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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.
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 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. His uncle Joe Henderson appeared in 16 MLB games as a pitcher during the mid-1970s.
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 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.
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 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).
At the time, the Angels were playing at home and were ahead in the series 3 games to 1 over the Red Sox. Henderson had appeared in Game 2 and Game 4 as a late-innings defensive replacement for Tony Armas, and was hitless in one at bat. In Game 5, Armas sprained his ankle in the second inning, and was replaced by Henderson, who entered the game to play centerfield in the bottom of the fifth inning. With the Red Sox leading 2–1 in the sixth inning, the Angels had a man on second with two-out, when Bobby Grich hit a deep fly ball Henderson attempted to catch on the warning track – the ball deflected off his glove and went over the wall, giving Grich a two-run home run. The Angels now had a 3–2 lead, with Henderson the likely scapegoat, should the Red Sox lose the game. Henderson batted in the seventh inning and struck out, while the Angels added two more runs in their half of the seventh.
The Angels had a 5–2 lead going into the ninth inning and were three outs away from their first-ever trip to the World Series, but the Red Sox closed the gap to 5–4 on a two-run home run by Don Baylor. When Henderson stepped to the plate to face reliever Donnie Moore, there were two outs and catcher Rich Gedman was on first after being hit by a pitch. After falling behind in the count 1-2 – the Angels now one strike away from advancing – Henderson took a ball to even the count at 2-2, and fouled off the next two pitches. Then, on Moore's seventh pitch of the at bat, Henderson hit a drive to left that cleared the outfield wall, stunning the Angels and all of Anaheim Stadium. Henderson's blast prompted television broadcast announcer Al Michaels to state, "You’re looking at one for the ages here.”
The Angels tied the game 6–6 in the bottom of the ninth, and the game went into extra innings. In the top of the 11th, the Red Sox loaded the bases with no outs, and Henderson hit a sacrifice fly Baylor scored on, which put the Red Sox ahead 7–6 and proved to be the margin of victory. Still down 3 games to 2 in the series, the Red Sox returned home to Fenway Park for the final two games, where they defeated the Angels 10–4 and 8–1 to capture the AL pennant. Henderson played center field for both of those games – collecting a walk and a run in each game, but going hitless – as Armas' injury kept him from playing. For the ALCS, Henderson finished 1-for-9 at the plate, with his only hit being the season-saving home run in Game 5.
Over parts of two seasons with Boston, Henderson played in 111 regular season games, batting .226 with nine home runs and 28 RBIs.
The Athletics finished the season with a 104–58 record, and won the American League West by 13 games over the Minnesota Twins. In the 1988 ALCS, the Athletics faced the Red Sox and swept them in four games. Henderson batted 6-for-16 (.375) with one home run and four RBIs during the ALCS. The Athletics advanced to the 1988 World Series where they lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games, including their Game 1 loss on Kirk Gibson's famous home run. Henderson batted 6-for-20 (.300) with one RBI. Overall in the 1988 postseason he batted 12-for-36 (.333) with one home run and five RBIs, and he played center field for all of Oakland's games.
Oakland faced the San Francisco Giants in the 1989 World Series and swept them in four games, although those games were played over a period of two weeks due to the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake before the start of Game 3. Henderson hit 4-for-13 (.308) with two home runs and four RBIs during the series. For the 1989 postseason his batting average was .281 (9-for-32) with three home runs and nine RBIs, and he played center field throughout. This championship proved to be the only one of Henderson's MLB career.
Henderson had problems with a badly strained right hamstring throughout the season, which limited him to just 20 games played, and caused him to miss 104 consecutive games between May 5 and the start of September. He hit just 9-for-63 (.143) for the season, with 2 RBIs. While Oakland won the AL West (then lost to Toronto in six games in the 1992 ALCS), Henderson was left off the postseason roster due to his injury.
For the season, Henderson appeared in 107 games, including 54 complete games in the outfield and 26 starts as designated hitter (DH). He batted .220 with 20 home runs and 53 RBIs. The Athletics finished the season with a 68–94 record, last place in the AL West. After the season ended, Henderson became a free agent.
Overall, Henderson spent six seasons with Oakland, batting .263 with 104 home runs and 377 RBIs. His time with Oakland included the only All-Star Game and the only World Series championship of his career.
During his 14 MLB seasons, Henderson appeared in 1538 games, batting .258 with 197 home runs and 708 RBIs. Defensively, he played 1,388 games in the outfield (1157 in center field), with a .984 fielding percentage.
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