Steve Henderson: Late 1970's Mets Outfielder Who Came Over in the Tom Seaver Trade (1977-1980)

Steven Curtis Henderson was born on November 18, 1952, in Houston, Texas. He attended Prairie View A &M in Texas, getting drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the fifth round of the 1974 draft as a promising outfielder. 

He batted .312 with 17 HRs & 61 RBIs at AA ball Trois Rivieres in 1976. The next year he was batting .326 after 60 games at AA Indianapolis, but wasn’t much room on the Big Red Machine in the mid-seventies for a young player in the minors.

Tom Seaver Trade: On June 17th, 1977, Henderson became famous for being the key player in the Tom Seaver trade on what Mets fans call “The Midnight Massacre”. Henderson along with Pat Zachary, Doug Flynn, & Dan Norman went to the New York Mets for Hall of Famer Tom Seaver. 

There was a lot of hype and big expectations put on the young Henderson by the organization

trying to make the Seaver trade look somewhat justified. Henderson & not many other players could ever have lived up to those expectations.

Mets Career: In his first career game on June 16, 1977, he came in as a pinch runner for Ed Kranepool in the 7th inning of a tied game with Houston. Henderson ended up scoring the 4-3 game winning run as Mike Vail reached on an error. In his first career at bat later that game, the Shea fans gave him a welcoming standing ovation. 

Quotes- Steve Henderson: “I was so nervous, I swung at one ball, and it hit the ground. When I struck out I got another standing ovation, how embarrassing”. The next night he got the start in left field batting in the third spot. In his first at bat he got a base hit off Floyd Bannister & ended up 2-4 on the night.

Walk Off HR: On June 21st he came in as a defensive replacement in the top of the 11th inning of a 2-2 tie with the Braves. In the bottom of the 11th, Henderson hit a dramatic, three-run walk off HR off Atlanta's Don Collins to win the game. It was just his fourth career game. 

In July he had a streak hitting safely in 18 of 22 games raising his average to .313 by the end of the month. 

During a July five-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Henderson had six hits with two HRs & nine RBIs. On July 16th, he hit a three run HR off Goose Gossage leading in the 5-3 win.

Grand Slam: The next day in the second game of a double header, Henderson hit his first career grand slam. It came off the Pirates Kent Tekulve in the 7th inning, for his 5th HR in his first 29 games. He collected five RBIs on the day, his only five RBI game of his career.

Mets Record: Henderson set a Mets record for Rookies, by reaching base 29 consecutive times in games he started. The record stood for 36 years.

On August 21st, Tom Seaver made his return to Shea Stadium, this time as a member of the Reds. 46,265 came out to see Seaver beat his old Mets team 6-1 in a complete game victory. Henderson had two of the Mets six hits on the day.

Going into the first week of September he hit safely in 20 of 25 games. On September 1st, he hit a HR in a 4-0 win over the Braves. After his first two and a half months in the big leagues, Henderson had ten HRs & 44 RBIs.

There was hope for a bright future for the young Henderson, on a team that desperately needed something. Mets announcer Ralph Kiner even drew a comparison to Henderson with New York Giants legend Mote Irvin.

He finished the season, runner up in the Rookie of the Year voting to Andre Dawson, batting .297 while leading the team with 12 HRs (tied) & 67 RBIs. 

He hit 12 doubles with 6 triples 65 RBIs 43 walks a .372 on base % & 67 runs scored in just 350 at bats. 

Henderson's quiet personality was sometimes mistaken as him being arrogant which he was not. 

The NL Pitchers tested him early on, pitching him inside & knocking him down, but he wasn’t intimidated easily. 

Working With Willie Mays: In the off season the Mets sent him to Tampa to work with the legendary Willie Mays on his defense. Mays taught Steve about the game & how things worked, especially in New York. Mays even got him a five-year merchandizing glove deal with McGregor worth $3,500.

1978: Henderson started out the season on a tear, in the first week he hit three HRs with 11 RBIs. In the second game of the season, he hit his first HR, it was one of three the Mets hit including a walk off HR from Ed Kranepool to beat the Expos.

Grand Slam: On April 9th, in the third Mets game of the season, the Mets hosted a double header with the Montreal Expos at Shea Stadium. In the 6th inning of the first game, Henderson hit a grand slam HR off reliever Darold Knowles, leading the Mets to a 6-5 win. 

After the hot start he slowed down considerably, as his average fell to under .200 by the start of May. He had a big month with a dozen multiple hit games & drove in fourteen runs in the first three weeks. 

Four Hit Game & Walk Off Hit: On May 18th during a stretch where he drove in runs in five straight games, Henderson had a four-hit game against the Atlanta Braves. In the 3rd inning his single brought in Lenny Randle with the Mets second run.

He added singles in the 7th & 9th innings as well.

In the bottom of the 11th inning, with the score tied at seven, Lenny Randle & Lee Mazzilli were on base. Henderson singled off Eddie Solomon driving in Randle with the walk off game winning run.

Another Walk Off Hit: On May 21st, in a game against the first place Phillies, Henderson came to bat in the bottom of the 10th inning with the score tied at five. Lee Mazzilli was on first base after reaching on an infield single. Henderson hit double to left field off former Met Tug McGraw for the game winning hit.

On June 9th, Henderson tied up a game against the San Francisco Giants with an 8th inning base hit off Bob Knepper. He advanced on a wild pitch then scored the game's winning run-on Willie Montanez's single. In the last five games of June, he drove in six runs but then only drove in nine runs all of July.  He drove in the only run of the Mets 2-1 loss to Vida Blue the next day.

On June 20th his two run HR off Ross Grimsley led Nino Espinosa in a 3-0 Mets shut out at Montreal. Starting on June 26th, Henderson hit his 8th HR of the season, then drove in runs in all three games at a Wrigley Field series with the Cubs. That month he drove in 14 runs for the third straight month.

Beginning on July 5th, Henderson hit safely in 22 of 27 games, he would hit .312 on the month. On July 24th he hit a HR in a loss to the Reds, he would not hit another HR for two months. On July 26th he hit two doubles & drove in three runs in a game for the third time on the year.

In the second half of the year, he batted .281 but hit just two HRs with just 20 RBIs. He hit left handers (.324) much better than righties (.235). He was one of the better young players on the last place Mets team that went 66-96 under manager Joe Torre.

The season was a little disappointing since he wasn’t becoming a superstar that the Mets & the fans had hoped. 

Henderson tied a club record with nine triples & led the team in hits (156) & runs scored (83). 

He played in 157 games but only hit .266, while leading led the NL in grounding into double plays (24) & striking out 109 times. Henderson hit just 10 HRs, with 30 doubles 65 RBIs a .333 on base % & a .732 OPS.

In left field he made 11 errors, most in the NL. But he made 20 assists (2nd in the NL) & with 310 put outs.

1979: Henderson started out the season hot once again. On Opening Day, he drove in two runs with a double in the Mets 10-6 win at Wrigley Field. 

In the first eight games he had thirteen hits, with four multi-hit games & five RBIs. 

He didn't hit his first HR until May 11th, coming off Rollie Fingers, in Kevin Kobel's shut out of the Padres. He drove in runs both ends of a May 24th twin bill at Shea with the Cubs collecting five hits in the split. 

On May 26th, in a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates he came to bat with New York behind 8-7.
He then hit a two run HR off one of the top relievers, Kent Tekulve to put the Mets ahead on their way to a win. 

On June 9th, he hit a two run double off the Astros Joaquin Andujar, leading Craig Swan in a 4-0 shut out at Shea. On June 30th, the Mets broke a tied game open with six runs in the top of the 11th inning at Wrigley Field. Henderson tripled in the inning, driving in two runs. The Mets bullpen then gave up five runs in the bottom of the inning but they held on to a 9-8 win. 

In July he had his best month, batting .369 with six doubles, five triples & 38 hits. He put together sit streaks of five games, nine games & six games. He got his average up over the .300 mark for the year.

Starting on July 12th, he had a four-game stretch where he drove in six runs during a Mets five-game win streak. On July 13th he hit a two run HR off the Giants Bob Knepper, helping the Mets to a 7-6 win in the first game of a double header. On July 15th, his 3rd inning double off Vida Blue broke a 2-2 tie & was the winning run in a 3-2 Mets win.

Unfortunately, at the end of the month his season was cut short with an injury that sidelined him for most of the rest of the season. 

He returned to make one pinch hit appearance on September 25th. In dramatic fashion, he came to bat in the top of the 11th inning at Wrigley Field, in a 3-3 game. He singled off Dick Tidrow scoring Dan Norman with what was the games winning run.

For the 1979 last place Mets (63-99) Henderson was limited to only 98 games, batting .306, with 16 doubles eight triples, five HRs 35 RBIs a .380 on base % & a .820 OPS, in just 350 at bats.

 In left field his strong arm got him 18 more assists & he led all NL left fielders in fielding % (.990).

1980: He began the year hitting safely in 19 of the first 25 games for a .327 batting average. From June 5th through June 8th, he drove in seven runs, including an 8th inning base hit tying up a game against the Pirates on June 7th. The Mets won the game extra innings. 

He was a much better hitter when not trying to hit HRs, but the Mets were desperate for power. Henderson's first HR didn't come until June 14th in 1980 & it was a big one.

Walk Off HR: On June 14th the Mets were on a modest win streak as they would win eight of ten games, to get within one game of .500. That day they fell behind the Giants 6-0 before staging a comeback. 

It was 6-2 in the 9th, when they picked up two runs off Giants closer Greg Minton knocking him out of the game. With two men on Henderson hit a walk off three run HR off Allen Ripley to win the game & cap off the five-run 9th inning comeback.

In the second game of a June 28th double header in Philadelphia, Henderson's 9th inning single won the game against the Phillies as he scored Lee Mazzilli from third base.

On July 5th, he hit a two run HR & drove in three runs to help beat the Montreal Expos 7-5 at Shea Stadium. On July 15th he had his only multi-HR game of the year, as he hit two HRs off the Braves Doyle Alexander, driving in four runs while leading the Mets to a 9-2 victory in Atlanta. 

On August 1st he hit a three run HR off Houston’s Dave Smith tying up the game in the 7th inning. The Mets would later rally and win it 5-4. Henderson would remain batting over .300 until the end of August.

Walk Off HR: Maybe his most dramatic hit of the year came on September 14th at Shea Stadium. In the bottom of the 9th inning, with the Mets behind the Chicago Cubs 7-6 he was facing future Hall of Fame reliever, Bruce Sutter. 

Henderson delivered with a three-run walk off HR scoring Lee Mazzilli & Joel Youngblood. It was one of the biggest thrills of the dismal year for the Mets, thrilling whoever was left of the crowd of just over 10,000.

On the season he led the fifth place Mets in hitting (.290) stolen bases (23) & triples (8) which was ninth most in the league. In 147 games he hit eight HRs with 13 doubles 58 RBIs 62 walks a .360 on base % & a .770 OPS.

In February of 1981 Henderson was traded to the Chicago Cubs for the second coming of Dave Kingman to New York. 

Mets Career Stats: Henderson played in 497 Mets games (51st most all time) batting .287 with
516 hits 79 doubles 31 triples (5th most all time) 35 HRs 227 RBIs 267 runs scored 203 walks with a .360 on base % & a .783 OPS. He also stole 55 bases (23rd most all time).

Post Mets Playing Career: In his first season at Wrigley Field, he batted .293 with 5 HRs & 35 RBIs in 82 games of the strike shortened season. In Chicago he shared time in left field with Jay Johnstone & Keith Moreland. After hitting .233 the next year he was sent to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for Rich Bordi. 

He spent two seasons in Seattle with the Mariners. In 1983 he hit .294 with 32 doubles 10 HRs & 54 RBIs playing in 121 games in his last season as an everyday player. The Mariners finished seventh that year under Rene Lachman.

In 1985, he signed a three-year deal with the Oakland Athletics as a free agent, playing as a fourth outfielder behind Dwayne Murphy, Mike Davis & Dave Collins. In 85 games he batted .301 with eight doubles. 

In 1986 he struggled batting just .077 in 11 games, he was sent to the minors where he hit .288 at AAA Buffalo. The following season he batted over .300 at AAA Tacoma & returned to Oakland to hit a solid .289 in 46 games. 

In 1988 he got a minor league deal with the Houston Astros where he got into 42 games at the bog league level.

Career Stats: In a 12-season career Henderson played in 1,085 games with 3,484 at bats, batting .280 with 976 hits 162 doubles 49 triples 459 runs scored 68 HRs & 428 RBIs. He walked 386 times with 79 stolen bases, a .352 on base % & .765 OPS. 

In the outfield he posted a .969 fielding % in 898 games. As a left fielder he made 52 errors (67th most all time) playing in 856 games (99th all time) with 1635 put outs (87th all time) & 70 assists (70th all time).

Retirement: After his playing Henderson became a long-time coach. He first coached in the Pittsburgh Pirates minor leagues (1990-1993) he then coached with the Houston Astros (1994-1996). 

In 1998 he was the Hitting coach for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in their inaugural season. He also served as their minor league hitting coordinator. 

He returned to the Rays big league team (2006-2009) under manager Joe Maddon as the teams hitting coach. 

In 2008 his club won 97 games, getting to the World Series. It was his first post season appearance as a player or coach. The Rays were second in the league in walks (626) third in triples (37) & fourth in on base % .340%) & HRs (180).

He later coached with the Phillies (2010-2016) in the minors as well as the team's hitting coach from 2013-2016. 

Honors: In 2006 he earned a degree in Multimedia and Political Science. Steve is remembered by the Mets & has joined on for Mets Fantasy Camps thru the years.

Family: Steve & his wife Pam live in the Tampa, Florida area.