Rickey Henderson in 1980 October 24, 2023

I'm currently in the middle of listening to the book Billy Ball: Billy Martin and the Resurrection of the Oakland A's by Dale Tafoya and a number of things of the A's 1980 season have stood out to me. For this post I'm going to talk about Rickey Henderson's 1980 season.

Under manager Billy Martin, the A's were unleashed on the American League in the form of stolen bases. Double steals, triple steals, bunts, sacrifice bunts, suicide squeezes and outright steals of home became the norm. Leading the way was second year player Rickey Henderson. Keep this in mind, while steals were common from 1900 to to the 1980 season, players to reach the 100 steals plateau was ultra rare. So who were the players to steal more than 100 bases in the modern era up to the 1980 season?

• 118 Lou Brock in 1974 **MLB and NL Record
• 104 Maury Wills in 1962

That's it.

The American League record was held by Hall of Famer Ty Cobb who stole 96 bases for the Detroit Tigers in 1915. The A's franchise record was set by Hall of Famer Eddie Collins with 81 stolen bases for the Philadelphia A's in 1910. Once it would be said and done, Rickey Henderson would shatter all the records and be left standing on top of the stolen base mountain. But back to 1980.

Henderson would steal 33 bases in 44 attempts in his rookie season of 1979 under manager Jim Marshall. The A's would finish with an abysmal record of 54-108. Not surprisingly, Marshall was let go of his managerial duties by A's owner Charley Finley. With Billy Martin without a managerial job of his own, Finley would bring Martin back to his hometown to manage the A's. Under Martin in 1980, the A's would steal a total of 175 bases. Henderson stole 100 bases on his own.

Henderson would swipe 100 bases in 126 attempts for roughly just under 75% successful steal rate. But Rickey wasn't only stolen bases. Henderson would bat .303 with 197 hits (22 2B/4 3B/9 HR) with 117 walks. Henderson would finish his career with 2190 walks for second on the list. A guy named Barry Bonds holds the major league record for walks with 2558 BBs. But I digress.

Henderson would follow up his 100 steals in 1980 with 130 steals in 1982 and 108 steals in 1983. The 1981 season was shortened due to the players strike. Henderson only stole 56 bases in that season. With his three 100 steal seasons, Rickey established himself as the only American League player to steal 100+ bases.

I'll touch upon Rickey's record setting 130 stolen bases in 1982 in a later post. For my next post, I'm going to focus on the Oakland A's five man starting rotation in 1980 and the ridiculous amount of complete games that the quartet amassed that season.

Until Then Keep Playing Ball,

Baseball Sisco
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I Just Realized I Haven't Posted Here in 5 Years!!!

Like the emoji to the right, I am totally mind blown that I haven't posted to this blog in over five years. Five years!!!! WTF!!!

I guess I've been very active on my BaseballSisco Instagram account and haven't written anything here. As of late I've been posting the results of my daily Immaculate Grid results and trying to reignite my Baseball book reading. Well its actually more listening these days since my attention span is not the same as it used to be. Plus I tend to listen to podcasts and books while sorting the mail at the USPS. 

The current reading/listening selection is Billy Ball: Billy Martin and the Resurrection of the Oakland A's by Dale Tafoya. 

Here is how the book is described by the publisher:

"There was no more polarizing manager in baseball than the hot-tempered, hard-drinking, risk-taking Billy Martin. During a time of economic uncertainty and waning baseball interest in Oakland, Billy Ball filled the stands, rejuvenated fans, and saved professional baseball in the city. Based largely on interviews with former players, team executives, and journalists, Billy Ball captures Martin's homecoming to the Bay area in 1980, his immediate embrace by Oakland fans, and the A's return to playoff baseball."

Tafoya is a journalist whose writing has appeared in a number of publications and has followed the Oakland A's for over 30 years. 

As a lifelong Yankees fan, there is nothing but love for Billy Martin. Watching him get George Brett frothing at the mouth during the infamous Pine Tar game is a classic Billy moment. I'm looking forward to hearing about Billy's escapades as the manager of the Oakland A's. 

I promise to post more about this book when I get further along. And I hope to be more consistent with posting going forward. 

Until Then Keep Playing Ball,

Baseball Sisco
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#BaseballSiscoKidStyle