Why the New York Yankees Traded Rickey Henderson but Signed Derek Jeter

Rickey Henderson played for the New York Yankees from 1985-89. His best season with the Yankees was his first season with the Yankees.

Rickey batted .314, had a .419 on base average, and slugged .519. He hit 24 home runs and batted in 72 runs. Rickey stole 80 bases.

In his four full seasons as a Yankee, Henderson stole 301 bases, but in 1989, Rickey got off to a slow start and was hitting only .247 after 65 games.

Desperate for pitching help and realizing that Rickey would be a free agent at the end of the season, the Yankees traded Henderson back to the Oakland A's in exchange for right-hander Eric Plunk, southpaw Greg Cadaret, and speedy outfielder Luis Polonia.

The Yankees were unwilling to sign Henderson to a three year contract despite the fact that, according to general manger Bob Quinn, the Yankees and Rickey were close. Quinn had offered $2.4 million a year for three years while Henderson wanted $2.8 million.

The Yankees thought that the 30-year-old Henderson's skills were eroding and giving him a three-year contract was too much of a risk.

Henderson played until he was 44 years old. After the Yankees traded him, Henderson batted .294 with 52 stolen bases for Oakland in 1989. He had a typical Henderson season in 1990, batting .325 with 28 home runs and led the league with 65 stolen bases.

The all-time career stolen base leader was far from finished. In the ensuing years, he had some fine seasons and some not-so-fine seasons.

He led the American League with 66 stolen bases in 1998, and in 1999, 10 years after the Yankees traded him, Henderson batted .315 and stole 37 bases for sports' most beloved team, the New York Mets.

Jump to 2010 to realize how drastically things have changed. The New York Yankees have signed Derek Jeter, who will be 37 years old this June, to a three year, $51 million contract, with a fourth year option based on Jeter's success during the first three years.

Of course, there are major differences between the Yankees not wanting to sign Henderson and being forced to sign Jeter.

Jeter has always been a Yankee. Fewer and fewer players now spend their entire careers with one team. There would have been an ugly backlash from fans and the media if the Yankees didn't sign Jeter.

Rickey was a 30-year-old outfielder in 1989. Most 30-year-old players still have productive years ahead of them.

Jeter is a 36-year-old shortstop. It is difficult to find shortstops at such an advanced age that maintain their skills, much less improve them.

In 1990, Henderson's salary with the A's was $2.4 million compared to Jeter's $15 million for 2011.

Derek Jeter is an all-time great, but Rickey Henderson can certainly hold his own. It is difficult to determine if Jeter were better than Henderson, but it is more difficult to speculate how the Yankees would have reacted in 1989 if Rickey had spent his entire career with the Yankees.

The guess here is that they still would have traded him.

References:

MARTINEZ, B. Michael. (1989, Yankees send Henderson back to Oakland:New York Times (1923-Current File), pp. B13. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/110304801?accountid=46260

Baseball Reference