Hammerin Hank Passes Away
- Thread starter NWICY
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Braves legend Hank Aaron dies at age 86
Legendary Atlanta Brave and Major League Baseball record holder Hank Aaron died Friday at the age of 86.
This video is one of the most iconic sports highlights of all time IMO
Shame. I’ve always thought he almost was unrated, if that’s possible. What he accomplished was otherworldly and stands alone among the other baseball greats. RIP.
I can’t imagine the s*** he had to go through while chasing the Babes career home run record. Think of how many racist there must have been in 1974. Especially after seeing how many there still is in this past year. Add on top of that you have to hit a round ball with a cylinder object. All the while trying to hit the varying speeds, curves, sinkers and knuckleballs of the pitch. Really impressiv.
I read a story about Aaron, supposedly the big league scouts discovered him playing semi-pro ball, and he was batting cross-handed and hitting over .400. What a class act he was, and one of the game's all-time greats.
This chart is something else. Would love to see it updated with the new inclusion of the Negro leagues statistics.
His biography, "I Had a Hammer," is really good - read it in high school. I remember he said as a kid he used to try to hit bottle caps with a broomstick, which lead to his ability to make contact. Then after a few years in the big leagues he saw that all the money was going to power hitters so he changed from a contact hitter / on-base guy to a long ball guy. Excelled at both. Just incredible.
He just got the COVID vaccine a couple of weeks ago, so get ready for all of the anti-vaxxers to start up on this.
Little too young to have ever watched him play but as a fan of sports statistics he's always jumped off the page at me not just for baseball but for all of American sports.
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
It’s just mind blowing. 1974 wasn’t that long ago.
One thing that I appreciated about him and how he handled it is that he didn’t gloss over the bad part of it.
He received hate mail, death threats, and every other sort of vileness you could possibly imagine while chasing the record.
I was seventeen and had just gotten home from doing whatever. My Dad, a big Yankee fan was watching the game, Aaron was up. The old man called it, this is it, boom. He took it in stride. Aaron was a great, great player and reportedly a better person. The last true untainted home run King.