter careers. In 1983, Henderson married his high-school sweetheart, Pamela. They have three children: Angela, Alexis, and Adrianna.