Let's Celebrate Mr. Hank Aaron Here

He was my favorite ballplayer while I was growing up, bar none. I still vividly remember where I was when he hit #715. My dad was such a fan of the game that he made a big deal of taking my family up to Milwaukee to see a game in 1975 when Hank was on the Brewers. I now appreciate that gesture so, so much.

Acording to what Aaron was saying last night during the Mets/Braves game used an average sized bat (32 oz.) and he didn't shave the neck at all. Hank said that having the weight even through the bat helped to be able to stop the bat on check swings.

* cept milwaukee maybe

240 for his career, 195 of those between 1960 and 1968. not bad when coupled with 755 home runs. not willie mays numbers but better than most.

One of my favorite stories I have heard about Hank Aaron was Don Drysdale brushing him back. When he went into the dugout, Walter Alston supposedly got on him for throwing up high as it would only make him mad. I guess he went on a tear for the rest of the series and clobbered the Dodgers. This is one of the reasons he got the nickname "Bad Henry". I think it was in the episode of Sports Century about Hank Aaron.

turned 75 yesterday:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3888107

They should have named it Hank Aaron Field instead of for Ted Turner. That destroyed the 1% of good karma they still had from Hank's tenure there. I told that to my friend Cobb County Jon and he said "I agree with you but you KNOW they're never gonna do it, it's a suburban white thing, give it up."

― Begs2Differ (Begs2Differ), Sunday, April 11, 2004 8:12 AM (4 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

haha, i had this exact same argument with my parents when i was 12 years old! doesn't really bother me now tho, turner did a lot for this town. besides, it's on hank aaron drive!

80 yesterday

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/44107/happy-birthday-hank-aaron

the very same day as canadian icon/rob ford supporter don cherry

hank deserves better than to be linked to rob ford in any way

Hank yesterday, Ruth today.

Maybe this is common knowledge, but I didn't know about it (from David Schoenfield):

What is true, however, is that Mays and Aaron nearly played together. The New York Giants, who already had Mays, were also scouting Aaron, but the Braves reportedly offered $50 more a month, so Aaron signed with them. Think about that on Aaron's 80th birthday.

Also a red flag to the next team that lets someone walk over an extra $1.7 million more a month.

"only" 80 -- honestly he seems like he should be pushing 95+ now but he's younger than my grandmother. live forever.

If you had a lineup with Mays, Aaron and McCovey...yikes.

Guy that was really good that I think is forgotten is Eddie Mathews, that guy was a thumping hitter for a 3b. That guy could work a count, he drew a ton of walks. Mathews and Hank Aaron was a pretty fearsome middle of the lineup, really up there with Ruth and Gerhig and the really great ones.

A victim of the Atlanta Icepocalypse -- slipped and fell, had hip surgery last night. I hope he bounces back fully -- any kind of fall and surgical repair is hard rehabbing for an 80-year-old.

82 today!

Funky bday to the legendary Henry Aaron, shown here in 1976 schooling Julius "Dr. J" Erving on the Magnavox Odyssey home video game system. pic.twitter.com/rGhAsQxder

— Dan Epstein (@BigHairPlasGras) February 5, 2019

sometimes i look at his stats and just boggle, i mean he never had a singular all-time season like a lot of absolute inner-circle HOFers, he just was so consistent for two decades without a decline and he was good at *everything*. Well, maybe not an all-time defender but that type of thing from that era might be tough to pin down.

killed by his second covid shot!

looking at Aaron's splits vs. HOF pitchers and it turns out he ate them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner https://t.co/591C3Fsw9i pic.twitter.com/I62HQ8Zciu

— Suss-- 🥌 (@suss2hyphens) January 22, 2021

Wow, RIP. What a legend.

(xpost) Most of them--killed Koufax--but looks like Gibson and Seaver held him in check (and Sutton and Jenkins didn't fare too badly).

.318/.405/.603 in 3567 PA against lefties

.362/.431/.647 against Koufax is boggling.

Bob Gibson and Sandy Koufax on Hank Aaron.

🙏 pic.twitter.com/k8VqDC5zra

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) January 22, 2021

There's a reader's thread on the Bill James site where they've been cutting some of Aaron's career totals in half to see which players turn up.

Cut his bWAR in half and you roughly get Derek Jeter, Reggie Jackson, Frank Thomas, and Tony Gwynn.

"Players with between 350 and 410 home runs (roughly half of Aaron's 755), plus a batting average over .280, include Duke Snider, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, and Hank Greenberg."

I'll add a couple myself.

Half his Total Bases: Kirby Puckett, Alan Trammell, Gil Hodges.

Half his RBI: Bill Dickey, Chuck Klein, Jim Edmonds, Will Clark.