Legendary HR King Hank Aaron passed away this morning at the age of 86.

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STILL the home run king as far as I'm concerned. RIP to an amazing man. To do what he did under so much pressure and in the face of so much hatred is truly legendary.

Side note, in addition to everything else, I deeply loved that he was willing to do a voice spot on Futurama as Hank Aaron the XXIV, the worst blernsball player in history.
 

Yep. Still the King for sure. No asterisk needed by his name.

The Oh Henry bar was far superior to the Reggie bar.

RIP Hank. One of the top five greats of all-time.

So many cool people are dying left and right...
 

Practically impossible to not love this guy. He'll be revered and fondly remembered forever.
 

Oh man, what a bummer. RIP, Hammerin' Hank.
 


I was only 5 yrs old when he got #715, but my dad let me stay up late to watch it. One of my earliest memories.

Also, I got his autograph at a baseball card show at the Thunderbird Hotel, next to Met Center (mid '80s). I just remember being awed in his presence.
 
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tikited said:
Yep. Still the King for sure. No asterisk needed by his name.

The Oh Henry bar was far superior to the Reggie bar.

RIP Hank. One of the top five greats of all-time.

So many cool people are dying left and right...
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Also was considered a really good person.

They just did a video tribute on ESPN and he received 3k hate letters daily when he was chasing Ruth's record - unfathomable.

Reggie Bar, lol, make me want to watch some Reggie Vision this afternoon.
 
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Not quite old enough to remember watching him play, but always impressed me as being a true gentleman. Of all his statistical accomplishments, the one that stands out the most to me is the fact that he hit 20 or more home runs every season from age 21 to age 40. RIP Hammer.
 

Trivia Question: What pitcher gave up the homerun to break Ruth's record?
 



Other fun facts -

Hank Aaron, per the ESPN tribute I mentioned in my prior post stated, that he has 12 more miles in total bases than Stan the Man Musial, who is in second place - 12 miles!!! Mind Blown.

Also won three Gold Glove
25x All Star
MVP
2 Batting TItles

Hank Aaron Stats | Baseball-Reference.com (baseball-reference.com)

SUMMARY
Career
WAR
143.1
AB
12364
H
3771
HR
755
BA
.305
R
2174
RBI
2297
SB
240
OBP
.374
SLG
.555
OPS
.928
OPS+
155
 
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tikited said:
Ding ding ding! You win a Dodger Dog.

I wonder where the guy who ran onto the field and shook Hank's hand is today?
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I like my Dogs with mustards and relish please.

Hopefully the guy never washed that hand.
 




tikited said:
Trivia Question: What pitcher gave up the homerun to break Ruth's record?
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Also of note, was Brave relief pitcher Tom House caught it in the bullpen. He's gone on to be a pretty renowned pitching coach as well as mentoring QBs.
 
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Ope3 said:
I was only 5 yrs old when he got #715, but my dad let me stay up late to watch it. One of my earliest memories.

Also, I got his autograph at a baseball card show at the Thunderbird Hotel, next to Met Center (mid '80s). I just remember being awed in his presence.
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I used to LOVE the card shows at The Thunderbird Hotel. Epic in size and autograph show guests.

Win Twins!!
 



BleedGopher said:
I used to LOVE the card shows at The Thunderbird Hotel. Epic in size and autograph show guests.

Win Twins!!
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They were always a blast. My favorite one was when Duke Snider was signing. My father grew up in Brooklyn thus was a huge fan. We went to his signing also mid 80s and by the end of it the lines weren't that long, and all of a sudden my 40something old man turned into a kid.

Duke signed my stuff, and my dad mentions he grew up in Brooklyn. They wind up shooting the breeze about the old neighborhood for like 10-15 minutes, just could not have been nicer.
 
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Ope3 said:
They were always a blast. My favorite one when Duke Snider was signing. My father grew up in Brooklyn thus was a huge fan. We went to his signing also mid 80s and by the end of it the lines weren't that long, and all of a sudden my 40something old man turned into a kid.

Duke signed my stuff, and my dad mentions he grew up in Brooklyn. They wind up shooting the breeze about the old neighborhood for like 10-15 minutes, just could not have been nicer.
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Cool story...wished I knew about those back then.
I would have probably fainted meeting any of the old Brooklyn Dodgers. I read every book about the team/individual players from the old bookmobiles that used to come to our elementary.
 

If you're a subscriber to The Athletic, Joe Posnanski's profile on Hank Aaron (#4 on his all-time list) is a great read and highlights how Hammerin' Hank was a great all-around baseball player who happened to hit the most HR's ever.
theathletic.com

The Baseball 100: No. 4, Henry Aaron

Home runs were not the chorus of Aaron’s song. He just hit so many baseballs hard over the years that 755 left the ballpark.
theathletic.com theathletic.com

I also just started listening to his PosCast, where he's joined by Bob Kendricks, the President of the Negro Leagues Baseball Hall of Fame. I've only started with it, but I imagine it'll be a great listen.
 


coolhandgopher said:
If you're a subscriber to The Athletic, Joe Posnanski's profile on Hank Aaron (#4 on his all-time list) is a great read and highlights how Hammerin' Hank was a great all-around baseball player who happened to hit the most HR's ever.
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Just a few of things I have seen mentioned on MLB Network & ESPN

- More HRs than Ruth
- More RBIs than Gehrig (still 1st)
- Only Cobb had more hits when he retired (now 3rd)
- Most runs scored
- Most All Star Games. He was joined by Mays & Clemente consistently in the 60s, uhh stacked much?!?

I will also add, he made a cameo appearance on Happy Days as a celebrity pitchman for Cunningham Hardware. Mr C had a tough time playing it cool.
 




Ope3 said:
Just a few of things I have seen mentioned on MLB Network & ESPN

- More HRs than Ruth
- More RBIs than Gehrig (still 1st)
- Only Cobb had more hits when he retired (now 3rd)
- Most runs scored
- Most All Star Games. He was joined by Mays & Clemente consistently in the 60s, uhh stacked much?!?

I will also add, he made a cameo appearance on Happy Days as a celebrity pitchman for Cunningham Hardware. Mr C had a tough time playing it cool.
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Great post. Love the Happy Days reference - one of my favorite shows as a young lad.

I was more Potsie than Fonzie unfortunately.
 

Ope3 said:
Just a few of things I have seen mentioned on MLB Network & ESPN

- More HRs than Ruth
- More RBIs than Gehrig (still 1st)
- Only Cobb had more hits when he retired (now 3rd)
- Most runs scored
- Most All Star Games. He was joined by Mays & Clemente consistently in the 60s, uhh stacked much?!?

I will also add, he made a cameo appearance on Happy Days as a celebrity pitchman for Cunningham Hardware. Mr C had a tough time playing it cool.
Click to expand...
Another one that blows the mind-remove his 755 home runs and he still has over 3000 hits (credit to Joe Posnanski for pointing that out)
 

coolhandgopher said:
Another one that blows the mind-remove his 755 home runs and he still has over 3000 hits (credit to Joe Posnanski for pointing that out)
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I was looking at the hits leaders lists, when he left the NL to go back to Milwaukee/AL he was just 30 hits shy of Stan Musial for All Time National League Leader.

Doesn't seem that noteworthy now, but when Pete Rose eventually passed Stan The Man, they made it sort of a big deal.
 

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