Rickey Henderson currently holds the MLB record for stolen bases, runs scored, lead-off home runs, unintentional walks, and most stolen bases in a single season. Playing for the Oakland A’s, the left-fielder was an absolute monster when it came to stealing bases, with a record 1,406 stolen during his career. However, that's not all Henderson is famous for. Prior to the 1982 season, Rickey was earning the league minimum of $185,000, eventually climbing to $950,000 over the next two seasons. To reward his performance over those years, just before the start of the 1982 season, the Oakland A’s gave Rickey a $1 million signing bonus. If you're assuming that he either cashed or deposited the check, you would be wrong. Instead, Rickey took the check home, put it in a frame, and hung it on his wall. A few months later, the Oakland A’s accounting department came to a screeching halt when they determined that the team’s books were off by $1 million. The discovery set off a massive investigation, until someone finally figure out that the $1 million overage was related to a single check — Rickey Henderson’s check. The accounting department politely asked Rickey to take the check to his bank, ask them for a photocopy, and then hang that on his wall instead. Over the next 21 seasons of his career, Rickey would go on to earn more than $44 million, and all of those checks came through direct deposit.
