Bullseye with Jesse Thorn is a production of MaximumFun.org and is distributed by NPR.

It's Bullseye, I'm Jesse Thorn. This next interview is about Ricky Henderson.

Few people are more beloved in Oakland, California than Ricky. He was raised there.

In a professional career that spanned almost 25 years, Henderson played 12 for the athletics

in four different stints. He was probably the best lead off-hitter ever to play the game.

He holds the record for stolen bases at a now nearly unbeatable 1,406. He scored more

runs than any player ever. He was in short one of the greatest ever to play the game.

In his new book, Ricky, the life and legend of an American original, Howard Bryant looks

at what made Henderson so great and how his childhood in Oakland helped shape him.

In telling the story of Ricky, Bryant also tells a story about the history of baseball,

how players began to realize their true value as entertainers and how black players came

to assert themselves as stars in the game. It's a great book about a baseball legend. Let's

get into my conversation with Howard Bryant. Howard Bryant, welcome to Bullseye. I'm so

happy to have you on the show. Jesse, thank you for having me. It's great.

So Ricky Henderson was a great baseball player, but maybe you could characterize for me how

great a baseball player he was. Well, Ricky defies definition in so many ways because he really

is a unicorn. People have been asking me after this book came out. While I was working on

it as well, what Ricky's legacy was. I'm not sure that's the right word. At one point,

I think he had a legacy because there were players who came along inspired by him who

tried to play similar games to him who tried to follow in those footsteps. But now he's

a unicorn. The baseball is not played the same way where Ricky could dominate a game as an offensive

player, whether he was especially when he was on base, when he was in scoring position, when he

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