Mom knows best

Steve Guiremand

Thursday, April 12, 2001 | 10:24 a.m.

There seems to be little doubt that Rickey Henderson will go down as the best leadoff man in baseball history. All one has to do is check out the record book to support that argument.

The 42-year-old Henderson, who is expected to start again in left field tonight for the Portland Beavers when they face the Las Vegas 51s at Cashman Field, holds major league records for career stolen bases (1,370), most stolen bases in a season (130), most seasons leading the league in stolen bases (12), most years with 50 or more stolen bases (13) and most home runs leading off a game (78). He needs just three more walks to break Babe Ruth's mark of 2,062 and just 68 more runs scored to surpass Ty Cobb's record of 2,245 in that catagory.

But if Henderson, who is expected to join the San Diego Padres next week, had had his way, he might never have played major league baseball.

He has his mom to thank for that.

Henderson was one of the top tailback prospects on the West Coast at Oakland Tech High School, rushing for 1,375 yards his senior year.

Among the schools he visited his senior year was USC and a then rookie head coach named John Robinson.

"USC, Arizona State, most of the Big Ten offered me full rides," Henderson said. "John Robinson was the coach (at USC). I visited the school. I just went and looked around. I went to several different schools and checked them out."

So how close did Henderson come to playing college football?

"To tell you the truth, I came real close," Henderson, who was leaning toward signing at Arizona State, said. "I didn't really want to play baseball. I didn't really like baseball. But my mom wanted me to be a baseball player. She thought I was way too small to be a football player. She thought I was going to get hurt. So she made the decision on what I was going to do and she choose baseball."

Smart woman. Henderson signed with the Oakland A's after getting drafted in the fourth round in the June draft in 1976.

Still, one has to wonder what would have happened if Henderson had been pursuaded by Robinson to come in and fight it out with another pretty fair freshman running back named Charles White at Tailback U.

"I do always wonder what would have happened because I felt I was a better football player than a baseball player," Henderson said. "It just so happens I've had some success in baseball. But I felt I could have had some success in football, too."

Some success?

"Yeah, it did work out well," Henderson said with a smile.

Prieto hit a 1-1 fastball off Beavers reliever Ron Mahay over the 328 sign down the rightfield line. It drove in second baseman Jeff Branson and catcher Brian Johnson, both of whom had singled earlier in the inning.

Kip Gross (2-0), who had a 6 1/3 scoreless inning streak snapped in the top half of the ninth when he allowed two runs, including a homer by second baseman Keith Luuloa, picked up the victory for the 51s.