Henderson was born in
Carroll, Iowa and attended
Clairemont High School in
San Diego, California. He was signed by the San Francisco Giants as an amateur free agent on June 20, 1964. He made his major league debut with the Giants on April 23,
1965 at the age of 18. Henderson helped the Giants to win the
National League Western Division (NL West) in
1971 and the Reds to win the NL West in 1979. He was acquired along with
Steve Stone by the White Sox from the Giants for
Tom Bradley on November 29, 1972. Henderson finished 19th in voting for the 1974 American League MVP for playing in all 162 Games and having 602 At Bats, 76 Runs, 176 Hits, 35 Doubles, 5 Triples, 20 Home Runs, 95 RBI, 12 Stolen Bases, 66 Walks, .292 Batting Average, .360 On-base percentage, .467 Slugging Percentage, 281 Total Bases, 2 Sacrifice Hits, 8 Sacrifice Flies and 9 Intentional Walks. Henderson spent each of three straight seasons from 1976 through 1978 with different ballclubs. First from the White Sox to the Braves with
Dick Ruthven and
Dan Osborn for
Ralph Garr and
Larvell Blanks on December 12, 1975. Then to the Rangers in a five-for-one trade with
Dave May,
Roger Moret,
Adrian Devine,
Carl Morton and $200,000 for
Jeff Burroughs on December 9, 1976. Finally to the Mets on March 15, 1978 to complete the first four-team blockbuster deal in Major League Baseball history from three months prior on December 8, 1977 that also involved the Braves,
Pittsburgh Pirates and a total of eleven players changing teams. The Mets also got from the Rangers
Tom Grieve and from the Braves
Willie Montañez. The Rangers received
Al Oliver and
Nelson Norman from the Pirates and
Jon Matlack from the Mets.
Adrian Devine,
Tommy Boggs and
Eddie Miller were traded from the Rangers to the Braves. The Pirates acquired
Bert Blyleven from the Rangers and
John Milner from the Mets. ==Career statistics==