Former Met of the Day: Steve Henderson (1977-1981)

Steven Curtis Henderson was born on November 18, 1952 in Houston, Texas. Steve was drafted by the Reds in the 5th round of the 1974 draft as a promising outfielder. There wasn’t much room on the big league Big Red Machine club of the seventies, so he became one of the key players in the trade to get Tom Seaver. On June 17th 1977, Henderson along with Pat Zachary, Doug Flynn, & Dan Norman went to the Mets in the Tom Seaver trade. There was a lot of hype and big expectations put on the young Henderson by the organization trying to make the Seaver trade look justified. Some hope for a bright future on a team that desperately needed something. Mets announcer Ralph Kiner even drew a comparison to NY Giants legend Mote Irvin. Henderson showed some promise and looking back was a good player all in all.

In his first game on June 16, 1977 he pinch ran for Ed Kranepool and ended up scoring the winning run. In his first at bat the fans gave him a standing ovation. “I was so nervous, I swung at one ball, and it hit the ground. When I struck out I got another standing ovation. How embarrassing”.

A week later, on June 23, Henderson came in as a defensive replacement for Kranepool in the top of the 11th inning of a game against the Braves and would hit a walk-off, three-run homerun in the bottom half of the inning. Henderson would go on to hit seven HRs in his first forty games. In a July game against Pittsburgh he had a three hit three RBI game carrying the lowly Mets to a much needed win. He would have three more three hit games that season as well. He faced Tom Seaver that August and he got two hits. The quiet personality of Henderson was often confused with him being arrogant. Pitchers tested the highly touted youngster by throwing at him and knocking him down. He hung in there and wasn’t intimidated. He finished 2nd in the Rookie of the Year voting, to Andre Dawson, batting .297 with 12 HRs, 12 doubles, 6 triples, 65 RBIs & 67 runs scored, with 350 at bats.

In the off season he was sent to Tampa to work with Willie Mays on defense. The Sey Hey Kid taught Steve about baseball and got him a five year glove deal with McGregor worth $3,500.

1978 was a little disappointing since he wasn’t becoming a superstar that the Mets had hoped, but he still had some solid offensive numbers. He played in 157 games but only hit .266, while leading led the NL in grounding into double plays (24) while striking out 109 times. He hit 10 HRs, with 65 RBIS, 30 doubles & tied a club record with 9 triples. Henderson also led the team with 156 hits & 83 runs scored. The next season he was limited to only 98 games due to injuries, but he hit over .300 (.306) in 350 at bats, bashing another 8 triples. In 1980 he played in 147 games, leading the team with 23 stolen bases and a solid .290 batting average. He was once again in the top of the leagues triples leaders (8) but only hit 8 HRs 13 doubles & 58 RBIs.

In the winter of 1981 Henderson was traded to the Chicago Cubs for the return of Dave Kingman. After hitting .233 he was sent to Seattle and had a solid year in 1983, hitting .294 with 32 doubles. He went to Oakland for three years and batted .301 & .289 with one injury prone .077 mixed in. He finished up in Houston at age 35, in 1988 hitting .217 in just 42 games.

In 12 seasons he played in 1,085 games with 3,484 at bats, hitting .280, with 68 HRs, 428 RBIs, 162 doubles, 49 triples, & 459 runs scored.

Retirement: Henderson was the Hitting coach for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in their inaugural season, and then he served as their minor league hitting coordinator. He returned in 2006 as their hitting coach taking them to the 2008 World Series. He was let go after the 2009 season. In 2006 he also earned a degree in Multimedia and Political Science. Steve has also been on hand for past Mets Fantasy Camps.