#CardCorner: 1981 Topps Steve Henderson

He was the player the New York Mets figured would be their future cornerstone when they traded Tom Seaver in the middle of the 1977 season.

Steve Henderson nearly lived up to the hype that summer, coming within one vote of being named National League Rookie of the Year despite playing in just 99 games. And while his peak likely came in those 99 games, Henderson still amassed a long playing career that saw him wield a potent bat for more than a decade.

Born Nov. 18, 1952, in Houston, Henderson went undrafted out of Jack Yates High School and enrolled at Prairie View A&M just outside of his hometown. He quickly became a star on the diamond, earning Area 2 NAIA All-Star honors in 1974 after hitting .488 as a shortstop. The Reds took him in the fifth round of the 1974 MLB Draft and made him an outfielder.

Sent to Billings of the Pioneer League that summer, Henderson led the league in runs scored (60) and tied for the lead in home runs (eight) and RBI (44) while hitting .289 with 15 stolen bases in 72 games. Promoted to Class A Tampa of the Florida State League in 1975, Henderson hit .279 with a league-leading 16 triples in 123 games.

“I’ve never seen anyone in minor league ball who works as hard as Steve,” Reds pitcher Paul Moskau, who was Henderson’s minor league teammate, told the Associated Press in the spring of 1977. “He can carry a ballclub.”

In 1976, Henderson led the Double-A Eastern League in hits (158) and triples (11) at Trois-Rivieres while hitting .312 with 44 steals and 17 home runs. That performance earned him an invitation to the Reds’ big league Spring Training camp in 1977.

“I’ve got news for you, men,” Reds manager Sparky Anderson told reporters in the spring of 1977 after Henderson hit his team-leading third home run. “That guy in center field is going to be some player.”

Observers compared Henderson’s hitting style to that of two-time NL batting champion Tommy Davis. But with an outfield of George Foster, César Gerónimo and Ken Griffey Sr., Anderson had no place to play Henderson. He was among the team’s first cuts that spring and was sent to Triple-A Indianapolis.

“I want to play every day, not sit on the bench,” Henderson told the AP in Spring Training of 1977. “I’ve got a while to wait. When they bring me up, I want to be ready.”

Henderson continued to blister minor league pitching at Triple-A, hitting .326 with seven home runs, 25 RBI and 19 steals through 60 games. But on June 15, Henderson’s apprenticeship came to an end when he was involved in one of the biggest trades of the era. That day, the Mets sent Tom Seaver to the Reds in exchange for Doug Flynn, Dan Norman, Pat Zachry and Henderson.

The Mets immediately brought Henderson to the big leagues, where he debuted on June 16 against the Astros, scoring the game-tying run in the seventh inning while pinch-running for Ed Kranepool in what became a 4-3 New York win.

Henderson understood that he would be immediately placed under the New York microscope due to the departure of Seaver.

“I don’t want to be compared to Tom Seaver,” Henderson told the Tampa Tribune. “He’s a great pitcher and I’ve just played in the minor leagues. (Mets manager) Joe Torre put it good when he said Cincinnati got a good deal now, but in the long run we may come out on top.”

Henderson got his first start on June 17, recording two hits as the Mets’ starting left fielder. He hit his first big league home run on June 21 to give the Mets a 5-2 win over the Braves after Félix Millán was intentionally walked in front of him in the bottom of the 11th inning.

“This is better than coming up (to the major leagues),” Henderson told the Newark Star-Ledger after the game. “(The intentional walk) made me a little mad. It showed me no respect.

“Nothing I’ve ever done can top this.”

Mets owner M. Donald Grant, who had received criticism for the deal that sent Seaver to the Reds and brought Henderson from Cincinnati, offered his personal congratulations to Henderson in the clubhouse after the game.

“There’s no telling what this will do for his confidence,” Mets manager Joe Torre told the Star-Ledger. “Now he’ll come out tomorrow and feel like he belongs.

“No matter how hard you hit in the minors, you’re not a major leaguer until you get here.”

Torre kept Henderson in left field as he got acclimated to the big leagues, and by the end of July Henderson had pushed his batting average over .300 while soon-to-be Hall of Famer Willie Mays, then a Mets coach, helped Henderson get his feet wet.

“Willie did a lot for me,” Henderson told the Star-Ledger in 2008. “He talked to me about hitting, he got me a car and he helped me find a place to live. I was a pretty naïve kid from Houston, and he was a mentor.”

And – just like Mays – Henderson proved to be a clutch performer: His first four big league home runs either tied the game or put the Mets in front.

“Steve knows where the money is,” teammate Lenny Randle told The Record of Hackensack, N.J., referring to Henderson’s fee for appearing on The Ralph Kiner Show after Mets games, which usually featured the star of the game. 

Henderson quickly bonded with his new teammates.

“I feel more relaxed now,” Henderson told The Record after his first month in the big leagues. “Everyone here has been real nice to me. They’ve been helping me. (John) Milner, Lenny (Randle) and (Ed) Kranepool, too. I know more what to expect.”

A late-season mini-slump dropped Henderson’s batting average to .297 but he still posted an .852 OPS with 12 homers, 65 RBI and 67 runs scored in his 99 games – leading the club in RBI and tying for the lead in home runs. He finished second to future Hall of Famer Andre Dawson in the NL Rookie of the Year voting, missing the top spot by one vote (10-9) in an era where only first-place votes were recorded.

“He’s got raw talent and it’s just coming to the surface,” Mets batting coach Phil Cavarretta told The Record. “He’s just a natural hitter. When he gets completely used to being in the big leagues, he’s going to be a very good hitter.”

Henderson began the 1978 season as if he was ready to join the elite hitters in the big leagues. After going 1-for-3 on Opening Day against the Expos, Henderson homered off Rudy May a day later in a game New York won 6-5 in the bottom of the ninth on an Ed Kranepool home run. The next day, Henderson came off the bench in the sixth inning of the first game of a doubleheader and hit a grand slam while pinch-hitting for Ron Hodges to power the Mets to what became a 6-5 win.

It marked only the second pinch-hit grand slam in Mets history.

“I was nervous,” Henderson, who was not in the starting lineup because he was fighting a cold, told the Star-Ledger. “The first fastball (Expos pitcher Darold Knowles) threw was in the catcher’s glove before I saw it. But when he tried the same pitch the next time, I was ready.”

After a slump that lasted for a month starting in mid-April – due somewhat to being hit on the elbow by a pitch from Chicago’s Rick Reuschel – Henderson pushed his batting average back into the .270 range before finishing at .266. But he struck out 109 times – sixth-most in the NL that year and an usually high total for a contact hitter for that era – and led all NL left fielders with 11 errors.

His season totals of 83 runs scored, 156 hits and nine triples would all be high-water marks for his career.

Henderson bounced back in 1979 and was hitting .304 with an .817 OPS on July 30 when he severely injured his left ankle while tripping over third base vs. the Pirates. He appeared in only one more game the rest of the season, finishing with a .306 batting average on the strength of 107 hits over 98 games.

Once his ankle healed, Henderson went to Puerto Rico to play winter ball but injured his right shoulder there while diving for a ball. He reported to Spring Training in 1980 unable to throw or swing the bat but worked his way back into shape and was the Mets’ Opening Day left fielder for the third straight season.

“The injuries slowed me down, sure,” Henderson told the Tampa Bay Times. “But even in those years I was injured I still managed to have fairly decent years. I’m sure I would have had better years if I hadn’t had the injuries, but that’s the way things happen. I just hope all the injuries are behind me now.”

Henderson hit well from the start in 1980 and was batting as high as .349 in June. He finished the season with a .290 average, 75 runs scored, eight homers, 58 RBI and a career-best 23 stolen bases. The highlight of his season came on June 14 when his walk-off three-run homer off the Giants’ Allen Ripley rallied the Mets from a four-run deficit to a 7-6 win that left New York just one game (27-28) under .500. New York would finish the year with 95 losses.

Through the 1980 season, Henderson’s .287 batting average was the best for any player in Mets history.

Henderson agreed to a one-year contract worth a reported $200,000 on Jan. 30, 1981. But trade rumors had been circling since the Winter Meetings as the Mets tried to add power to their lineup. On Feb. 28, those rumors became reality as the Mets sent Henderson to the Cubs in a one-for-one deal for Dave Kingman.

“I started talking to the Cubs last September,” Mets general manager Frank Cashen told The New York Times. “I told them: ‘If you ever trade (Kingman), I’m interested.’

“About 20 different names were mentioned in our talks, but I wouldn’t trade away our young pitchers. Steve’s such a neat kid that I hated to tell him he was traded.”

Henderson left the Mets with no regrets.

“There’s kind of a shock, even after reading all winter that I might go,” Henderson told The New York Times. “In this game, you don’t call any place home.

“I think I did a hell of a job (with the Mets). People expected me to be something I wasn’t. They expected more home runs. But the scouting reports all said I was a line drive hitter, the kind of guy who hits .300. Then when I hit 12 home runs at the start, people expected me to bust 30 or 40 every year.”

Henderson put up his typical numbers for the Cubs in 1981, hitting .293 with five homers and 35 RBI in 82 games in that strike-shortened season. But trade rumors again surrounded Henderson as the 1982 campaign began, and he hit just .233 that year while losing playing time to Jay Johnstone and Keith Moreland. He played in just 92 games and was dealt for the second time in less than 24 months on Dec. 9 in a deal that brought pitcher Rich Bordi from the Mariners.

Henderson reclaimed his batting stroke in Seattle, hitting .294 with 10 homers and 54 RBI in 121 games. He became a free agent after the season when he turned down a reported three-year deal with Seattle worth $1.5 million. But when he found few offers, Henderson returned to the Mariners on a one-year contract worth $400,000.

Henderson and his agent, Dick Moss filed a grievance against the Mariners and Athletics, claiming the teams conspired to restrict Henderson’s free agent chances. The case was eventually decided in the teams’ favor, and Henderson finished the season batting .262 with 10 homers and 35 RBI in 109 games.

Once again a free agent, Henderson did not find work until March 31, 1985, when the Athletics offered him a contract. He hit .301 in 85 games and returned to the team for the 1986 season before being released May 29 after appearing in only 11 contests.

A month later, Henderson signed with the White Sox but spent the rest of the season with Triple-A Buffalo. The A’s brought Henderson back in 1987 on a minor league contract, and he shuttled between Triple-A Tacoma and Oakland, batting .289 in 46 games with the Athletics. He filled a similar role with the Astros a year later, playing for Triple-A Tucson and Houston while hitting .217 in 42 games with Houston. It would mark the last time he played in the big leagues.

After spending the entire 1989 season with the Pirates’ Triple-A team in Buffalo – batting .298 in 100 games – Henderson ended his playing career with the St. Petersburg Pelicans of the Senior Professional Baseball Association, hitting .352 while helping the team win the SPBA championship.

Henderson then began his coaching career in 1990, working in the Pirates’ minor league system for four years before joining the Astros’ big league coaching staff, where he coached from 1994-96. Henderson moved on to the Devil Rays, becoming the team’s hitting coach for their inaugural season in 1998 and staying with the organization for more than a decade – returning to the big league coaching staff for four seasons starting in 2006.

“It’s been quite a journey,” Henderson told the Star-Ledger in 2008 when the Rays were in the midst of a run to the World Series – the first such appearance for Henderson in his career.

Henderson left the Rays after the 2009 season and immediately joined the Phillies, working with minor leaguers until being promoted to the big league hitting coach in 2013 – a role he served through the 2016 campaign.

In 12 seasons as a player, Henderson hit .280 with 976 hits, 162 doubles, 68 home runs and a .352 on-base percentage. Though he spent only four of his seasons with the Mets, he will long be remembered for his role in a transaction that shook baseball to its core.

“To this day, when I see Tom (Seaver), I thank him,” Henderson told the Star-Ledger in 2008. “I loved playing for the Mets. They gave me a chance, and the fans were great to me. They never held (the trade) against me.”

Craig Muder is the director of communications for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum