Rest in Peace Hank Aaron

[Zimbra]

 

Fuuuck, this one hurts.

[hammerva]

Rest in peace to the true home run king in baseball.   

EDIT:  Never mind I thought he played a lot more years in Negro Leagues then he did.   Still the greatest and a true icon of baseball

 

Edited January 22, 2021 by hammerva

[OSJ]

This one really deserves a new thread. Most of y'all are too young to remember Hank Aaron as a player, I'm not. As a kid in the 1960s (born 1957), all of my contemporaries wanted to grow up to be Mickey Mantle, not me, despite his being black and me being white, there was no question but that I wanted to grow up to be Hank Aaron. As a life long Braves fan, I collected the cards of the Holy Trinity of Aaron, Mathews, and Adcock and read the sports page daily for news of my heroes. No, the Braves always seemed over-shadowed by the Dodgers or even that one year that Gil Hodges worked magic with the Mets, but I stubbornly remained a loyal Braves booster. I guess you really had to be there in order to understand what the trio meant to baseball, playing in the small market of Milwaukee and rising to challenge the New York juggernaut in the World Series the year I was born. The Braves never made it back to the Fall Classic when I was a kid, but I just knew in my heart that NEXT YEAR, as long as Hank was in the line-up there was a chance. That was the thing about Hank Aaron, he made you believe that no matter how heavily the deck was stacked against you, with hard work and a never-say-die attitude you could rise above any kind of adversity and silence the critics by excelling in ways that were simply inarguable. 

Y'all can have your Mantles, Ruths, etc., fine players all; but give me the man who you could always count on to drive in a run when needed and would always make the smart play in right field. I watched much of Aaron's career and all of Barry Bonds and I'm damned if I could tell you who was better. Certainly the two most formidable hitters that I've ever seen. What's often lost in the conversation about Aaron is leaving aside the titanic home-run totals, he was simply a monstrous hitter with a record for total bases that still stands over forty years after he left the game. His RBI total may well stand forever, if not as the all-time record, certainly as the benchmark for consistent, effective production. The game is about creating runs, whether it be getting on base, driving in the runner or scoring them yourself through effective hitting and smart baserunning, other than Frank Robinson, I don't think that anyone has ever been as good at all the varied ways to create runs as Hank Aaron. Greatest player ever? That's always a tough one, in the discussion, no question about it. RIP Hammer, ya done us all proud. 

[Death From Above]

 

[Tabe]

Aaron was such an incredible player.  So good in every facet.  At one time or another, he led the league in games, runs, hits, doubles, homers, RBI, average, slugging, OPS, OPS+, and total bases.  And won 3 Gold Gloves.  And stole 20+ bases SIX times.  And somehow managed to finish exactly 3rd in the MVP voting six times.

And all done with class.

[supremebve]

Seriously, when it comes to legendary Sports figures, you do not get much bigger than Henry "Hank" Aaron.  Hank Aaron was about as good of a baseball player who has ever lived.  If you want to know how good Hank Aaron was, understand that no one touched more bases in the history of the sport than Hank Aaron.  He's 1st all time in hits, 2nd all time in home runs, and 3rd all time in hits.  According to Baseball Reference, he's 7th all time in WAR (5th for position players), and played in 25 All-Star Games.  With all of his accolades on the baseball diamond, the thing that is most impressive about Hank Aaron, is that he is about as well respected as you can possibly be as a human being.  He was subjected to some of the most unnecessarily vile racism during his pursuit of Babe Ruth's home run record, but despite everything working against him he always carried himself with dignity and respect.  I never watched Hank Aaron play, he retired before I was born, but other than Jim Brown (I grew up in North Eastern Ohio), and Muhammed Ali there is not a single athlete I revered as much as I revered Hank Aaron.  Rest in peace to a legendary baseball player, who may have been an even better human being.

[OSJ]

My young friend, I grew up watching Hank Aaron play, as a little kid in Seattle who hated the Yankees and Dodgers with every fiber of my being, there was no greater hero than Hammerin' Hank Aaron, surrounded by the rest of the Holy Trinity (Eddie Mathews and Joe Adcock) in the line-up he was a joy to watch at the plate and in the field. There was no aspect of the game that he didn't do well and in his quiet classy way, do better than everyone else. Yeah, Willie Mays was flashier, the ferocious Frank Robinson perhaps a more terrifying figure on the basepaths, but when all was said and done if you needed a timely hit or a mammoth home-run, Hank Aaron was the guy that you wanted at bat. I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Aaron twice, a finer example of the word "class" does not walk the face of the Earth. He leaves the world a poorer place for his absence and a much richer place for his having been here. RIP Hammer.