1991 Cracker Jack I #18
I've enjoyed watching and following baseball since I was four or five years old. To put things into perspective... that's around forty years. And during that time, Tony Gwynn has been my #1 favorite player for at least thirty of those years.
1991 Topps Micro #391
But before Gwynn, there was Rickey Henderson. In the early 80's, Henderson was tearing up base paths and winning the hearts of Oakland A's fans around the Bay Area.
1990 Panini Stickers #138
Unfortunately the A's didn't think they were going to be able to re-sign him, so the shipped him off to New York for a bunch of young talent.
1990 Kay-Bee #15
1990 Topps Glossy Send-Ins #37
In 1989 the New York Yankees traded him back to Oakland. He didn't actually unseat Gwynn, but he did instantly become my favorite Oakland Athletic.
1990 Classic Yellow #T27
Eventually he'd leave Oakland again and become teammates with Gwynn, which was kind of cool. But in terms of collecting, he's always taken a back seat to Mr. Padre.
A while back (start of summer???), I received a huge care package from fellow Super Traders member, Cards on Cards... and inside were hundreds of Oakland A's cards.
1991 Classic II #T75
I wanted to show off some of the Hendersons I received, because they were the inspiration behind the renewed interest in my Man of Steal collection.
1990 Baseball Card Magazine #48
So far... I've already picked up two new autographs for my collection that I'll share in a future post. Today... I'm focusing all of my attention to these nine new additions to my Rickey Henderson collection.
2015 Gypsy Queen Mini #190
Oh yeah... one more thing...
Happy Sunday and sayonara!
Shame on the A's for trading Rickey to the Yankees. To me, he's a vastly more interesting player than Gwynn and that trade probably killed the excitement many collectors felt.
ReplyDeleteRickey would have helped Bryce Harper make baseball fun again
ReplyDeleteGwynn and Boggs ,kings of the batting average!Funny because neither was an "average batter".
ReplyDeleteHenderson was with Oakland four different times, if I'm not mistaken. I know he spent a few months getting a ring in Toronto, alongside a Jay who would return two more times in Tony Fernandez.
ReplyDeletenight owl - i was devastated by the trade... and being a kid at the time, I think i somehow blamed rickey. thankfully canseco and mcgwire helped a's fan forget, but it took a couple of years.
ReplyDeletematthew scott - maybe he could teach harper the patented snatch catch
big tone - super true
mike matson - yeah... he was traded to toronto, where he won a ring, then turned around and signed with oakland in the offseason. i was also fortunate enough to have him play on my other favorite team... the padres... twice.