In Praise Of Henry Aaron

Yesterday was a historic day in baseball as Barry Bonds tied Hank Aaron’s homerun record, and A-rod became the youngest player to get to 500 homeruns. Today Tom Glavine goes for win number 300, quite possibly becoming the last pitcher to ever make it into this club. This weekend could be historic with three milestones being reached.

Focusing on Bonds for a moment, Cal Ripken Jr. said on a talk show earlier this baseball year that even if you are not a Bonds fan or you do not believe he legitimately should have this record, tying and breaking the record also gives fans the chance to celebrate Hank Aaron’s record. So, with all this hoopla over everything, lets take a moment to celebrate Hank Aaron,

I started following baseball in 1974, the year Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s record. I was a neophyte fan and knew little about the importance of the record. Still, there was an excitement that I felt, even without understanding exactly what I was seeing.

There were death threats for Aaron. Some were simply because people did not want to see Ruth’s record broken. Others, I am sure, were racially motivated and had something (A lot) to do with the fact that Aaron was black.

Aaron handled the situation with a lot of dignity and became one of the true ambassador’s to the game. Aaron has remained a gentleman and even though Bonds has now tied Aaron’s record, and will undoubtedly break it, it does not diminish the achievements of Aaron, just like Aaron’s accomplishments did not diminish the accomplishments of Babe Ruth and many people still consider The Babe to be the best player ever, or at least the best homerun hitter that ever lived.

Cheers to the San Diego fans for cheering (some of them) and not being rude or disrespectful (no throwing of garbage or becoming unruly). Cheers to Bud Selig for being in attendance (although I think he could have been a little more courteous when Bonds hit the homerun. Selig really looked like he did not want to be there).

Anyway, congrats to Bonds, Congrats to A-rod and hopefully in tomorrow’s post, I will be able to say congrats to Glavine.

Let’s Go Mets!