Bay Area Sports Blog

At long last, the A’s announced official plans to  retire Rickey Henderson’s No. 24 on August 1 before a game against Toronto at the Coliseum. Henderson will become the fifth Oakland player — and first without a mustache* — to have his digits commemorated on the outfield wall, joining Catfish Hunter, Rollie Fingers, Dennis Eckersley, and Reggie Jackson. Henderson, who is the all-time runs and stolen bases leader and spent 15 of his 25 seasons with the A’s, will also be the first lefty batter/righty thrower in the Hall of Fame when he is inducted later this month. Awesome.

“This is a dream come true,” Henderson said through a team release, which an intern obviously edited by replacing all of Rickey’s third-person mentions of ‘Rickey Henderson’ to ‘I.’ “When I was a kid growing up in Oakland, I could never have imagined this happening. From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank the Oakland Athletics organization for retiring my number 24.”

If all of the other teams that Henderson played for followed suit, he’d have his number commemorated at nearly as many stadiums as Jackie Robinson.

*UPDATE: A reader astutely pointed out that Rickey has sported a mustache at times, though his is hardly as distinct as the others’.

…Other linkage, not including e-mails from an asshole not named Chris Pronger…

Aaron Sorkin will take a stab at the Moneyball script and is expected to turn a draft around by August. We can’t wait! Hollywood Reporter

An interesting list of 10 of the quirkier player rituals, which features Yorvit Torrealba but not Nomar. Mental_Floss

GM Larry Riley says the Warriors would like to acquire another big guy with some experience. Hey wait, don’t the Suns have a guy who fits that description? KNBR

Rich Aurilia says that “winning breeds happiness,” which would make the Giants’ clubhouse akin to the neonatal unit at a puppy factory. Ostler

For my 26^th birthday, I received a digital camera. John Bowker, who learned some plate discipline in Fresno, got promoted to the major leagues. Advantage Bowker. McCovey Chronicles

Giants prospect Angel Villalona will be out 4 to 6 weeks with a strained left quad. Bay Bridge Baseball

The 49ers will definitely maybe possibly perhaps not make the playoffs this year. Maiocco

JaMarcus Russell is usually the one who has trouble finding his receivers, but this week’s it’s everyone else who can’t seem to locate Oakland’s wideouts.  Louis Murphy, Will Franklin, and waiver wire pickup Todd Watkins are working out with Russell somewhere in Alabama, according to NFL Network reporter Jason LaCanfora, who says the “whole thing’s been fairly top secret.”  NBC Bay Area

  or     or  

By Scott on Friday, July 10th, 2009 at 6:00 am.
Tags: Golden State Warriors, Oakland A's, Oakland Raiders, San Francisco 49ers, San Francisco Giants