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Rickey Henderson was -- now and forever -- the greatest leadoff hitter ever

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Summary
Nutrition label

79% Informative

Rickey Henderson was the Platonic ideal of a leadoff hitter.

He batted leadoff in 2,875 of his 2,890 big league games.

He was one of just 63 players to retire with a career on-base percentage over400.

Steals is the all-time leader in single-season steals ( 130 in 1982 ) and the career leader ( 1,406 ).

Bob Greene : For generations, Rickey Rickey represented childhood; he represents childhood.

Greene: No one will ever be more suited for a leadoff role on the field better than he was.

He says Rickey played so long that he was around to see perceptions of baseball value shift more than in any time in the sport's history.

The active leader -- the Dodgers ' Freddie Freeman -- is at 1,298 , nearly 1,000 shy of the mark.

VR Score

87

Informative language

88

Neutral language

67

Article tone

informal

Language

English

Language complexity

28

Offensive language

not offensive

Hate speech

not hateful

Attention-grabbing headline

not detected

Known propaganda techniques

not detected

Time-value

medium-lived

Source diversity

1

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