Hank Aaron

[mr2686]

Originally Posted by Runscott

I recently acquired an Aaron 1970's store model Louisville Slugger that is in nearly perfect shape. It was not my primary purchase but was included with something else. I would love to have Aaron sign it.

Aaron is sort of an enigma to me - as a kid he was one of my favorite hitters, along with Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle and Frank Howard. To us kids, the Aaron card was as sought-after as Mays or any other player after Mantle, and that was well before Aaron passed Ruth. I lived near Houston and we saw the Braves play a lot. Everyone seemed to be at the game to see Aaron (and the Astros) - I never heard anything negative. Yet Aaron has had plenty of bad words for the South and Texas, among other things. I'm sure he didn't imagine the negativity, but I was never too happy with his lumping all of us together.

Same here. We'd always make sure to include an Atlanta game each year from 1970-1975 when the braves came to play the Dodgers, just to see Hank play. He was my favorite active player followed by Willie Mays and Wes Parker. Fast forward to 1989-today and both Mays and Aaron have been two of the rudest, surliest autograph signers I've ever seen. I've seen them both on multiple occasions (I've been, and always will be, very respectful at signings...yes sir, thank you sir, etc) so it wasn't just one or the other having a bad day. They both seem to lump everyone in to the same boat, so I finally decided to jump out of the boat and not get anything else signed by them.

[jeff8877]

Extremely difficult Hank, the highest graded is a 5. One of the toughest sets of the 1960's. These were issued in Canada in 1968 and were the same as the US counterparts issued in 1967. The only difference was the poster number and at the bottom it says printed in Canada vs USA. It is thought that the print run for these was roughly 3-5% of the US. Anything you can find is torn or split at the seams. Most of the set pops are single digits.

[yankeesjetsfan]

I still consider Aaron to be the Home Run King of baseball, personally. I just missed seeing Aaron as a player. He retired in Oct of '76, same month I saw my very first baseball game, which was Game 5 of the ALCS. I don't have any Aaron in my collection, but I would love to pick up an autograph at some point, either a certified on card auto or a baseball. Want a bobblehead also as I am starting a HOF'er bobblehead collection.

Mike

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by yankeesjetsfan

I still consider Aaron to be the Home Run King of baseball, personally. I just missed seeing Aaron as a player. He retired in Oct of '76, same month I saw my very first baseball game, which was Game 5 of the ALCS. I don't have any Aaron in my collection, but I would love to pick up an autograph at some point, either a certified on card auto or a baseball. Want a bobblehead also as I am starting a HOF'er bobblehead collection.

Mike

Agreed on Aaron as home run king. I also consider Roger Maris to be the single-season HR king, but Stanton might get very close to 61.

[TUM301]

Originally Posted by Runscott

Agreed on Aaron as home run king. I also consider Roger Maris to be the single-season HR king, but Stanton might get very close to 61.

Right there with Scott on this thought, Stanton looks like he`s making a serious move on the single season mark. Wonder what the vegas line is on him going over 61 ?

[Shoeless Moe]

He goes to Coors Field next week, that ain't gonna hurt.

[doug.goodman]

Regarding Aaron -

I saw him hit #751 at the Oakland Coliseum, and got his autograph before the game when he signed at the side of the field for a few minutes.

Strangely, Billy Williams also hit one that day (#422) and he also had exactly 4 more in his career.


Regarding Stanton -

At this point in the season in 1961, Maris had hit 58, and Mantle 53.

At this point in the 1927 season, Ruth had hit 57.