Immediate impact

Henderson scores tying run as Mariners rally past Rays

Posted: Saturday May 20, 2000 08:29 AM SEATTLE (AP) -- The fans booed Rickey Henderson in his last days in Shea Stadium. They cheered him when he stepped on the field for the first time in a Seattle Mariners uniform at Safeco Field. Henderson arrived one hour before his new team's game with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and scored the tying run in the eighth inning of a 7-6 victory by the Mariners on Friday night. "It's been a long day, but I feel good about it," said Henderson, who came in as a pinch-runner and scored from first base on a double by Stan Javier off Billy Taylor (0-1). "I told Lou if he needed me, I'd be ready," added Henderson, baseball's career stolen base leader. He scored when Javier's double went over center fielder Gerald Williams on a hit-and-run. "He can run. We knew that," Mariners manager Lou Piniella said. "He brought the mail home." After Henderson scored, Roberto Hernandez relieved and walked pinch-hitter Tom Lampkin. Mike Cameron sacrificed, and Mark McLemore's sacrifice fly put the Mariners ahead. "That was exciting," Mariners shortstop Alex Rodriguez said. "It was like a movie. It was really dramatic. It's nice to have Rickey here. You look at his records. They're mind boggling." Jose Mesa (2-2), who gave up a three-run homer to Greg Vaughn in the seventh that gave Tampa Bay a 6-4 lead, got the victory. Kazuhiro Sasaki pitched the ninth for his fifth save. Rodriguez hit his 14th homer in the bottom of the seventh to extend his hitting streak to 14 games. Seattle's Brett Tomko had to leave because of stiffness in his right shoulder after he went to a 3-1 count on John Flaherty in the fourth. Tomko was acquired Feb. 10 in the trade that sent Ken Griffey Jr. to Cincinnati. The Mariners already have starters Jamie Moyer and Freddy Garcia on the disabled list, but they didn't seem too concerned about Tomko. "He should be OK," trainer Rick Griffin said. "He just stiffened up. That's not normal, but we didn't want to take any chances." With Seattle ahead 4-2, Jose Paniagua walked Kevin Stocker, Miguel Cairo and Gerald Williams to load the bases in the seventh. Vinny Castilla's sacrifice against Mesa drove in a run, and Vaughn drove Mesa's next pitch into the second deck in left field for his second homer of the night and 12th of the season. Vaughn also homered in the first. Williams also homered for Tampa Bay, while Edgar Martinez and Javier also homered for Seattle.

 

M's signing of Henderson makes sense for both

MAY 19, 2000 Jon Heyman The Sporting News

The Mariners made a good bet on 41-year-old Rickey Henderson. As Henderson himself would happily tell you, a guy with his kind of talent has got to be worth $400,000. That's all it cost the Mariners, who will pay about $150,000 in salary to Henderson this season as well as guarantee a $250,000 buyout on a $3-million option for 2001. That's a bargain by today's standards, by any standards. Even Mets manager Bobby Valentine, Henderson's latest off-field sparring partner, said, "Rickey will be good on the Mariners because he has incentive." One team's embarrassment could become another's windfall. Even the cost-conscious Expos were willing to gamble dollars on the future Hall-of-Famer. "If in a month or two we realized it was not the thing to do, it wouldn't have been costly to rectify," Expos general manager Jim Beattie said. Don't bet against Henderson being productive even next year, though it's tough to imagine the Mariners making that $3-million 2001 plunge. With Henderson, the cost, trouble and age have to weighed against his talents, which are still believed by most folks to be considerable. It was just last year that he batted .315 and posted an on-base percentage of .423. Even Mets people know he's better than the .219 he was hitting for them. He seemed to have given up with the Mets. But don't assume Henderson won't be rejuvenated in new surroundings. He has a carrot, actually two. He'd like to have the Mariners pick up that $3 million option. Plus, there's little question he'd like to make the Mets regret their decision to release him. Mariners general manager Pat Gillick said his hope is for Henderson to perform as he did in 1999, which was pretty darned good. He was still one of the best leadoff hitters in the game, which is probably why he felt like such a bargain all along. Gillick said he can't wait to see Henderson "work pitchers, get on base and create some havoc." He's been doing it for 20 years, so it's not hard to imagine him doing it once more. He's still in fabulous shape. Plus, he's gone into these funks before, which makes folks suspect that a little more effort could result in a lot more production. The Mariners didn't have much to lose. They need the offense Henderson can provide. Henderson will play left field for them, which is in itself a gamble considering how woeful he has looked there this year. Versatile Mark McLemore will move to second base in the new alignment, with David Bell likely to receive a lot of time at third base. Carlos Guillen and Stan Javier are most likely to spend more time on the bench. Henderson's agent, Jeff Borris, described Henderson as being "very happy." Henderson chose Seattle over Montreal, Borris said, because Henderson thinks Seattle's chances of winning are a little better than Montreal's. The unfair part of the deal is that Henderson winds up being reward for playing his way out of New York. He is $250,000 richer today, thanks to his release. Henderson apparently didn't mind a reunion with Lou Piniella, who had a famous run-in with Henderson when Piniella was his Yankees manager in 1987. Club owner George Steinbrenner revealed in a press release that Piniella believed Henderson to be "jaking it," slang for not trying his hardest. In turn, Henderson revealed in his book "Off Base," with John Shea, that he and Piniella had it out in a closed door meeting but that he accepted Piniella's explanation that Steinbrenner's pressuring of him forced him to tell the owner that Henderson was "jaking it" as explanation for why he was not producing at the time. In a bit of revisionist history, Piniella said upon Henderson's signing that he never had any problems with Henderson. Borris said, "He had a conversation with Lou, a healthy conversation, Yeah, he's fine with it." Gillick said, "I think one of the reasons he came here was Lou." Furthermore, Gillick, who also acquired Henderson for the Blue Jays' stretch run in 1993, said he didn't believe Henderson would be a problem. The Expos were disappointed to have lost out on Henderson. Their plan was going to be to move Rondell White to center field. Struggling youngster Peter Bergeron would have been the odd man out. "We obviously thought that option was something we wanted to look at," Beattie said. "Our young center fielder can get better, and this will give him an opportunity to do that. Our defense wouldn't have been as good. But our offense, especially considering the experience, would have improved."

 

Take it from newest Mariner: 'I still have it, man'

by Les Carpenter Seattle Times staff reporter

He arrived with a clamor, clutching sunglasses in his hand and hope in his heart. Rickey Henderson walked into Lou Piniella's office last night and hugged his new manager. "I'm getting my freedom now," he said. "You can have all the freedom you want," Piniella replied. The greatest leadoff hitter the game has known will have a perpetual green light in Seattle. Piniella made that clear in the moments before Henderson burst into his office with a giant smile and shouted, "There he is!" They trust each other, Henderson and Piniella do. Their bond was sealed in the 1980s when Henderson was the center fielder for the New York Yankees and the most explosive base runner in the game. Piniella was his manager, a man made a scapegoat for the team's failure to win instantly. But somewhere they built a connection Henderson never developed with his last manager, Bobby Valentine of the Mets. Henderson never crossed Piniella. And Piniella never crossed Henderson. "I really enjoyed managing him," Piniella said. "He always played hard, you could just leave him alone and he was fine." Piniella is probably the main reason Henderson buttoned up a white Mariner jersey sometime before 6:30 p.m. and took a place in the dugout for Seattle's game with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. At age 41, with his career approaching the end, he needed to play for a manager he knew he could trust. Last night he got his freedom back. "I know what Lou wants and I know what he expects," Henderson said. "He's a winner." The Mariners' new leadoff hitter took a seat in Piniella's office late yesterday afternoon and began answering questions from the media about a 21-year career that eventually has brought him here on a one-year contract with an option for a second season. Someone blurted out the words "Can you still play?" And Henderson, with 1,339 stolen bases and 2,837 hits, laughed. "I still have it, man, I still have it," he said. Nonetheless, there is the matter of a .219 batting average and the fact he only stole five bases in the first 1 1/2 months of the season with the Mets, as Valentine made it clear Henderson was no longer welcome. "I really can't figure it out," Henderson said last night. "We never had a particular problem. We never got upset about anything or fought. I think the only thing was what the media blew out of proportion, which was that I wanted to play all the time. That's what they kept hitting on over and over. They made a big deal about it." Henderson said he talked with Valentine after being released earlier this week. "He wished me well and said, `It just wasn't working,' " Henderson said. "It just wasn't going right, but in life things don't go perfectly all the time. You've just got to continue living." Yes, he has heard all the attacks people make about his character, that he can destroy the carefully constructed chemistry of the teams on which he plays. But he pointed out that many of those teams usually win, a fact Piniella said went into the Mariners' decision to sign him. "I think I'm me and myself," Henderson said. "I think my motivation is based on being happy. I believe in the guys and I believe in the manager, the manager believes in me and they all believe in you." Which seems to mean he is happy to be in Seattle, playing for Piniella. "Rickey will be fine for us," Piniella said. However, in his first Mariner appearance, a pinch-running assignment in the eighth inning, he was almost tagged out at home on a double by Stan Javier. Still, he is trying to please. Already, Henderson has honored the team's request that he not wear uniform No. 24, which he has worn for much of his career. Since No. 24 belonged to the recently traded Ken Griffey Jr., the Mariners were not ready to give it away so soon, even to a certain Hall of Fame player such as Henderson who will instead wear No. 35, which was his number early in his career. Henderson shrugged. "Numbers don't make a player or do anything," he said. "Griffey did a lot here, if they want to hang his number up and smile, that's fine." Very different words than those which have been attributed to his insistence that the Mets allow him to wear No. 24 last year even though the team already had retired it in honor of Willie Mays. When asked about the conflict, Henderson shook his head. "(The Mets) didn't ask me about No. 24," he said. "They gave it to me." There will always be contradictions when Henderson speaks. This is just the way it has been for 20 years. And Piniella could care less. "All you have to do is stay out of his way," the manager said. Finally, Henderson has his freedom back.

Copyright 2000 The Seattle Times Company

 

Henderson off to fast start for M's

For 21 years he has been that feeling in pitchers' heads that something's not right. Like that feeling you get 20 miles down the freeway that you left the oven on or a candle burning in the living room. Since 1979, Rickey Henderson has been a big-league headache. Like the point guard who's always buzzing in your face or the blitzing linebacker who's always in your conscience. He is the leadoff hitter you least like to face. That ugly combination of power, speed and savvy. So it should have come as no surprise yesterday that, in his first Mariner at-bat, Henderson hit the 76th leadoff home run of his Hall of Fame career. It was a parabolic shot off Esteban Yan that dropped just above the yellow line over the left-field scoreboard. Another leadoff homer for the player who has hit more of them than anybody in the game's history. "That's not really a surprise to me. That's what I've been doing," Henderson said after the 4-3 loss to Tampa Bay. "Bobby Bonds told me once, `When you come up to the plate in the first inning, take a good cut at it and you'll make the pitcher nervous.' I've hit a few home runs that way." Signing Rickey Henderson last week was the easiest call in franchise history. How can a team that has been looking for a quality leadoff hitter every day since Vince Coleman's brief reign in 1995 pass up the game's best-ever leadoff hitter? Henderson is the quick shot of espresso to start the game. And he's the double latte in the late innings. He's the catalyst who turns a single into a double and turns a walk into a rally. "He does all the subtle little things," Manager Lou Piniella said. Like Friday night, when he entered as a pinch-runner for Jay Buhner and turned Tampa Bay reliever Billy Taylor's eighth inning into a short, personal nightmare. "All of a sudden Taylor was concerned about the baserunner," Piniella said. "You get quicker to the plate and you lose some of your stuff. You're not as deceptive. Rickey takes your concentration away." Worried as much about Henderson as the hitter, Taylor surrendered a double to Stan Javier and Henderson scored from first to tie a game the Mariners eventually won. When Henderson is on base, which is much of the time, he is 90 feet of hell. That inch-by-inch lead. Hands hanging between his legs. The eyes like computers reading the pitcher. Those powerful legs coiled to spring. He can change a game by himself. Change it with his bat, his batting eye, or his legs. "He's going to be good for the top of the order," Alex Rodriguez said. "We expect good things from him." Forget the notion that Henderson, at 41, is over the hill. He hit .315 last season for the Mets and his .417 on-base percentage was best among National League leadoff hitters. He also had 37 stolen bases in 121 games. "There's plenty of gas left in his tank," Piniella said. "He's in great shape. He looks no different than when I had him (with the Yankees) 14 years ago." And forget the theory floated by the Mets after they released him last week that Henderson will be a cancer in the clubhouse, a me-first, record-chasing prima donna. "Ricky's not a prima donna. That I can tell you," Piniella said. "Ricky's a gamer. He plays hard and he plays to win." Henderson didn't get along with Met Manager Bobby Valentine? That isn't exactly an exclusive club. Piniella will be the perfect manager for Henderson, in the twilight of his career. Unlike Valentine, Piniella won't let his ego get in Henderson's way. "Rickey's experienced. He knows how to play the game," Piniella said. "I'm going to stay out of his way and let him play. "The manager's job is to make him comfortable. Create a relaxed atmosphere to play, and the talent level will take you where you should be." Henderson's first Mariner start had a bit of everything. In his second at-bat, he sent Tampa Bay right fielder Jose Guillen to the warning track. He struck out on a 3-2 off-speed pitch in the fifth, then walked in the seventh and ninth. Henderson, who was thrown out in his first steal attempt, in the seventh, also committed an error in the top of that inning, bobbling Gerald Williams' RBI single and reminding us that he became unhappy with Valentine when the Met manager pulled him in the late innings for defensive reasons. That won't happen in Seattle. "I'm going to let him play," Piniella said. The Mariners lost a spicy game yesterday that included a bench-clearing ruckus. But they found a leadoff hitter. They didn't get Henderson just for Tampa Bay in May. They got him for Texas and Oakland in September and New York in October. They got him for his 208 postseason at-bats, his .339 World Series batting average, his six League Championship Series and three World Series. They got him to be their first-inning hair trigger. And their late-game pest. Rickey Henderson brings a little Broadway to First Avenue. Signing him was the right thing for the Mariners to do.