Back in 1993 Steve Herendeen, former local sports editor at the Oakland Tribune, got a letter from a 9-year-old Tracy girl heartbroken after the A’s traded Rickey Henderson. Herendeen wrote about it, it got Henderson’s attention, and touched the former A’s great so much he visited the girl and her family. In 2009, when he was inducted into baseball’s Hall of Fame, Henderson invited Erin States, her husband and children to Cooperstown to share his big moment.
Herendeen, the reporter who inspired that episode, and who mentored scores of other writers during his 31 years at the Tribune, died of cancer last Thursday at his home in San Ramon. He was 61. Obituary: Oakland Tribune
