Rickey on Murray: Henderson faced similar choice.
Hall of Fame outfielder also had to decide between sports
MESA, Ariz. — Rickey Henderson heard all the Kyler Murray comparisons. He knew the A’s top draft pick last year was a 5-foot-10 outfielder with speed and power, and that scouts were dropping Henderson’s name when describing Murray.
“We were all gung ho to see him here — especially me,” Henderson told The Chronicle. “You know me — I was like, ‘Who’s like me? Let me see him!’ ”
Henderson, the greatest player in franchise history, is in Oakland’s camp as a visiting instructor, and he had looked forward to working with Murray this spring. After winning the Heisman Trophy, however, Murray declared for the NFL draft and last Monday, he announced he is going to pursue football full-time.
Though he’s disappointed, Henderson isn’t surprised. He, too, was once faced with this dilemma. A baseball and football player at Oakland Tech, Henderson was recruited to be a tailback and play baseball at USC and Arizona, among others, but his mother, Bobbie, had other ideas.
“Football was my love; I was a football player,” Henderson said. “But my mom’s love was baseball. And she didn’t want her baby to get hurt. I was mad, but she was smart. Overall, with the career longevity and the success I had, she made the right decision. Some of the players in football now have short careers and they can barely move around when they’re done.
“But I would have made it football. People who saw me play said I was a no-doubter. I would have been good. But for how long? Running backs then lasted three or four years.”
Henderson revealed to The Chronicle that he once tried to finagle a way to play for both the A’s and for his favorite team growing up, the Raiders.
“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,” Henderson said. “The Oakland A’s said, ‘Oh, no way. You’re not going out there. That’s not going to happen.’
“That was my chance and I missed it. I always used to tell Bo 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 said in retrospect, he wishes Jackson had played only baseball because a football injury ended Jackson’s career too soon. But Henderson doesn’t fault Murray for picking the NFL.
“It’s always a tough choice,” Henderson said. “It’s really what you love, and his love really was football. 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.
“Coming out of college and being at the top of his game with baseball was going to be very difficult, but football, he’s at the top of his game. He’s got a chance to go straight to the NFL and play.”
The good thing for Murray, Henderson said, is that he’ll have options even if football doesn’t work out — the A’s retain his rights.
“Baseball has more longevity, but in baseball, even the No. 1 pick overall isn’t a sure thing to make it to the big leagues. You’re not going to go from college straight to the pros,” Henderson said. “It’s just the chance you take. I’m not going to say he made the right decision or the wrong decision. If he makes it in football, he made the right decision. If he doesn’t, he can always come back to baseball. I don’t think he could do it the other way around.
“So he can see if it works out with his love, and if not, he can fall back on baseball.”
Henderson remains a football fan, and he enjoyed watching Murray play quarterback at Oklahoma on Saturdays.
“He’s a great player,” Henderson said. “People said he’s too short, but I don’t see him not being successful. He can play the game. He knows the game. The question is going to be whether he can get the ball over some of those linemen or what happens when he comes around the corner and Khalil Mack hits him. He might think, ‘That’s not what I want.’ He might call Billy Beane and say, ‘It doesn’t look good for me right now, I’m coming to you.’
“But I’m behind whatever he wants, because this kid is special.”