Henderson Trade Shakes Yankee Players

For years, the residents of the Yankees’ clubhouse were mostly unaffected by personnel moves. When news of the Yankees’ trade of Rickey Henderson to Oakland hit, however, few players could dismiss it. Even fewer embraced it.

The Yankees players saw Henderson as a force and believed that their team and its chances had been diminished by his departure.

“How do you replace a player like Rickey?” Don Slaught said.

“I’ve learned not to be surprised by what goes on in this game,” Jesse Barfield said. “But I guess you can say this one surprised me.” And hurt him, too. “I’m disappointed personally.”

Mel Hall, who liked to identify himself as Henderson’s best friend on the team, expressed disbelief. “Amazing,” he said as he learned of the trade Wednesday afternoon.

The trade brought outfielder Louis Polonia and pitchers Eric Plunk and Greg Cadaret to the Yankees.

The veterans were surprised that the club had dealt a player of great magnitude for unproven players. “We haven’t done that here except with Jack (Clark),” pitcher Dave Righetti said. “I’m trying to figure out what direction we’re going in.

“We’re going to miss a guy like that. No question. We’ve been having trouble scoring runs. This is the last thing I expected to see. Before he got here, we were a good team. When he got here in ‘85, we became a damn good team right away. He had that ‘try-to-get-me-out’ arrogance. Our whole lineup was like that last year. I hope he doesn’t come back and beat us. But you know he will someday.”

Don Mattingly tried to evaluate the situation realistically, knowing the Yankees stood to lose Henderson to free agency and get little in return after the season if they did not sign him. “It’s a tough situation for everybody,” he said. “I don’t think they wanted to let him go.”