Via BBTF, Rickey Henderson opines on the skills needed to be a successful lead-off hitter:
“People ask, ‘How do you steal all those bases?’” he said. “But they never say, ‘What do you do to get on base?’ The first thing is, can you get on base a lot to give you the opportunity to steal so many bases? That’s what the guys are not doing. They’re not finding a way to get on the basepaths. A lot of leadoff hitters, they’re free swingers — they’re not patient enough to take a pitch or two knowing that they can hit with two strikes and get themselves a chance to get on base more.
“As a leadoff hitter, you’ve got to be patient. A lot of times, you’re giving your teammates an idea or vision of what the pitchers throwing, what pitches he’s getting over the plate, basically because you’re being a little more patient and you’re seeing what he’s got. The leadoff hitter always has to learn how to hit with two strikes. To be successful as a leadoff hitter, you’ve always got to be able to hit with two strikes.”
Henderson would have been the greatest lead-off hitter of all time even if he never stole a base. The running was just a bonus that will make his career in that slot tough to top. He’s one of my favorite players, and those two paragraphs help cement him at the top for me.
“People ask Rickey, ‘Rickey; how do you steal the most bases of anyone, in the all-time history of baseball? But they never say, ‘Rickey, what makes it so impossible to keep Rickey off the basepaths?’ The first thing that Rickey has to think about is; can Rickey get on base a lot to give Rickey the opportunity to steal so more bases than anyone else, in the all-time history of the great game of baseball? That’s why these chumps ain’t never gonna be as good as Rickey. They don’t understand that the first part of Rikeyization is knowing how to get your ass on the basepaths. A lot of leadoff hitters, they’re free swingers — they don’t have the zen-like patience that Rickey has. You see, Rickey knows that it’s better to take a pitch or two knowing that Rickey can still smash one hard up the middle with two strikes. That gives Rickey a chance to get on base more.
“As the greatest leadoff hitter of all time, Rickey’s got to be patient. A lot of times, Rickey is humbly and unselfishly giving Rickey’s teammates an idea or vision of what the pitcher’s throwing. Rickey is like the crystal ball that makes Rickey’s teammates Madame Cleo. They can look into Rickey’s at bats to see what pitches he’s getting over the plate, Rickey’s patience is like his teammates’ clairvoyance, Rickey lets them see what he’s got. Aspiring Rickeys always have to learn how to hit with two strikes. To be a successful Rickey, you’ve always got to be able to hit with two strikes.
General Managers should be scouting for young up and coming Rickeys. That or they should bring Rickey back to show them how it’s done.
Pay Rickey!”
I remember seeing an interview with Rickey way way way way way back in the 90’s when he was with the Mets, where he said that his goal when he came to the major leagues was to score more runs than anybody ever had. I’ve often thought that’s why he understood the importance of OBP, ’cause he was focused on ‘how to score’, not on ‘how to hit the ball’. And that’s really what every batter should be taught from little league on up — focus on how you’re going to score, nothing else.