Rickey Henderson, the two-time World Series Champion, once dreamed of being a football player along with being a baseball player.
In an interview with Susan Slusser, Henderson revealed how he was planning on joining the Oakland Raiders. Al Davis, the manager of the Raiders, had invited him to join the team.
Unfortunately, for the Raiders and fortunately for MLB fans, the Oakland Athletics shut it down quickly. Henderson remained with the team, playing as a left fielder. However, in the interview, the Athletics legend revealed the details of the incident.
Henderson said:
"When Bo Jackson first came into the league, I went to Al Davis to go play football and he was going to let me be a two-way player,”
He continued with:
“The Oakland A’s said, ‘Oh, no way. You’re not going out there. That’s not going to happen."
Rickey Henderson disclosed how he was inspired by Bo Jackson, who was the only player to be an All-Star in both professional baseball and football. The left fielder didn't end up switching to football. Fortunately for MLB, he stuck to baseball and ended up being on the All-Star team ten times.
He also ended up setting the record for career stolen bases at 1,406 and the record for career runs at 2,295. Henderson was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2009.
When Rickey Henderson reminisced about not becoming a footballer
In the aforementioned interview with Slusser, Rickey Henderson went on to further reveal his thoughts on missing the chance to become a footballer.
Henderson said:
"That was my chance, and I missed it. I always used to tell Bo (Jackson) and Deion Sanders, ‘I could have done that, played both sports, but the A’s said they weren’t going to let me.’ That was my dream."
Henderson also went on to explain his thoughts on Jackson being able to achieve his dreams of being a footballer. Whereas, the left fielder had to quit the dream and what he thought about that. He said:
"It’s always a tough choice. It’s really what you love, and his love really was football".
The Oakland Athletics legend went on to compare both his and Bo Jackson's situation by saying:
“People try to compare his decision and my decision, but mine was different. I came out of high school and I had time to grow in baseball, and he came out of college, he didn’t have as much time with baseball."
Rickey Henderson wasn't able to become both a baseball player and footballer like his idol Bo Jackson.
However, he still managed to achieve greatness in the major leagues of baseball. He is considered one of the greatest players in the game and will be remembered as such for a long time.