Sunday, August 23, 2009

Hall of Fame Inductee Row

On the ground floor of the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, there's a little room before you get to the hallway that leads to the Plaque Gallery. They call this room "Inductee Row," as it includes display cases and exhibits of all of the latest inductees.



On one side of the room was Rickey's display case, along with a poster with a summary of his career.



The other 2009 inductees, Jim Rice and Joe Gordon, shared the other side of the room, which had a bit more space than the corner that Rickey was in.



Here's a close-up of the display case, which had a nice selection of items spanning Rickey's entire career. Most of the items were donated to the Hall by Rickey or his prospective teams, but a few were donated by other individuals, while still others are only on loan for the exhibit.



Along with the display cases, each player also had their own version of the sign above.



A's Jersey from 1981 - The jersey above was worn by Rickey during the 1981 season, and is on loan to the Hall from Mark Simons (I don't know who he is, but I'd be interested to find out). The card describing this jersey also included the fact that Rickey has stolen a total of 24 miles of bases, 90 feet at a time.



Stolen Base from 9/13/1983 (donated by the A's) - This base was from Rickey's 100th steal in 1983, becoming the first player to ever have three seasons with 100+ stolen bases.

Batting Gloves from 5/1/1991 (donated by Rickey & A's)- To me, these might be the ultimate in Rickey collectibles. This pair of Rickey's iconic neon green batting gloves are the ones that he was wearing when he stole his 939th stolen base, breaking Lou Brock's all-time record. The shoes that he was wearing are already displayed in the permanent section of the museum.

Bat from 10/7/2001 (on loan from Rickey) - This is the bat that Rickey used to get his 3,000 hit, which was a double on the last day of the season while playing with the Padres.



1991 Trophy (on loan from Rickey) - The A's had this made in 1991 to commemorate Rickey's breaking of the all-time stolen base record. It's actually pretty similar to the crystal trophy that they recently gave him during his number retirement ceremony.

1987 Yankees hat - Rickey wore this hat while playing for the Yankees in 1987, but it doesn't have any specific significance. But, during the 4 years that he played for the Yanks, he did become the all-time franchise stolen base leader.



Shoes from 8/27/1982 (donated by Rickey) - Rickey wore these shoes when he recorded his 119th steal, breaking Brock's single season record, before continuing on to steal a total of 130 for the season.

Ball from 10/4/2001 (donated by Rickey & Padres) - While playing for the Padres, Rickey hit a home run with this ball (the one in the middle), and then proceeded to score his 2,246th run, breaking Ty Cobb's all-time record.



Ticket from 10/7/2001 (donated by the Padres) - This ticket is to the game in which Rickey recorded his 3,000 hit, which being the last game of the season, also happened to be the last gamge of Tony Gwyn's career.

Ball from 5/22/2002 (donated by Mike Weiss) - This ball (the one on the left in the picture above) was used in a game while Rickey was playing for Boston, and became only the 8th player in history to appear in over 3,000 games. The ball was donated by Mike Weiss, who runs Man Of Steal Sports, and controls Rickey's autograph appearances and memorabilia.





Ball and Hat from 2003 (donated by Mike Weiss) - Rickey wore this hat while playing for the Newark Bears in the Atlantic League in 2003. The ball is from the Atlantic League All-Star game in 2003, of which Rickey was the MVP.

6 comments:

perry said...

great stuff! thanks for sharing.. i'm jealous now..

funksteady said...

Great job man! You took some really nice pics. Boy I really like that 1981 home jersey on display.

The Doorman said...

Great photos of the Henderson exhbit! You were wondering who owns the 81 jersey well that is me. Feel free to contact me at:
rickey35@gmail.com

Mark

funksteady said...

Say what?! You, a Milwaukee cat with Rickey's 81 jersey! What gives? I know he broke Brock's single season record in your hood but sheesh...
LOL!
Just kidding Mark, great for you, now I'm jealous ;) Definitely one of my all time favorite jersey, especially with that number 35 in the back.

Anonymous said...

I have a Mitchell & Ness cooperstown classic jersey #35 from 1983, The green mesh jersey. I used to catch the BART train to the games I have seen Rickey Henderson steal a gang of bases in those times, he has to be one of my favorites of all time.

ManOfSteal said...

Anonymous, I missed out on Rickey's early years, but I did get to see him in the late 80's and early 90's, which was a lot of fun. Sounds like a pretty cool jersey that you have, the retro jerseys are always fine to get ahold of.