There Are Bad Ideas And Then There Is This

I mean, seriously, are the Mets this dumb? As you've no doubt heard if you follow baseball, Rickey Henderson has been hired as the Mets hitting coach.

Rickey Henderson is an imbecile.

Seriously. He's also a self-absorbed, really stupid, really poor example of a professional. I know this probably sounds harsh but if I'm even partially right, is that the kind of guy who should be mentoring young players? Or anyone?

This is the same guy who still thought he might be able to play in the major leagues this season. The same guy who played with John Olerud in Toronto and then when they got together on the Mets a few years later commented on Olerud's on-field helmet and said, "Hey, I played with a guy in Toronto who had to wear one on the field, too." Same guy, Rickey.

Rickey Henderson who used to do the swipe-catch on fly balls. Rickey Henderson who was playing cards in the g-damn clubhouse with notorious asshole Bobby Bonilla during the 1999 playoffs against the Braves. Playing cards in the clubhouse while their team was out there fighting for their season. What a guy!

I've heard that he's been invaluable to Jose Reyes as an instructor with the Mets as well as other young hitters and I only hope (and I'm not even a Mets fan) that he actually is good. Because, on the surface, this is a terrible, terrible decision. Rickey has been divisive and a poor influence in many clubhouses that he has been in. He also had a habit of trying to be more than he was (i.e., trying to be a home run hitter when he really needed to just get on base -- think Willie Mays Hayes from Major League).

This article from a few years back has some brilliant Rickey quotes in it that I will share here in case you don't feel like waiting for the page to load:

On hustling: "I can hit a line-drive, one-hopper to second base. As fast as I am, if you think I'm going to run that fast on a one-hopper to second base, you got some thinking coming. I know I'm out. Then you want to say I didn't hustle. But if the next time I get a base hit, and I'm stealing second and third, am I not hustling? The other guy, he hits the same ball, and look at him. He's still standing at first base. I'm not hustling? You get out of here. You're crazy."

First of all, a line drive and a one-hopper are completely different things but I guess we understand, Rickey. And yes, it absolutely does mean you weren't hustling all the time if you don't run out your grounders hard. Do you know why Ichiro will probably get 3,000 hits despite starting in MLB at 27 years old? Because he runs out everything.

On being a hot dog: "If you weren't on my team, you'd think I'm crazy. You'd think I'm the worst guy of all. Most people do. You play the game so annoying, you play the game so good. We hate you. But I go with you, and you say we love the way you play the game. Do that flare-step style when you hit home runs. But you hated me when I did it against you. No, we want you to do it. Please, Rickey, I'm waiting on that. Rickey, would you please hit one?"

Well, to begin with here, this is so schitzo-nonsensical that it's hard to decipher. But I think he's implying that opponents hate his hot-dogging but his teammates always begged him to do it. I'm calling BS on this one for sure. In fact, I am certain that nobody begged Rickey to act like an a-hole hot dog when he hit home runs. If Rickey can produce one person who can back this up, I will walk to Oakland, buy a Rickey jersey and walk back, all without shoes. Or pants.

As I said, I think this is a terrible idea by the Mets and it feels like we're in a time tunnel and Steve Phillips is still running the team. This will end in disaster.