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Hammerin' Hank Aaron Dies @ 86

Perknose

Perknose

Forum Director & Omnipotent Overlord
Forum Director
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^^^ Two quotes from the article:

“Throwing a fastball by Henry Aaron,” an opposing pitcher, Curt Simmons, once quipped, “is like trying to sneak the sun past a rooster.”

“I believed, and still do, that there was a reason why I was chosen to break the record,” he wrote in “I Had a Hammer.” “I feel it’s my task to carry on where Jackie Robinson left off, and I only know one way to go about it.”

At the time of his retirement, this was his unparalleled statistical legacy:

At one time or another, Mr. Aaron led the National League in virtually every hitting category. He won two batting titles, including a career best of .355 in 1959; he led the league in home runs and runs batted in four times each; runs scored, three times; slugging percentage, four times.

In addition to his 755 home runs, Mr. Aaron was baseball’s career leader in runs batted in (2,297), total bases (6,856) and extra-base hits (1,477). His 3,771 hits are the third most in history, after Pete Rose and Ty Cobb, and he was named to the all-star team every year between 1955 and 1975.
 
Perknose said:
Almost always in the shadow of the incandescent Willie Mays, the man was THE greatest power hitter of all time.


Late in his career, he had a sub .300 average ONE season. The next ENTIRE season, he made sure he hit 300 again.

As a black man in the minors in the South, "many fine people" treated him with unconsciable abuse.

The man was a GIANT! (Okay, a Brave.)
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and a Brewer, remember seeing him play in Milwaukee county stadium, I believe he ended his career with the brewers.
 
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Yes, and unlike Bonds, he did it without steroids. Pure natural talent.

As a teen, I had an impressive baseball card collection. One of its centerpieces was that I had all 23 Topps Hank Aaron cards. The rookie card and some of the other 50's cards were in poor condition, but it was pretty cool I was able to get all of them. Too bad I sold the entire collection when I needed money in college. 🙁
 
woolfe9998 said:
Yes, and unlike Bonds, he did it without steroids. Pure natural talent.

As a teen, I had an impressive baseball card collection. One of its centerpieces was that I had all 23 Topps Hank Aaron cards. The rookie card and some of the other 50's cards were in poor condition, but it was pretty cool I was able to get all of them. Too bad I sold the entire collection when I needed money in college. 🙁
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To be fair, athletes back then took a lot of amphetamines "greenies" as they were called. There would be literal bowls of them in the clubhouses. Vastly improving reaction time, swing speed etc etc. Drugs and baseball (and all professional sports) go hand in hand for 100+ years.
 
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