Category profile
- Dominance
- 86
- Peak
- 90
- Longevity
- 94
- Honours
- 84
- Statistics
- 93
Career timeline · Home runs per season
| Season | Home runs per season | Share of career |
|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 100 | |
| 1981 | 56 | |
| 1982 | 130 | |
| 1983 | 108 | |
| 1984 | 66 | |
| 1985 | 80 | |
| 1986 | 87 | |
| 1987 | 41 | |
| 1988 | 93 | |
| 1989 | 77 | |
| 1990 | 65 | |
| 1991 | 58 | |
| 1992 | 48 | |
| 1993 | 53 | |
| 1994 | 22 | |
| 1995 | 32 | |
| 1996 | 37 | |
| 1997 | 45 | |
| 1998 | 66 | |
| 1999 | 37 | |
| 2000 | 36 | |
| 2001 | 25 | |
| 2002 | 8 |
Data sources
- MLB
- Baseball Reference
- Olympics.com
Figures come from public records and are normalised per sport. See the methodology for category weights. Method
Why Rickey Henderson ranks #16 in Baseball
Rickey Henderson ranks 16th among Baseball athletes on GOAT Rank and 260th of 1063 across every sport in the index. The published GOAT Score of 89.1 is the weighted result of five verified category scores: Dominance 86, Peak 90, Longevity 94, Honours 84, Statistics 93. Those categories are normalised against the full Baseball reference universe of 262 records, not a shortlist, so the position reflects the whole sport rather than a handful of famous names.
The record covers 1979–2003 with 23 documented competitive seasons. The strongest single season in that series is 1982, which sets the Peak component at 90. Longevity is the defining strength of the profile at 94 out of 100, and it carries 20% of the final score. The underlying career record includes stolen bases 1406, runs scored 2295, mvp awards 1, world series titles 2.
Immediately ahead sits Roger Clemens on 89.6, a gap of 0.5 points. Directly behind is Greg Maddux on 89.3. The position moves whenever the verified record moves: new titles, new seasons or a corrected source all feed straight back into the same formula, and every change is dated on this profile.
Rickey Henderson GOAT Score explained
- Dominance86/100 · weight 25%
- Measures how far Henderson stood above the field while competing. Scored 86/100 against the full Baseball cohort.
- Peak90/100 · weight 20%
- Rates the best sustained stretch of the career, centred on 1982. Scored 90/100.
- Longevity94/100 · weight 20%
- Rewards staying at that level over time: 24 years of competition and 23 recorded seasons. Scored 94/100.
- Honours84/100 · weight 20%
- Counts documented titles, majors and awards in the verified record. Scored 84/100.
- Statistics93/100 · weight 15%
- Normalises the raw career numbers against everyone in the sport reporting the same metric. Scored 93/100.
Top Henderson comparisons
Rickey Henderson — frequently asked
- Is Rickey Henderson the GOAT?
- Not on the current data. Rickey Henderson ranks 16th in Baseball with a GOAT Score of 89.1, behind Hank Aaron on 93.7.
- What is Rickey Henderson's GOAT Score?
- 89.1 out of 100. It is the weighted sum of Dominance 86 (25%), Peak 90 (20%), Longevity 94 (20%), Honours 84 (20%), Statistics 93 (15%), computed from the verified career record.
- Where does Rickey Henderson rank all time?
- 260th of 1063 eligible athletes in the cross-sport index, and 16th within Baseball.
- Rickey Henderson vs Roger Clemens: who ranks higher?
- Roger Clemens, on 89.6 against Rickey Henderson's 89.1 — a margin of 0.5 points.