SAN FRANCISCO – Rickey Henderson, 48 years old, believes he can play and wishes to prove it.
“Seeing Roger [Clemens] come back, all the seed that it plants is ask me to come back one time,” Henderson told the AP yesterday.
“I’m going to look at it at the end of the year. I might come out with some crazy stuff, a press conference telling every club, ‘Put me on the field with your best player and see if I come out of it.’ If I can’t do it, I’ll call it quits at the end.”
Henderson, though, is certainly different from Clemens. The Rocket has played in the majors the last few years, while Henderson’s last year in the majors was 2003 with the Dodgers.
The Mets don’t have any interest in letting Henderson – who is a special instructor with them – play in their minor league system.
“I see Roger can come back and play. I can come back and play,” Henderson said. “They say I’ve done too much. What’d he accomplish?”
Added Henderson, “I’m through, really. I’m probably through with it now. It’s just one of those things. I thank the Good Lord I played as long as I played and came out of it healthy. I took a lot of pounding.”
Henderson is the career leader in runs scored (2,295) and stolen bases (1,406) and is second behind Barry Bonds in walks with 2,190. He also has 3,055 career hits, 297 home runs, won the 1990 AL MVP award and made 10 All-Star games. He won an AL Gold Glove in 1981 as an outfielder with Oakland.
Henderson is four months younger than Mets infielder Julio Franco.
“Julio’s out there. I know I can play with Julio,” Henderson said.