In the 121 years Major League Baseball had existed, you know you have to be truly great to be considered the best at anything. For Rickey Henderson, he was the undisputed greatest at two things: (1) stealing bases, (2) leadoff hitter.

Sadly, as immortal as he was as a baseball player, he was still a mortal man. Sadly, he had died at the age of 65 after battling pneumonia.

With Rickey, there is so much to discuss with his Hall of Fame career. He’s the all-time leader in runs and stolen bases. He has over 3,000 hits. He was the 1990 AL MVP and a two time World Series champion.

There was the funny story with the Mets where he walked up to John Olerud to tell him he had a teammate in Toronto who also wore his helmet in the field. That player, of course, was John Olerud.

That story may or may not be true, but it was quintessential Rickey.

When it comes to his Mets tenure, Rickey was a very important part of a team that captured Mets fans hearts. Steve Phillips and the Mets took a chance the 40 year old still had something in the tank, and boy, did he deliver.

In what was the last big year of his storied career, he had a .423 OBP and stole 37 bases. More than that, he was a mentor for a team looking to take the next step. He’d help Roger Cedeño set the Mets then single season stolen base record (66).

More than his mentorship, he came up big when needed. That included his great performance in the NL Wild Card Tiebreaker game.

He’d follow that with a great postseason. He hit .400 with a .500 OBP against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NLDS. It shouldn’t be a surprise he was great as he was always a clutch player.

In some ways, Bobby Valentine helped coax Rickey’s last great year by finding him spots to rest. What it did was create unrest. Rickey would force his way away from the Mets in 2000.

While it seemed he quit on the Mets, he never quit on baseball. When teams didn’t want to sign him, he played in the Independent Leagues waiting for Major League teams to call (they would).

Imagine loving baseball that much. A future Hall is Famer, the greatest leadoff hitter of all-time, playing with has beens and never will bes just because he loved the game that much.

Rickey always had an ego (well deserved), but his ego wouldn’t stand in the way of his playing the game he loved. He played baseball until no one would have him play. His career spanned until he was 44.

Eventually, Rickey lost that fight and retired. Sadly, he lost the fight for his life as well. Despite losing those fights, he wins because Rickey is immortal.

He’s enshrined in Cooperstown. He’s the stolen base king and best lead-off hitter of all-time. People remember him for that and his talking about himself in the third person, and the great stories.

We’ve been lucky to be able to see Rickey at his best. We’re lucky to have experienced his greatness. We’re lucky because even in death his legend will never die.