The Oakland Athletics have announced that the playing surface at Oakland Coliseum will be renamed in honor of Rickey Henderson, who the team called "the greatest Athletic of all time."

Rickey Henderson Field will be dedicated in a pregame ceremony before the team's April 3 opener against the Los Angeles Angels.

Henderson will also serve as a special assistant to team president Dave Kaval this season.

"Rickey Henderson is the greatest Athletic of all time. It is fitting we honor and recognize his impact on our franchise by naming our playing field after him," Kaval said. "In addition to his current role on our baseball development staff, I am also excited he will be joining us in the front office to serve as a representative of Green and Gold baseball."

Henderson is the Athletics' all-time leader in runs scored (1,270), walks (1,227) and stolen bases (867). He set the modern-era record for stolen bases in a season in 1982, when he stole 130 for the A's.