Rickey

The Life and Legend of an American Original

Howard Bryant

- 4.5 • 42 Ratings

- $16.99

- $16.99

“Seldom does a sports biography—especially a page-turner—so comprehensively explain the forces that made an icon the way they are.” – Sports Illustrated

From the author of The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron comes the definitive biography of Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson, baseball’s epic leadoff hitter and base-stealer who also stole America’s heart over nearly five electric decades in the game.

Few names in the history of baseball evoke the excellence and dynamism that Rickey Henderson’s does. He holds the record for the most stolen bases in a single game, and he’s scored more runs than any player ever. “If you cut Rickey Henderson in half, you’d have two Hall of Famers,” the baseball historian Bill James once said.

But perhaps even more than his prowess on the field, Rickey Henderson’s is a story of Oakland, California, the town that gave rise to so many legendary athletes like him. And it’s a story of a sea change in sports, when athletes gained celebrity status and Black players finally earned equitable salaries. Henderson embraced this shift with his trademark style, playing for nine different teams throughout his decades-long career and sculpting a brash, larger-than-life persona that stole the nation’s heart. Now, in the hands of critically acclaimed sportswriter and culture critic Howard Bryant, one of baseball’s greatest and most original stars finally gets his due.

APPLE BOOKS REVIEW

It seems almost everyone in baseball has a Rickey Henderson story, which is part of the reason Howard Bryant wrote this stunning biography of the enigmatic superstar. A legend in his hometown of Oakland, Henderson played with the A’s and the New York Yankees in his prime—and went on to play seemingly everywhere else before retiring. His record-breaking baseball exploits were nearly overshadowed by his abundant self-confidence. (He’s comically famous for referring to himself in the third person.) But what's great about Rickey is that Bryant doesn’t care about the hype surrounding Henderson’s image; he’s interested in Henderson as a human being. He manages to unearth the self-consciousness beneath the bravado, and gives credit to Rickey’s wife, Pamela—along with a sizable chunk of Oakland—for making sure the superstar never went too off the rails. Despite his spectacular playing career, these days Henderson is rarely mentioned alongside baseball’s biggest names—but thanks to this eye-opening book, that might very well change.

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY APR 11, 2022

Bryant (The Last Hero), a senior writer for ESPN.com, delivers a solid and comprehensive take on the life and career of Rickey Henderson, Major League Baseball's all-time stolen base leader. A part of the 1960s "Black migration" to California, 10-year-old Henderson and his family moved from Arkansas to Oakland in 1969. After being convinced by a guidance counselor to join his school's baseball team—upon Henderson's initial resistance, she offered to pay him a quarter for every one of his hits and runs—Henderson quickly rose through the ranks in his teens and was signed to the minor league's Oakland Athletics in 1979. Though underestimated by scouts, Henderson's raw talent led him to play for the A's on four separate stints—including in the team's 1993 World Series championship—as well as the Yankees, Dodgers, and Red Sox, among other teams. Tracing Henderson's road to baseball's Hall of Fame, Bryant skillfully weaves in detailed analyses of the athlete's game—from his famous "swagger" to his reputation as a speedster, stealing 100 bases in his first full season. The book most succeeds in its rich historical context, underscoring Rickey's outsize influence in a new vanguard of "great Black talents" that shook up the hallowed white halls of baseball. The result is an indelible account of a one-of-a-kind player and personality.

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