Rickey Henderson, MLB Hall of Famer, Dead at 65

Baseball's "Man of Steal," Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson is dead after a bout with pneumonia ... TMZ has learned.

Sources with direct knowledge tell us ... Henderson passed away Friday in the Oakland area, and had been getting treatment at a hospital for a brief period.

The MLB legend holds the record for stolen bases, and played left field for 9 teams from 1979 to 2003. Most of those years were spent with the Oakland A's, where he debuted in the majors, but he also starred with the Yankees, Blue Jays, Mets, Padres and others ... before retiring with the Dodgers.

Throughout his career, Rickey racked up more than 3,055 hits and 297 home runs with a .279 batting average. He also holds the all-time record for runs scored with 2,295.

As for his prowess at stealing bases -- his all-time record is 1,406, and to give you an idea how impressive that is ... no other player in history has reached 1,000 stolen bases!

Rickey was a 10-time All-Star player and entered the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2009.

The stories about him as a teammate are legendary, you'll definitely be seeing them all over social media today.

As the news of his death broke, several baseball icons who played with Rickey -- including Dave Winfield and Ozzie Guillen -- shared their condolences.

Rickey was 65.

RIP

!baseball, pour one out for the Man of Steal.