BOSTON -- At one end of the spectrum, there is Cal Ripken Jr.
At the other, there is Rickey Henderson.
Last night, Ripken played in his 2,130th consecutive game, tying Lou Gehrig's major league record. Aches, pains, bumps, bruises have been unable to keep him out of game since May, 1982.
Henderson? Well, from Aug. 14-16, 1993, he missed three straight games at Fenway Park because of frostbite on his left foot.
When it comes to desire and hunger to play the game of professional baseball, Ripken and Henderson are in different universes.
And that's not to say Henderson isn't, or hasn't been a talented player in his 16 major league seasons.
Last night, for instance, he contributed a two-run homer against the Boston Red Sox. On Sunday, Henderson beat the Yankees with a 10th-inning homer.
But actions speak louder than words. Ripken always plays, and always plays hard. Henderson, meanwhile, has been considered a petulant superstar, one who plays as hard as the spirit -- or the potential dollars -- moves him.
At his best, Henderson, now 36, has been one of the best leadoff hitters and most electrifying, disruptive baserunners of all time, a particularly dominant player when the spotlight has shone the brightest, in the postseason.
But there always has been an asterisk of sorts next to his name.
He's a great player -- when he wants to be.
His numbers suggest serious Hall of Fame consideration. He's a .290 hitter who joined the 2,000-hit club this season. He also has 235 homers, and is baseball's all-time stolen-base king, with 1,146, including 29 this year, an impressive combination of power and speed.
Henderson made the 1990 playoffs his personal showcase, batting .400 and swiping eight bases in earning Most Valuable Player honors. He's a career .339 hitter in three World Series.
But when the mercurial Henderson doesn't want to play? He sulks. He pouts. He doesn't play hard.
That has been the baggage that has dogged Henderson's career from Oakland to New York back to Oakland to Toronto and then back to Oakland once again.
The frostbite incident? He was a hot hitter on a team going nowhere, and had expressed a desire to be traded to a pennant contender, a wish he finally was granted, shipped to Toronto.
Henderson ultimately claimed his second World Series ring, romping home from second base on Joe Carter's dramatic championship-winning homer off Mitch Williams.
His career is in its twilight now. He's on the last year of a two-year, $8.4 million contract.
But his me-first attitude hasn't mellowed one iota.
The Athletics are in the hunt for a wild-card spot, even if they aren't at .500 yet. Every game is vital.
They had a chance to sweep Baltimore last Thursday. But Henderson decided he couldn't play. Or wouldn't play.
Word had filtered out of Cleveland that the Indians were inquiring about Henderson's availability. He was hurt that the Athletics would even entertain the notion.
"He's mentally unavialable," said a tight-lipped Oakland manager Tony LaRussa that day in explaining Henderson's absence. "Physically, he was fine."
"I'll take Cleveland to the finish line," a miffed Henderson said when the word got out.
LaRussa was highly irritated when he read Henderson's remarks.
"I see where he says he's a money player. But what about taking us to the finish line?" said LaRussa.
In the Oakland locker room, meanwhile, there seems to be a "What's new?" attitude. In the past, Henderson's gamesmanship with management has had a tendency to unsettle the players.
This time, though, the players responded with a collective shrug. They went out and completed a three-game sweep of the Orioles.
So the uneasy truce continues. Henderson was in left field, leading off for the Athletics last night. But if LaRussa had a Hall of Fame vote, he wouldn't necessarily cast it for Henderson.
"He has done some special things in baseball. But he is not a great player," LaRussa said.
Especially when compared to Cal Ripken.
"It's tough to get players to play one full month, or even one week at a time these days," said LaRussa in obvious admiration of Ripken's streak. "In this game, reliability is very important."
And while Rickey Henderson has been a star, "reliable" will not be on his baseball epitaph.
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