Oakland, CA -- (Sports Network) - The Oakland Athletics will retire Rickey Henderson's No.24 jersey in a pre-game ceremony on August 1, the team announced Thursday.
Henderson was elected to the Hall of Fame in January and will be enshrined at Cooperstown on July 26. The following weekend, he will become the fifth Oakland player to have his number retired, following pitchers Jim "Catfish" Hunter (No. 27), Rollie Fingers (34) and Dennis Eckersley (43), and outfielder Reggie Jackson (9).
"This is a dream come true," said Henderson. "When I was a kid growing up in Oakland, I could never have imagined this happening. From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank the Oakland Athletics organization for retiring my number 24. I would like to thank Jackie Robinson for opening the gates and allowing me to be to play the game of baseball. I would like to thank my family, friends and fans for their loyal support over all these years. This honor is for them, as well."
Henderson had four stints with the A's, spanning 14 years, during his 25- season career. He made his major league debut with Oakland in 1979 after being selected in the fourth round of the 1976 draft, and enjoyed milestone moments with the A's.
He set the single-season record for stolen bases (130) in 1982, helped the A's win a World Series in 1989, and won the American League MVP award in 1990, when Oakland took the AL pennant. In 1991, Henderson broke Lou Brock's career stolen bases record of 938.
Henderson is Oakland's all-time leader in runs scored (1,270), walks (1,227), and stolen bases (867).
"Rickey Henderson was the most exciting player in our franchise history and without question, the greatest leadoff hitter this game has ever known," said A's owner Lew Wolff. "To honor him in this way is only appropriate. He re- wrote the record books and provided so many thrills for our fans over the years."
Henderson also played for the New York Yankees, Toronto, San Diego, Anaheim, the New York Mets, Seattle, Boston and the Los Angeles Dodgers in his career, and holds major league records for runs (2,295) and stolen bases (1,406).
In 3,081 career games, Henderson had 3,055 hits, a .279 batting average, .401 on-base percentage and 297 home runs -- including a record 81 to lead off a game.
