Dave Henderson
David Lee Henderson, nicknamed "Hendu", was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball for the Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox, San Francisco Giants, Oakland Athletics, and Kansas City Royals during his 14-year career, primarily as an outfielder.
Henderson is best remembered for the two-out, two-strike home run he hit in the top of the ninth inning in Game 5 of the 1986 American League Championship Series. He helped his teams reach the World Series four times during his career—Boston in 1986 and Oakland from 1988 to 1990, with Oakland winning the championship in 1989. His uncle Joe Henderson appeared in 16 MLB games as a pitcher during the mid-1970s.
Road to the majors
Henderson was born in Merced, California and grew up in nearby Dos Palos, where he attended high school and played both baseball and football. With the football team, which won championships in 1975 and 1976, he played tight end, running back, and strong safety. One of his baseball teammates was future College World Series MVP Stan Holmes. The team won championships in 1976 and 1977. Henderson's uniform numbers—42 in football, 22 in baseball—were both retired by the Dos Palos Broncos, which inducted him into the school's Hall of Fame in 2012 and named their baseball field in his honor.Henderson was selected by the Seattle Mariners in the first round of the 1977 Major League Baseball draft. His first professional season was 1977 with the Bellingham Mariners of the Class A short season Northwest League, where he played in 65 games, batting.315 with 16 home runs and 63 runs batted in.
Henderson's next two seasons were spent in the Class A California League. In 1978, he was with the Stockton Mariners, batting.232 with 7 home runs and 63 RBIs in 117 games. In 1979, he was with the San Jose Missions, batting.300 with 27 home runs and 99 RBIs in 136 games. In 1980, Henderson moved up to Class AAA, playing with the Spokane Indians of the Pacific Coast League, where he played in 109 games, batting.279 with 7 home runs and 50 RBIs.
Major League Baseball
Seattle Mariners
Entering the season, Henderson was named the Mariners' starting center fielder on Opening Day, going hitless in four at bats. His first MLB hit came several games into the season—a home run against Oakland pitcher Steve McCatty, after Henderson had been hitless in his first nine major league plate appearances. He struggled at the plate throughout the season; at the end of April, he was batting.135, which improved only slightly to.172 at the end of May. After then going 1-for-10 at the start of June, he was sent back down to Spokane in Class AAA.Henderson spent much of the summer with Spokane, appearing in 80 games while batting.279 with 12 home runs and 50 RBIs. In early September, he was recalled, with his first appearance back with the Mariners coming on September 3, in a 20-inning game against the Red Sox—one of the longest MLB games ever played. From when he was recalled until the end of the season, he appeared mostly as a late-innings defensive replacement, finishing his first MLB year with a.167 average in 59 games played, with 6 home runs at 13 RBIs.
During the season, Henderson's playing time increased significantly, as he appeared in 104 games, with 85 complete games played. He batted.253 for the season, with 14 home runs and 48 RBIs. In, his batting average improved to.269 with 17 home runs and 55 RBIs, while appearing in 137 games, with 124 of them being complete games in the outfield. Henderson spent some of the season on the disabled list because of a hamstring injury. Still, he hit well, batting.280 with 14 home runs and 43 RBIs in 112 games played with 78 complete games in the outfield. His batting average dropped somewhat in, as he hit.241 with 14 home runs and 68 RBIs, while appearing in 139 games with 117 of them being complete games in the outfield.
Early in the season, Red Sox pitcher Roger Clemens became the first pitcher to record 20 strikeouts in a nine-inning game, which he accomplished in a game at Fenway Park against the Mariners, with Henderson being three of his strikeouts. Henderson struggled at the plate early in the season, batting below.200 as late as May 25. By the end of June, he had improved to.250, and he was batting.272 at the end of July.
Overall, Henderson played with Seattle for parts of six seasons, appearing in a total of 654 games, while batting.257 with 79 home runs and 271 RBIs.
Boston Red Sox
On August 19, 1986, the Red Sox, atop the American League East division, traded for Henderson and Mariner shortstop Spike Owen, sending Rey Quiñones, Mike Brown, Mike Trujillo, and a player to be named later to Seattle. Henderson was acquired as a backup for Boston center fielder Tony Armas. At the time of the trade, Henderson was batting.276 with 14 home runs and 44 RBIs, having appeared in 103 games.Henderson joined the 1986 Red Sox on August 19, and appeared in 36 games over the remainder of the regular season, with just 7 complete games. Most of his appearances were as a late-game defensive replacement in center field, or as a pinch hitter – he had only 51 at bats, collecting 10 hits with one home run and three RBIs.
The Red Sox finished the season on top of the American League East – 5½ games ahead of the New York Yankees – and would face the winners of the American League West, the then California Angels, in the American League Championship Series.
1986 ALCS home run
Henderson is best remembered for the two-out, two-strike home run he hit in the top of the ninth inning in Game 5 of the 1986 ALCS.At the time, the Angels were playing at home and were ahead in the series 3 games to 1 over the Red Sox. Henderson had appeared in Game 2 and Game 4 as a late-innings defensive replacement for Tony Armas, and was hitless in one at bat. In Game 5, Armas sprained his ankle in the second inning, and was replaced by Henderson, who entered the game to play centerfield in the bottom of the fifth inning. With the Red Sox leading 2–1 in the sixth inning, the Angels had a man on second with two-out, when Bobby Grich hit a deep fly ball Henderson attempted to catch on the warning track – the ball deflected off his glove and went over the wall, giving Grich a two-run home run. The Angels now had a 3–2 lead, with Henderson the likely scapegoat, should the Red Sox lose the game. Henderson batted in the seventh inning and struck out, while the Angels added two more runs in their half of the seventh.
The Angels had a 5–2 lead going into the ninth inning and were three outs away from their first-ever trip to the World Series, but the Red Sox closed the gap to 5–4 on a two-run home run by Don Baylor. When Henderson stepped to the plate to face reliever Donnie Moore, there were two outs and catcher Rich Gedman was on first after being hit by a pitch. After falling behind in the count 1-2 – the Angels now one strike away from advancing – Henderson took a ball to even the count at 2-2, and fouled off the next two pitches. Then, on Moore's seventh pitch of the at bat, Henderson hit a drive to left that cleared the outfield wall, stunning the Angels and all of Anaheim Stadium. Henderson's blast prompted television broadcast announcer Al Michaels to state, "You’re looking at one for the ages here.”
The Angels tied the game 6–6 in the bottom of the ninth, and the game went into extra innings. In the top of the 11th, the Red Sox loaded the bases with no outs, and Henderson hit a sacrifice fly Baylor scored on, which put the Red Sox ahead 7–6 and proved to be the margin of victory. Still down 3 games to 2 in the series, the Red Sox returned home to Fenway Park for the final two games, where they defeated the Angels 10–4 and 8–1 to capture the AL pennant. Henderson played center field for both of those games – collecting a walk and a run in each game, but going hitless – as Armas' injury kept him from playing. For the ALCS, Henderson finished 1-for-9 at the plate, with his only hit being the season-saving home run in Game 5.
1986 World Series
Henderson was the Red Sox' centerfielder throughout the 1986 World Series, as Tony Armas was sidelined by the injury he had sustained in the ALCS; Armas made only a single appearance, as a pinch hitter. Henderson hit.400 in a losing cause, as the Red Sox were defeated by the New York Mets in seven games. Henderson hit two home runs – the first during the Red Sox' 9–3 win in Game 2, and the second came in the 10th inning of historic Game 6, giving the Red Sox a 4–3 lead in a game they would go on to lose 6–5.1987 season
Henderson was Boston's starting center fielder for the first month of the season, and during April he hit.239 with 3 home runs and six RBIs. On April 30, the Red Sox called up rookie Ellis Burks from their minor league system, and Burks took over as the regular center fielder. Henderson saw his playing time decrease as he primarily played corner outfield positions, along with pinch hitting. At the end of May he was hitting.240, then he struggled during June, dropping to a.206 average. After having only six at bats in July, he received more playing time in August and raised his season totals to a.234 average with 8 home runs and 25 RBIs, but on September 1 the Red Sox traded him to the San Francisco Giants for a player to be named later.Over parts of two seasons with Boston, Henderson played in 111 regular season games, batting.226 with nine home runs and 28 RBIs.