He was a 21-time All-Star who hit more home runs than Babe Ruth (755 to 714), batted for a higher lifetime average than Pete Rose (.305 to .303), tallied more hits than Willie Mays (3,771 to 3,283), led the league in total bases more times than Ted Williams (8 to 6), stole 20 or more bases six times and won three consecutive Gold Gloves in right field. Few athletes, in any sport, have ever enjoyed a career of such sustained greatness as Hank Aaron (career stats), who turns 70 on Thursday.
Other baseball players have had single seasons in which their games were elevated to levels Aaron could never reach — Ruth in 1921 and 1927, Mickey Mantle in 1956, Barry Bonds in 2001 — but viewed as a whole, Aaron's résumé is staggering:
1st in home runs (755)
1st in RBIs (2,297)
1st in total bases (6,856)
1st in extra-base hits (1,477)
1st in All-Star Games played (24, multiple games some years in the '60s)
2nd in at-bats (12,364)
3rd in hits (3,771)
3rd in runs (2,174)
3rd in games played (3,298)
All pre-juice credentials there. Not bad for a 6-0, 190-pound outfielder. And he's long been a respected ambassador of the game, the last member of the Negro league to play in the majors and a former teammate of Hall of Famers stretching from Enos Slaughter, whose career began in 1939, to Robin Yount, whose career ended in 1993.
Hank Aaron Links:
• ESPN's SportsCentury: Hank Aaron — Aaron was ranked as the 14th greatest athlete of the 20th Century, placing third among baseball players behind Babe Ruth (2) and Willie Mays (8), just ahead of Jackie Robinson (15) and Ted Williams (16).
• Hank Aaron's Baseball Hall of Fame Profile Page — Includes voting stats (nine dimwits out of 415 did not vote for him in his first year of eligibility) as well as an image and transcript of his Hall of Fame plaque.
• BaseballImmortals.net: Hank Aaron — An incredible database of statistics and career notes. Includes such tid-bits as "Aaron was the HR leader during Richard Nixon's time as President, with 218" and "Aaron was the only National Leaguer to reach 400 total bases in a season between 1949-1996."
• BaseballLibrary.com: Hank Aaron — A lenghty profile, plus a timeline of key moments in his career.
• When Hank Passed the Babe — Remembering his record-breaking 715th home run, achieved amid death threats, on April 8, 1974, off L.A.'s Al Downing.
• Aaron Hammers Rose for Insincere Confession — The home-run king on the Hit King's recent revelation.
Thanks for giving the Hammer some props. I have three heroes -- total -- in sports: Jackie Robinson for being that one man who changed the world; Lance Armstrong for being the best after nearly dying from cancer and Hank Aaron, for his consistence and for all the shit he went through when he was closing in on Ruth.
No man should ever have to experience that. A little of Hank Aaron died during that home run chase. Too bad we can never give that piece back to him.
Posted by Rob at February 5, 2004 2:36 AM