May 1, 1991: A new all-time record for stolen bases is set -- and it's not the biggest thing to happen in baseball on the day.
The Oakland Athletics defeat the New York Yankees, 7-4 at the Oakland Coliseum. For a few years now, A's manager Tony La Russa had been taking the "Captain Hook" approach of Sparky Anderson (then with the Detroit Tigers after leading the Cincinnati Reds to glory), replacing pitchers after the slightest slip. In this game, both teams used 5 pitchers.
La Russa started with Mike Moore, who was named the winning pitcher, and ended with Dennis Eckersley, whom La Russa turned from a seemingly washed-up former really good starter into a Hall of Fame closer.
Yankee manager Carl "Stump" Merrill started Tim Leary, but he was knocked out of the box in the 4th inning. Leary had gone 9-19 the year before. This game dropped him to 2-1, and he would finish 4-10. He went 17-11 with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1988, when they upset the A's to win the World Series. Other than that season, he went 61-94. He was not related to Dr. Timothy Leary, the psychologist who became the world's leading advocate for LSD; but you'd have to be on drugs to want him to pitch for your team.
Dave Henderson hit a home run for the A's, while Matt Nokes hit one for the Yankees. 3rd baseman Ernie Riles went 4-for-5 with a stolen base and 5 RBIs. He only had 27 other RBIs that season.
But the big story in this game was Rickey Henderson. (No relation to Dave.) He had set a still-standing record of 130 stolen bases in the 1982 season. The Yankees had traded for him in 1985, but, despite being one of baseball's greatest all-around talents -- of his 3,055 career hits, 297 of them were home runs, despite spending most of his career in the Oakland Coliseum, which was a pitcher's park, and Yankee Stadium, which was hard on righthanded hitters -- he never really fit in. They traded him back to the A's in 1989, and he helped them win the World Series, and a 3rd straight Pennant in 1990.
In the 3rd inning, he singled, and was singled over to 2nd base by Dave Henderson. He then stole 3rd base. It was the 939th stolen base of his career, breaking the record held by St. Louis Cardinals legend Lou Brock, who was on hand for the occasion.
A microphone was set up, and Henderson thanked, in turn, God, the Haas family (owners of the A's), the A's organization, the City of Oakland (where he grew up, although he was born in Chicago), the fans in the Coliseum, his mother, his friends, his loved ones, and former managers Tom Trebelhorn and Billy Martin (who had died in 1989).
Then he said, in words that another of his heroes, Muhammad Ali, might have appreciated, "Lou Brock was the symbol of great base stealing. But, today, I'm the greatest of all time. Thank you."
Brock took no offense, saying, "He spoke from his heart." But Henderson knew he had gone too far, later saying, "As soon as I said it, it ruined everything. Everybody thought it was the worst thing you could ever say. Those words haunt me to this day, and will continue to haunt me. They overshadow what I've accomplished in this game."
There is a difference between having a healthy ego, which is necessary to succeed in just about any endeavor, including professional sports; and having an excessive ego. Henderson certainly gave the impression of having the latter, not helping himself by being an illeist, a person who tended refer to himself in the third person, often calling himself "Rickey" instead of "I."
Henderson did go on to collect over 3,000 hits, become the major league's all-time leader in runs scored (2,295, a record he still holds) and walks (2,190), since surpassed by Barry Bonds, although he still holds the record for unintentional walks with 2,129). And he raised the record for career stolen bases to 1,406. To put that in perspective: As of May 1, 2022, the active leader is Elvis Andrus, with 318. Add his total to Brock's former record of 938, and that's 1,256 -- 150 short of Henderson's record.
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Just a few hours later, Henderson's thunder was stolen by Nolan Ryan's lightning. At Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas, Ryan pitched the 7th no-hitter of his career, against the Toronto Blue Jays. To this day, no other pitcher has more than 4. And, at age 44, he broke the record he set the year before, with his 6th, becoming the oldest pitcher ever to throw one.
The Rangers beat the Jays, 3-0. Ryan struck out 16 batters. He fell short of a perfect game, which none of his 7 no-hitters was, by walking 2 batters: Kelly Gruber in the 1st inning and Joe Carter in the 7th. The last out was a strikeout of Roberto Alomar. Rubén Sierra hit a home run for the Rangers.
His 6th no-hitter was pitched against the A's, at the Oakland Coliseum. The year before that, on August 22, 1989, at Arlington, Ryan had struck Henderson out for his 5,000th career strikeout. Like Henderson with stolen bases, and himself with no-hitters, he raised that record so high that it is incredibly unlikely that it will ever be broken: 5,714.
He finished his career with 324 wins, but also 297 losses, the most in the post-1920 Lively Ball Era. Ryan was a dominant pitcher, but, when he wasn't on his game, which was often, he was far from unhittable.
In 1999, Ryan was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on the first ballot. Henderson was still active, and therefore ineligible for the Hall. That same year, fan balloting named Ryan to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team, and did not name Henderson.
Henderson kept playing for as long as he thought he could, but probably should have retired after the 2001 season, shortly after getting his 3,000th hit and breaking the walks and runs records. He hung on for 2 more years at the major league level, and 2 more years in "independent" minor leagues. He did get elected to the Hall in his 1st year of eligibility, 2009.
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May 1, 1991 was a Wednesday. These other MLB games were played that day:
* The New York Mets lost to the San Diego Padres, 8-7 at Shea Stadium. Fred McGriff went 3-for-5 with a home run and 3 RBIs. Tony Gwynn went 2-for-5. Bruce Hurst outpitched Frank Viola.
* The Montreal Expos beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 9-3 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the San Francisco Giants, 4-1 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.
* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Seattle Mariners, 2-1 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Ken Griffey Jr. went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Cal Ripken Jr. went 0-for-3, but did draw a walk.
* The Pittsburgh Prates beat the Cincinnati Reds, 6-4 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Bobby Bonilla and Jay Bell hit home runs for the Buccos, while Barry Bonds went 1-for-3 with a walk and 2 RBIs.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Houston Astros, 11-8 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Chicago White Sox, 10-9 at Milwaukee County Stadium. This one went 19 innings. The Brewers scored 5 runs in the 5th inning. Each team scored 3 runs in the 15th. Former Yankee 2nd baseman Willie Randolph singled home the winning run in the 19th. Robin Yount went 0-for-7, although he did draw 2 walks. Paul Molitor went 1-for-6 -- with 4 walks.
* The Minnesota Twins beat the Boston Red Sox, 1-0 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. Scott Erickson pitched a 2-hit shutout. The only run came in the 8th inning, on a home run by Dan Gladden.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-4 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. A David Justice groundout got the winning run home in the top of the 10th inning.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Kansas City Royals, 6-4 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. George Brett did not play.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the California Angels, 5-1 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim).
Football was out of season. There were 2 games played in the NBA Playoffs. The Boston Celtics beat the Indiana Pacers, 112-105 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis. And the Golden State Warriors beat the San Antonio Spurs, 109-106 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.
There was 1 game played in the Stanley Cup Playoffs: The Boston Bruins beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 6-3 at the Boston Garden. But the Penguins went on to win the Stanley Cup.
Also, Marcus Stroman, an All-Star pitcher for the Blue Jays, was born on this day.
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