Athletics to retire Henderson's number

OAKLAND, Calif., July 9 (UPI) -- The Oakland Athletics announced Thursday the team will retire the jersey No. 24 of Rickey Henderson prior to a scheduled game Aug. 1.

Henderson was elected to the Hall of Fame in January and will be enshrined in Cooperstown, N.Y., July 26.

The A's will make him the fifth player in their history to have his number retired. Henderson will join Jim "Catfish" Hunter, Rollie Fingers, Dennis Eckersley and Reggie Jackson in receiving the honor.

"From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank the Oakland Athletics organization for retiring my number," Henderson said. "I would like to thank Jackie Robinson for opening the gates and allowing me to be to play the game of baseball."

Henderson had four different tenures with Oakland and spent 14 of his 25 major league seasons with the team.

While with the A's in 1982, he set the single-season record for stolen bases (130). He was a member of Oakland's World Series winning team in 1989 and claimed the American League MVP award as a member of the A's in 1990.

Henderson is Oakland's all-time leader in runs scored (1,270), walks (1,227) and stolen bases (867). He holds the all-time stolen base record of 1,406 and scored more runs (2,295) than any player in MLB history.