Dave Henderson
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David Lee Henderson (born July 21, 1958 in Merced, California, USA), best known as Dave Henderson, is a former Major League Baseball outfielder and right-handed batter who played for the Seattle Mariners (1981-86), Boston Red Sox (1986-87), San Francisco Giants (1987), Oakland Athletics (1988-93) and Kansas City Royals (1994).
Henderson is best remembered for his two-out, two-strikes home run in the top of the ninth inning of Game 5 of 1986 AL playoffs kept Boston Red Sox alive, with the California Angels one strike from their first World Series appearance. Henderson replaced Tony Armas, who was injured during the game. Later, in the 11th inning, Henderson won the game with a sacrifice fly. The rest is history.
Henderson was one of baseball's biggest surprises after signing as a free agent with Oakland. In the 1988 season he set career highs in batting average (.304), runs (100), hits (154), homers (24), slugging average (.525) and doubles (38). Athletics were 23-1 when he homered.
Selected for the 1991 All-Star Game, Henderson was on the way of the best season of his career. Batting in the number-two spot behind Rickey Henderson seemed to have a great effect. Henderson was consistenly getting fastballs to hit because the fast Rickey represented an automatic steal if a pitcher threw a curve. He was batting .340 before the All-Star break, but his average dropped to a final .276 when he tried to swing with power anytime. In the same season, Henderson blasted 3 homeruns in consecutive at-bats against Minnesota. After a severe damage to his right knee in 1990, he wasn't the same.
In 14-seasons career Henderson batted .258 with 197 homeruns, 708 RBI, 710 runs, 286 doubles, and 50 stolen bases in 1538 games. In eight post-season games, he hit .298 with 7 HRs, 20 RBI, 24 runs and a .570 SA.
External links
- Statistics career at Baseball Reference (http://www.baseball-reference.com/h/hendeda01.shtml)
- Page at Baseball Library (http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/H/Henderson_Dave.stm)