Fans of Oakland A's legend Rickey Henderson hope for permanent memorial
OAKLAND, Calif. - Since his passing, fans of the late Oakland A's legend Rickey Henderson have placed makeshift memorials at the gates of the Oakland Coliseum.
Candles, signs, and flowers withstood wind and rain all weekend, but fans of the team and Henderson added more to the small memorials on Monday.
"I wanted to pay tribute to a human being who lost his life way too young," said Dawn Pieper.
She said the 65-year-old gave her lasting memories as an A's fan.
It started when her husband introduced her to the team in the '80s.
"I lost my husband 14 years ago to cancer," she said. "Fourteen years ago this month. This is a hard month for me anyway. We lost our A's. We lost Rickey. We just keep taking hits."
Her respect for Henderson is how she carried on with her late husband's memory. She recalls a moment, months before her husband passed when Henderson showed her and her son kindness at a meet-and-greet event.
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Fans, sport icons remember A's great Rickey Henderson
All across the Bay Area, fans mourned the loss of Oakland A's great Rickey Henderson on Saturday. At the Oakland Coliseum fans left flowers for the Hall of Famer.
"We got up to the front of the line, he got Rickey's autograph," she explained. "Rickey saw me with my camera, and he said ‘Come over here son, let’s get a photo for mom.' That's the kinda man he was."
The "Man of Steal," best known for being the best at stealing bases, also stole the hearts of people in Oakland.
Many of those people are already heartbroken about the A's leaving Oakland to play their next few seasons in Sacramento and eventually Las Vegas.
"You almost can't believe it's true," said Bryan Johanson, a co-founder of the Last Dive Bar. "You almost can't believe your team left, then the greatest person to play on that team also left, way too young."
Outside the 66th Avenue gate of the Oakland Coliseum, fans placed their memorial items and shared memorabilia.
"This jersey is 40 years old," said Jorge Alfaro, who wore a No. 24 Henderson jersey Monday. He said he got the jersey after meeting Henderson when the rising star was only 21 years old.
"I wear it every once in a while because I want to keep it clean," said Alfaro.
Fans said the emotions are enough to justify building a more permanent memorial somewhere in Oakland.
Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan took to X to suggest renaming a street after Henderson.Councilman Dan Kalb said that conversation will happen soon among city leaders.
"I think there is no doubt, name one or two things after Rickey Henderson," he said. "Someone needs to put together a small working group of people to figure out what are those best things."
Fans shared their ideas.
"I'd love to see a statue out in front of here or at city hall," said Pieper.
"I know there was a lot of talk about what to call the Oakland International Airport," said Johanson. "Oakland RH Airport."