Craig Calcaterra, writing at his site Cup of Coffee News, has a note on Ricky Henderson’s passing.

To say this is a massive loss is about as big an understatement as is possible. Henderson was the biggest and brightest star of his generation. There may not have been any player in history who was better at more things than Rickey Henderson was.

Henderson was, without question, the greatest leadoff hitter of all time and the greatest base-stealer of all time. He, arguably, possessed the greatest combination of power and speed of any player in the history of the game as well. Perhaps the best characterization of Henderson’s career came from Bill James who once wrote that, “if you could split Rickey Henderson in two, you’d have two Hall of Famers.”

My favorite is Henderson’s speech after breaking Lou Brock’s stolen base record.

Brock was arguably my favorite baseball player growing up, really, until Ozzie Smith. I had this Brock poster when I was little. I wonder where it is now…