Athletics Entering Uncertain Era After Unceremonious Exit From Oakland

Rooker’s five-year, $60 million extension, signed in January, cements him as the current face of the Athletics. | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

An Oakland legend, baseball’s greatest leadoff hitter and base thief, laced his cleats in the West Sacramento coaches’ locker room. At 51, Rickey Henderson probably could steal his age in bags.

In 2010, the A’s hired the first-ballot Baseball Hall of Famer as a “roving instructor.” Three decades after Henderson shot up the A’s farm system and raced into baseball immortality, he would now instruct prospects on the base paths in Class A Stockton, Double A Midland and Triple A Sacramento.