Rickey Henderson

Rickey Henley Henderson (born December 25, 1958) is a professional baseball player. Many include him among the greatest players of all time, including Rickey himself. Statistician Bill James was once asked if he thought Rickey Henderson was a Hall of Famer. James' reply: "If you could split him in two, you'd have two Hall of Famers."

Unique playing style

Henderson's playing style has one especially unusual feature: he throws left-handed and bats right-handed. Many right-handed throwers bat left-handed, but the opposite is extremely rare, especially among non-pitchers. Another left-handed thrower who batted right-handed was former Yale baseball player and President George H. W. Bush. Explaining how that happened, Rickey once said, "All the other kids playing around me were batting right-handed, so that's the way I thought you were supposed to do it, so that's what I did, too. At one point, I wanted to be a switch-hitter and try the left side, but I was hitting .300, .350 in the minors, and they wouldn't let me do it."

Related Topics:
Yale - President - George H. W. Bush

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~