RIP Hank Aaron

[pg1067]

https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb-hall-of-famer-braves-former-home-run-king-hank-aaron-dies-at-86-154633738.html

Damnit...the ball is really rolling fast on all of the guys who were legends when I was a kid.  I think six HOFers died in 2020, and 2021 is already off to a helluva start.

Hammer is still the career RBI leader.  Pujols is in third place (197 shy), but he's not gonna catch Aaron.  And, of course, he's #2 in HR.  He had 30+ HR in 15 of 17 years between 1957-73.  He had a career .305/.374/.555/.928.  He's also still the career leader in total bases.  A 21-time all star.  Only one MVP, but he was absolutely robbed in 1959 and, arguably, in a couple other years.  Unfortunately, he was on teams that didn't win too much.  His Milwaukee Braves beat the Yankees in 7 games in 1957, with Aaron hitting .393, with 11 hits, three HR and 7 RBI.  He lost the Series MVP to Lew Burdette, who won three games (all complete games, and two of which were shutouts).

For my money, Hank Aaron was the best player in MLB history.

[romdrums]

He was my Dad's favorite player.  I remember reading his biography when I was a little kid, and then his autobiography I Had A Hammer when that came out.  Talk about consistency as a player, too.  He never put up huge single season numbers, but 15 of 17 years with 30+ home runs, and ending with 3771 hits and that final line of .305/.374/.555//928 in the era he played is damn impressive.  Should have been a unanimous vote into the HOF. 

[Stadler]

I'm not willing to go "greatest player in MLB history" - I go DiMaggio or Gehrig - but he's certainly in the conversation.  For me, I got into baseball around '76 or so, and he was still playing, so he was the first player I got to see with my eyes with "legendary" numbers (that is, that competed with the ghosts of the past, Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle, Mays, etc.).  Plus, best nickname ever:  The Hammer.

[kirksnosehair]

I remember it like it was yesterday.  I was watching a Red Sox game with my grandfather and they kept switching over to the Atlanta Braves game every time Hank Aaron came to bat.  Without looking it up I know it was 1974 and relatively early in the season.  I saw him hit it live when it happened.  I was 10 years old and had just joined my first Little League team that year.  RIP big guy.

[pg1067]

I remember it like it was yesterday.  I was watching a Red Sox game with my grandfather and they kept switching over to the Atlanta Braves game every time Hank Aaron came to bat.  Without looking it up I know it was 1974 and relatively early in the season.  I saw him hit it live when it happened.  I was 10 years old and had just joined my first Little League team that year.  RIP big guy.

That's awesome.  Without looking it up, I know it was April 1974 (and now looking it up, it was April 8), off Al Downing of the Dodgers.  It's possible I saw it, but I don't remember (my first real memory of watching baseball is the 74 World Series).  I've seen it so many times since then, of course.

I just read that he was a long-time Cleveland Browns fan.

[Dream Team]

Huge bummer. My first favorite player along with Reggie. Despite all the records he still holds, he was underrated.

[DragonAttack]

No doubt that it happened in other years, but one of the many special moments when my wife and I went to Cooperstown in '18 for Alan Trammell's induction (yes, and Morris.....the Puerto Rican flags for Vlad, Thome, Chipper Jones wonderful talk of his dad, Trevor Hoffman being drafted by the Tigers as a SS when Alan was there, so decided his future wasn't there.....)

On Sunday, when they introduce the current members, Hank Aaron is announced, and all 50,000 plus give him about a five minute standing ovation.  No one else was so honored.

I'll always be of the opinion that Willie Mays was the greatest player, and that he certainly would have topped Ruth's record if not for having Candlestick Park as his home field.  Not sure if he would have handled all of the death threats as 'well' as Aaron.  What horrible treatment they endured for decades.  Hell, Mays wasn't allowed to buy a home in a SF neighborhood when the Giants moved from NY because of his color.  Shameful.  Read his biography....its a superb read.

For memories, I'm glad Hank hit that HR off Al Downing that night.  NBC carried it, Curt Gowdy announced, teammate Tom House caught it, ....and if he'd gone 0-4, when 715 occured, it would have simply been shown the next day during the noon and 6pm newscasts.

I had no idea he was part of the 30-30 club.  Never though of him as a base stealer (my bad).  Three Gold Gloves (look at the competition), 21 straight All Star games by earning it.

His legacy lives on.  755 is the home run record in my book, and so many others. 

[pg1067]

I'll always be of the opinion that Willie Mays was the greatest player, and that he certainly would have topped Ruth's record if not for having Candlestick Park as his home field.

Mays also missed the better part of two years at the beginning of his career because of military service.  I caught an interview that Bob Costas did with Aaron, and Aaron said he thought Mays would have beaten Ruth's record before he did but for the military service.  Given that Mays hit 41 and 51 in the two seasons after his military service, I don't doubt it.

[Dream Team]

Perhaps my favorite Aaron stat is that he has 12 MILES worth of total bases than the #2 man Musial.

[SoundscapeMN]

he was a bit like Ripken Jr, in that in his 24 years playing MLB, he never went on the Disabled List.

He was great, but part of why he had the records and statistics he did was his durability.

and whoever mentioned it earlier, it is sad, that him and a bunch of other MLB legends passed away over the last year is kind of staggering. Many of those legends from the 50's, 60's and 70's that I grew up reading about and watching clips, time sadly is catching up with.

RIP.