RIP Hank Aaron

Hank Aaron was criminally underrated by the masses as a player for a number of reasons ...

He didn’t play in a major market like Mantle/Mays

He didn’t have the outwardly engaging personality or flair that Willie Mays had

And unquestionably he was underrated because of the color of his skin

That said, anybody that is a fan of the history of the game knows how great Hank Aaron was. He was arguably the greatest living player at the time of his death (along with Willie Mays).

Perhaps the thing that stands out to me is that I’ve never heard anybody tied into the game of baseball say a bad word about Hank Aaron. In the end, that’s fairly telling.

LebamDawg said:

dflea said:

NorthwestFresh said:

dflea said:

RaceBannon said:

I grew up with boxing and big fights and never got into MMA but isn't MMA far more popular among the younger generations?

The heavyweight title fight was always a big event up through Tyson. Even middleweights like Hagler, Hearns, and Sugar Ray

It just seems HARD to get traction these days.

The fights back in the day were great. They were great because of the boxers.

Hearns
Hagler
Leonard
Chavez
Duran
Aguello
Pryor
Ali
Holmes
Norton
Frazier
Holmes
Foreman
Tyson
Holyfield

So many great fights between those guys. Loads of thrill of victory and agony of defeat.

Aaron “The Hawk” Pryor was my favorite boxer on those ABC Saturday afternoon fights. He was a small welterweight version of Mike Tyson before there was Tyson.

Pryor got the water bottle his trainer "mixed" when he fought Arguello. lol

That fight was unbelievable.

Arguello was robbed I tell ya

You douches shitting on Hanks thread jizzin over 2nd rate boxers is brand for the Tug for sure.

Kaepsknee said:

Simply the best. He was a God when I was a kid. And then you got older and realized all the shit that He had to go through. Hank’s grace and class was as great as his bat. Always a great ambassador for the game. Probably the best ever in that regard as well. And lord knows He had little reason to be. But He always put the game before himself. Amazing Man.

When I was really young a neighbor knew of my love for sports and gave me a baseball encyclopedia from 1968 ... still one of the coolest things I’ve owned.

One of the things I’d do would go year by year leveraging the stats (because I’ve always been a numbers person) to make up who I thought were effectively the All Star teams each year.

There have been a number of greats and many that have put up great numbers ... but few put up the consistent numbers year in and year out that Hank Aaron did.

NorthwestFresh said:

Tequilla said:

Kaepsknee said:

Simply the best. He was a God when I was a kid. And then you got older and realized all the shit that He had to go through. Hank’s grace and class was as great as his bat. Always a great ambassador for the game. Probably the best ever in that regard as well. And lord knows He had little reason to be. But He always put the game before himself. Amazing Man.

When I was really young a neighbor knew of my love for sports and gave me a baseball encyclopedia from 1968 ... still one of the coolest things I’ve owned.

One of the things I’d do would go year by year leveraging the stats (because I’ve always been a numbers person) to make up who I thought were effectively the All Star teams each year.

There have been a number of greats and many that have put up great numbers ... but few put up the consistent numbers year in and year out that Hank Aaron did.

Random question. Did you ever play Strat-o-Matic baseball? My cousins and an discovered it in the mid-80s at an uncle’s house and it became a staple of family gatherings.

I don’t think I did