On this day in 1993, Rickey Henderson of the OAKLAND Athletics opened both games of a doubleheader with a homer, the first player to accomplish the feat in 60 years.

In his Hall-of-Fame career, Rickey Henderson led off a game with a homer 81 times. That is the MLB career record.

The active player with the most career lead-off homers is George Springer, who currently has 65. The next on the list isperennial All-Star and presumed future Hall-of-Famer Mookie Betts with 52, followed by future Hall-of-Famer Jose Altuve with 42.

Of that list, 33-year-old Mookie is the most likely candidate to challenge Rickey’s record. Springer and Altuve are both 36 years old, and presumably, their careers are winding down.

As another Hall-of-Famer, Richie Ashburn, once said, “A good lead-off hitter is a pain in the ass to pitchers.” When a leadoff hit hits a homer, it gives instant momentum to the team whose player hit it and puts doubt into the defense behind the pitcher who threw it.

I tried my amateur best to explore how to figure out if the teams that hit a lead-off homer won more games than they lost. I am sure there is a way, but I will have to leave that to the more data-savvy.

I have been to enough baseball games and watched more than enough games on television to know that when someone hits a lead-off homer against your team, it is quite demoralizing as a fan. Conversely, it is exhilarating as hell when your team does it.

In my memory, which is admittedly flawed, I think I was at a game in 1993 when Rickey hit a lead-off homer against Allan Anderson and the Twins at the Metrodome. Again, memory is a tricky thing. But for now, I am just going to go with the fact that I most certainly did see one of those 81 lead-off homers.