Rickey Henderson's passing a reminder Mariners should be grateful for his brief stop

Major League Baseball lost a legend on Saturday as Rickey Henderson, the Man of Steal, passed away at 65. Henderson finished his career with 1,406 stolen bases, an MLB record that will may never fall. He also scored the most runs by an MLB player with 2,295, accumulated over 3,000 hits, and was the 1990 AL MVP.

Henderson played for nine MLB teams during his 25-year career, and he made a stop with the Seattle Mariners in 2000. 

After the New York Mets released Henderson in mid-May of that year, the Mariners signed him to a free-agent contract later that month. At the time, the signing came with concerns. Henderson had an ugly fallout in Queens, as manager Bobby Valentine ripped the veteran's lack of hustle in a May 12 loss to the Florida Marlins. 

According to Larry LaRue of the Tacoma News Tribune, when Henderson came to the Pacific Northwest, he made one comment to Lou Pinella: “Lou, let’s see if we can win a ring together.”

Henderson made his Mariners debut on May 19 as he pinch ran for Jay Buhner in the bottom of the eighth against Tampa Bay. He scored the tying run on Stan Javier’s double in Seattle’s 7-6 win. The next day, Pinella put Henderson in the leadoff spot and, on a 1-and-1 pitch from Esteban Yan, he homered in his first at-bat as a Seattle Mariner.

During his time in Seattle, Henderson hit .238/.362/.327 in 92 regular season games. Even at 41 years old, Henderson was still a thief on the bases, finishing with 31 stolen bases, including three in one game. 

The 2000 Mariners finished the season at 91-71 and won the AL Wild Card. In the ALDS, Seattle defeated the Chicago White Sox in a three-game sweep, where Henderson scored the walk-off series-clinching run in Game 3.

While the Mariners failed to reach the World Series, Henderson left a positive mark on his brief tenure in the Emerald City. Last season, he threw out the first pitch at T-Mobile Park in September. Henderson may have been a thorn against Seattle, but fans should be thankful he was part of the franchise's history.