Dave Henderson
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Dave Henderson | |||
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Henderson with the Oakland A's in 1989
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Center fielder | |||
Born: Merced, California |
July 21, 1958|||
Died: Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. Seattle, Washington |
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MLB debut | |||
April 9, 1981, for the Seattle Mariners | |||
Last MLB appearance | |||
July 29, 1994, for the Kansas City Royals | |||
MLB statistics | |||
Batting average | .258 | ||
Home runs | 197 | ||
Runs batted in | 708 | ||
Teams | |||
Career highlights and awards | |||
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David Lee Henderson (July 21, 1958 – December 27, 2015), nicknamed "Hendu", was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox, San Francisco Giants, Oakland Athletics, and Kansas City Royals during his 14-year career.
Henderson helped his teams reach the World Series four times during his career (1986 with Boston, 1988–1990 with Oakland). However, his only World Series ring came in 1989, when the A's swept their Bay Area rivals, the San Francisco Giants.
Henderson attended Dos Palos High School, where his football #42 and baseball #22 were both retired for his home town Broncos.
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1986 ALCS home run
Henderson is best remembered for the two-out, two-strike home run he hit in the top of the ninth inning in Game 5 of the 1986 ALCS. At the time, the California Angels were playing at home and had a 3-1 series lead. They had a 5-2 lead going into the ninth and were three outs away from their first-ever trip to the World Series, but Boston closed the gap to 5-4 on a two-run home run by former Angel Don Baylor. When Henderson stepped to the plate, there were two outs and Rich Gedman was on first after being hit by a pitch. On a 2–2 count, Henderson, who had entered the game to replace the injured Tony Armas, then hit a drive off Donnie Moore that stunned the Angels and all of Anaheim Stadium. The home run saved Henderson from possibly being a scapegoat,[citation needed] after Bobby Grich's sixth-inning warning track fly ball deflected off his glove and over the wall for a two-run home run that gave the Angels a 3-2 lead. The ball hit the palm of his glove an instant before he hit the fence, dislodging the ball and sending it over the fence. The Angels tied it up at six in the bottom of the ninth, but in the 11th inning, Henderson hit a sacrifice fly that would prove to be the margin of victory. Still down 3 games to 2, the Red Sox returned home to Fenway Park for the final two games, where they defeated the Angels 10–4 and 8–1 to win the series.
Henderson went on to hit .400 in a losing cause as the Red Sox were defeated in the 1986 World Series by the New York Mets in seven games. Henderson hit two home runs, his second scoring the go-ahead run in the top of the 10th inning of Game 6.
Later career
Henderson was one of baseball's biggest surprises[citation needed] after signing as a free agent with Oakland following a brief stint with the Giants. In the 1988 season he set career highs in batting average (.304), runs (100), hits (154), slugging average (.525) and doubles (38). He also hit 24 home runs that season and the Athletics were 23–1 when he homered[citation needed].
Selected for the 1991 All-Star Game, Henderson was on his way to the best season of his career, batting in the number-two spot in the A's lineup behind Rickey Henderson (no relation). The slugger was consistently getting fastballs to hit because the speedy Henderson was a stolen base threat every time he reached safely[citation needed]. Henderson was batting .340 before the All-Star break, but his average dipped in the second half of the season and he finished the year at .276, though he did hit a career-high 25 home runs. That year, Henderson blasted three home runs in consecutive at bats against Minnesota.[1]
While he did come back to hit 20 home runs in 1993, Henderson was never the same player after blowing out his knee the previous season.[citation needed] He finished up his career as a reserve player with the Kansas City Royals in 1994.
Broadcasting career
From 1997 to 2006, Henderson worked as a color commentator during Seattle Mariners radio and television broadcasts. In 2011, he returned to the Mariners' radio booth as one of a rotating crew of part-time announcers succeeding the deceased Dave Niehaus.
Death
Henderson suffered a heart attack and died at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle on December 27, 2015.[2][3]
References
External links
- Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball Reference (Minors)
- Retrosheet
- Venezuelan Professional Baseball League
- Page at Baseball Library
- Baseball's 25 Greatest Moments: Dave Henderson's Home Run
- Use mdy dates from December 2015
- Articles with unsourced statements from April 2013
- Articles with unsourced statements from October 2011
- Articles with unsourced statements from December 2015
- Pages using baseballstats with unknown parameters
- 1958 births
- 2015 deaths
- African-American baseball players
- American League All-Stars
- Baseball players from California
- Bellingham Mariners players
- Boston Red Sox players
- Kansas City Royals players
- Leones del Caracas players
- Major League Baseball announcers
- Major League Baseball center fielders
- Modesto A's players
- Oakland Athletics players
- People from Merced County, California
- San Francisco Giants players
- San Jose Missions players
- Seattle Mariners broadcasters
- Seattle Mariners players
- Spokane Indians players
- Stockton Mariners players
- Tacoma Tigers players