New York Yankees celebrate the election of Rickey Henderson to the Hall of Fame

01/12/2009 4:17 PM ET

MLB.com

The New York Yankees salute outfielder Rickey Henderson as a member of the 2009 Baseball Hall of Fame induction class. Acquired in a trade with Oakland prior to the 1985 season, Henderson holds a special place in Yankees history as the franchise's all-time leader with 326 stolen bases. He accomplished the feat with an 85.1 percent success rate (57 caught stealing), doing so in just 596 games with the club before being traded back to the A's during the 1989 season. He also holds the top three single-season steals totals in Yankees history with 93 in 1988, 87 in 1986 and 80 in 1985.

In each of his four full seasons with the Yankees from 1985-88, Henderson was an American League All-Star. After his 1985 season-in which he batted .314 (172-for-547) with 24 home runs and 72 RBI-he placed third in AL MVP voting and won a Silver Slugger Award. His AL-leading 146 runs in 1985 remain the most in franchise history since Joe DiMaggio scored 151 runs in 1937.

Henderson is widely regarded as the greatest leadoff hitter in baseball history. Having played 25 Major League seasons with Oakland (1979-84, 1989-93, 1994-95, '98), the Yankees (1985-89); Toronto (1993), San Diego (1996-97; 2001), Anaheim (1997), the Mets (1999-2000), Seattle (2000), Boston (2002) and the Dodgers (2003), he is the sport's all-time leader in runs scored (2,295) and stolen bases (1,406), and holds the modern (since 1900) single-season record with 130 steals in 1982. He became the 47th former Yankees player, manager or executive to be elected to the Hall of Fame.

Quotes regarding Henderson's election to the Hall of Fame:

"There was only one Rickey Henderson in baseball. He was the greatest leadoff hitter of all time. I consider him a great friend with tremendous spirit and a true Yankee."
George M. Steinbrenner (Yankees Chairperson)

"Rickey and I have been friends for a long time, and I am ecstatic for him. I've been fortunate and blessed to have played with a great number of phenomenal baseball players but pound-for-pound, Rickey Henderson is the best player I've ever played beside. No one was able to impact the course of a game in as many ways as Rickey. This is a great day for him, and I can't wait to hear his acceptance speech."
Willie Randolph (Yankees teammate from 1985-88 and Oakland teammate in 1990)

"His election is well-deserved. He was one of the best players I that ever played with and obviously the best leadoff hitter in baseball. We had a lot of fun pushing each other to play at higher levels. I'm very glad to see he got in."
Dave Winfield (Hall of Famer and Yankees teammate from 1985-88)

"Rickey was one of the most competitive players I've ever seen. He was relentless. He could beat you with his legs and his bat, and he could beat you from the leadoff position, which was something people hadn't seen before. As a person, Rickey was very funny and generous. I hung out and talked with him a lot, and we used to go to dinner. I enjoyed every minute of those years."
Ken Griffey, Sr. (Yankees teammate from 1985-86)

This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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