Hank Aaron - RIP

[eytonxav]

Hammering Hank now gone too:
https://247sports.com/college/lsu/A...ves-Milwaukee-Brewers-Hall-of-Fame-159735738/

 

[finnski1]

One of the all time greats obviously. I can't understand why he "only" received 97.83 % of HOF votes. Should have been 100%. Why would any body have objected back in 1982?

 

[Montecfo]

What a great player.

Didn't he say, "the difference between me and Willie Mays is my hat fits better?"

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

Sad day in Brewtown.

I still remember his getting 715, still remember it was off Al Downing (a pitcher that I have no other recollection of!).

 

[jollystomper]

One of the all time greats obviously. I can't understand why he "only" received 97.83 % of HOF votes. Should have been 100%. Why would any body have objected back in 1982?

Well, given that he received many death threats while getting close to Babe Ruth's record, I am not surprised.

There seems to be a feeling among baseball writers than no one of "perfect". If one of their own favorite players did not get 100%, they will likely not vote to see someone else get 100%. People are people.


Another one of my favorites from my youth gone... RIP.

 

[MuirWannabe]

Dang. Childhood hero for sure.

I remember 7-Eleven was doing a long running promotion of slurpee cups with baseball players featured. My best friends and I were avid collectors. For weeks we had our moms hauling around the various 7-elevens looking for new cups we didn’t already have. But the real prize, the dream, was a Hank Aaron cup.

My friends always seemed to have the upper hand in our little collector competition. But I remember the day my mom took me in, and lo and behold it was Hank Aaron on that slurpee cup. I was so proud. Naturally showed it that day to my friends. They promptly dragged their mom to the same store I told them about and got the cups.

Kinda a silly memory I suppose. But wow we loved him as a baseball player. Later learned that it turns out he was a pretty good man too! His passing just brings back a flood of childhood memories. Of places and kids long since forgotten.

 

[Montecfo]

Sad day in Brewtown.

I still remember his getting 715, still remember it was off Al Downing (a pitcher that I have no other recollection of!).

Same. Used to have that poster on my wall as kid.

 

[Car-Guy]

Another of my baseball heroes that has gone over the fence... Not too many left...



RIP Hank

 

[Markola]

Sad news. We’re losing a lot of them, lately. As a kid growing up in rural GA, Hank Aaron was a major hero. I even had a 715 Glove in Little League.

 

[statsman]

One of the all time greats obviously. I can't understand why he "only" received 97.83 % of HOF votes. Should have been 100%. Why would any body have objected back in 1982?

Yeah, I don't get it either. Broke Ruth's HR record. Then broke several of Stan Musial's National League career records. Musial and Aaron. Two of baseball's all-time class acts. Should have been unanimous for Aaron into the HOF. Then again, baseball writers have always been a fickle group. Musial only received 93.24% of HOF votes.

 

[easysurfer]

Hank Aaron was Mr. Consistent. He never had a season with over 50 HRs like some of the other stars of his era, but ended up being the HR king.

When I was a child, the first baseball game I ever went to he was playing as an Atlanta Brave as the visiting team. When he stepped in the batter's box to pinch hit, the stadium gave him a standing ovation and I knew that people were witnessing a part of history.

 

[nap470]

One of my greatest childhood heroes! I was 13 years old when Hank hit 715. I remember jumping up and down around the house.

Baseball writers maintained a stupid (IMHO) "guarding" of the HOF that no player should be unanimously selected. It was said they even discussed a head of time which writer would be the "No" vote. In 2019, Mario Rivera became the first player ever to receive 100% of the vote.

https://www.mlb.com/news/highest-vote-total-percentages-for-baseball-hall-of-fame

 

[scrabbler1]

Sad day in Brewtown.

I still remember his getting 715, still remember it was off Al Downing (a pitcher that I have no other recollection of!).

And Braves lefty reliever Tom House (who is far less known than Downing) caught the ball on the fly in the Braves bullpen behind the left field wall.

 

[6miths]

I remember the lead up to the record and the fact that he hit 713 on the second last day of 1973 season and had to wait until the next season. And a vague recollection of his picture on the SI cover after he broke the record. A great player to be sure. RIP.

 

[RunningBum]

Last time I went to the HOF a couple years ago they did have a nice area to honor him. I don't know if that's a permanent exhibit or not.

 

[harley]

One of the all time greats obviously. I can't understand why he "only" received 97.83 % of HOF votes. Should have been 100%. Why would any body have objected back in 1982?

There were definitely people who didn't like the idea of a person of color breaking the Babe's record. My guess would be about 2.17% of the voters. That time frame was closer to Jackie Robinson than to now. Hopefully people are better than that now.

Sad day in Brewtown.

I still remember his getting 715, still remember it was off Al Downing (a pitcher that I have no other recollection of!).

Al was another great Dodgers pitcher, in the same rotation with the recently deceased Don Sutton.

Hank Aaron was an amazing player, and an amazing person. I met him once, and he was extremely gracious. I was a Dodgers fan, but lived in Richmond VA where the Braves had their AAA team. So there was a lot of exposure to the Braves, and Hank Aaron and Ralph Garr especially. I saw Hank play an exhibition game in Richmond. He was down there fairly often it seemed, since his brother Tommy was a player and then manager there.

RIP Hank.

 

[candrew]

What a great player.

A great player indeed - sans steroids.

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

Hank Aaron was Mr. Consistent. He never had a season with over 50 HRs like some of the other stars of his era, but ended up being the HR king.

+1

I remember his joking about one thing: His highest total was [-]45[/-] 47 HR (one season), but he hit 44 HR four times. Of course, 44 was his uniform number. He joked that he should have worn #50!

EDIT: scrabbler below corrected my mistake. Thanks, scrabbler!

 

[scrabbler1]

+1

I remember his joking about one thing: His highest total was 45 HR (one season), but he hit 44 HR four times. Of course, 44 was his uniform number. He joked that he should have worn #50!

His single-season high was 47, in 1971, in only 495 AB, and at age 37. Just 2 years later, at age 39, he hit 40 homeruns in only 392 AB. This brought him to 713 homeruns and set him up to break Ruth's record in early 1974.

The Braves were going to bench him the first 3 games so he could hopefully tie and break the record in Atlanta. Commissioner Bowie Kuhn stepped in and forced the Braves to play him 2 of the 3 games, whereupon Aaron tied the record the first game, didn't play in the second game, and failed to homer in the third game. Aaron then broke the record the next night in Atlanta.

 

[jollystomper]

The Braves were going to bench him the first 3 games so he could hopefully tie and break the record in Atlanta. Commissioner Bowie Kuhn stepped in and forced the Braves to play him 2 of the 3 games, whereupon Aaron tied the record the first game, didn't play in the second game, and failed to homer in the third game. Aaron then broke the record the next night in Atlanta.

I believe the game in which he tied the record was in the afternoon. I recall being at the dentist, who was a big baseball fan, and he had a TV on in the corner. He asked me if I minded and I said of course not. When Aaron came to bat he stopped and we saw him tie the record. He had the prettiest (at least to a 16 year old boy) dental assistant and she was jumping up and down with excitement, which also made my day .

 

[Chuckanut]

I remember that recording breaking home run very well as the Braves were playing against my beloved Los Angeles Dodgers. Al Downing was on the mound. My buddies and I used to joke that when Walter Alston sent in Downing to pitch, he had given up on the game. So, we had a good clue that the record breaking homer might be very near.

 

[garyt]

One of the all time greats obviously. I can't understand why he "only" received 97.83 % of HOF votes. Should have been 100%. Why would any body have objected back in 1982?

It's a stupid tradition. Nobody has gotten 100% (although I think someone did in the last couple years). Arrogant writers who do the voting thought it was somehow their claim to fame that no one got 100%

 

[MuirWannabe]

https://www.espn.com/mlb/news/story?id=5504664

Remembering the record breaking HR, was thinking about the two guys who ran onto the field as Hank rounded the bases. At the time, I remember it being surprising, but not thinking that much of it. In today’s thinking, it seems quite scary. Glad it ended up as nothing.

Found the attached story. Apparently Hank had a reunion with the two guys in 2010. As usual, he was gracious and kind.

 

[garyt]

There were definitely people who didn't like the idea of a person of color breaking the Babe's record. My guess would be about 2.17% of the voters. That time frame was closer to Jackie Robinson than to now. Hopefully people are better than that now



Didn't have anything to do with racism but arrogance of the writers who vote. Stan Musial, Mickey Mantle, name your favorite white HoFer didn't get 100% either. It's ridiculous.

 

[steelyman]

I think (not sure) that Ken Burns’ Baseball documentary has an interesting segment about how difficult it was for Hammerin’ Hank to reach that record.