SF Chronicle - Knapp: At his core, Henderson always an Athletic

The A’s have finalized plans to retire Rickey Henderson’s jersey on Aug. 1, a week after he enters Cooperstown. Let’s hope that as all the pomp unfolds around the Bay Area’s newest Hall of Famer, someone remembers to add levity to the proceedings.

The A’s might want to show a video of Henderson in various jerseys over 27 years, from the A’s of 1979 to the Yankees to the A’s again, then to the Padres twice, the A’s two more times, and to the Newark Bears and San Diego Surf Dawgs. His refusal to retire from baseball - which appears to remain half in effect, despite his election to the Hall of Fame - reflected both his eccentricity and his devotion to the sport.

The A’s have nothing to lose by giving a nod to all of the teams that got a piece of Henderson (nine major-league clubs in 13 stops). He may have won his second World Series ring in Canada, with the Blue Jays, and collected his 3,000th hit with the Padres, on the same day that Tony Gwynn said farewell to the game. But he was always an Oakland man, from his high school days to the games in which he broke both of Lou Brock’s stolen-base records, for a season and a career.