Dave Henderson

David Lee Henderson (July 21, 1958 – December 27, 2015), nicknamed "Hendu", was an American professional baseball player.

He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) 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.

His uncle Joe Henderson appeared in 16 MLB games as a pitcher during the mid-1970s.

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 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 (RBIs).

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.

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 (all in center field).

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 (78 in center field and 46 in right field).

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 (all but 9 in center).

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 (all but 12 in center).

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.

Henderson is best remembered for the two-out, two-strike home run he hit in the top of the ninth inning in Game 6 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.

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 to backup 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 (all in center field).

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 (.196 average) 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 (ALCS).

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.

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.