MJWalker45 5,753 Posted January 22 One interesting thing to note is his jersey number, 44. He and most of the black players from Mobile, Alabama that entered MLB in the 1950's all wore it, though for him it seemed to originally be as a way to break an unlucky hitting streak. Younger players that looked up to him as an example also would wear 44 when they made the majors. The number 44 has been worn by many "power hitters" since Hank Aaron's career as home run king (Aaron was number 44). Other notable examples include Willie McCovey, Reggie Jackson, Adam Dunn, Anthony Rizzo, and Paul Goldschmidt. Aaron has always been linked to the number 44. He hit 44 homers in a season four different times. He broke Babe Ruth's all-time home run record in the fourth inning of the fourth month of a year against a pitcher, Al Downing, who was wearing No. 44 for the Dodgers. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
FiddySicks 11,201 Posted January 22 And, on deck when Hank Aaron hit 715 was Dusty Baker, who’s teams are always eliminated from the playoffs be 4 winning a title. Aaron never really registered with me, even though I always knew he should’ve. I’m not quite sure why that is. I think part of it is being from the west coast and rooting for a team that had its own old legends. He was just too far away and too long ago to really register with me. But, another part of why I think that is because of the coverage he got from the writers. There always seemed to be this general underlying annoyance that he was the one who broke Babe Ruth’s record. I’m not sure if that was because he took that record from the Yankees, or if it was a racial thing, but I assume it was probably at least a little bit of both. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Luigi74 177 Posted January 22 2 hours ago, FiddySicks said: And, on deck when Hank Aaron hit 715 was Dusty Baker, who’s teams are always eliminated from the playoffs be 4 winning a title. Aaron never really registered with me, even though I always knew he should’ve. I’m not quite sure why that is. I think part of it is being from the west coast and rooting for a team that had its own old legends. He was just too far away and too long ago to really register with me. But, another part of why I think that is because of the coverage he got from the writers. There always seemed to be this general underlying annoyance that he was the one who broke Babe Ruth’s record. I’m not sure if that was because he took that record from the Yankees, or if it was a racial thing, but I assume it was probably at least a little bit of both. It was mainly race and a generation of sportswriters who saw Ruth as a god like figure. 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marlins93 1,003 Posted January 22 He's still the rightful Home Run King in my book. 10 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cujo 4,792 Posted January 23 Screw what the MLB record books say -- RIP Home Run King Mr. Aaron 6 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
habsfan1 3,969 Posted January 25 RIP Hank Aaron. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
