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Friday, February 5, 2016

Happy Birthday to Hank Aaron

Hank turns 81 today.  I was surprised to see that he not only played all three outfield positions in his career, but that he also played 1B (210 games), 2B (43 games) and 3B (7 games) at some time.  Hank's brother Tommie played seven years from 1962 - 1971.  They combined for a record 768 career home runs, more than any other brother combo.  That's also more than Barry Bonds who had no brother in the majors.

I've mentioned before about Aaron not appearing in Kellogg's sets.  I need someone from SABR to find out about that.  (Players Not in Early 1970s Kellogg's Sets).


Aaron didn't appear in a Kellogg's set until 1991.  We didn't spend a lot of time wondering who was in or not in the Kellogg's set each year because everyone was in the Topps set.  Back to the 1991 set - this is a great set.  Check it out sometimes.  The 1992 set of current all-stars isn't as good.

Here are my biggest memories of Hank Aaron from the 1970s.

1.  The 1974 Topps card #1 was high sought after.  Since no one cared about rookie cards back then this was the card everyone wanted in trade.

2.  Watching him break Babe Ruth's career home run record was a big deal.  I remember almost everything about it except for which family members were in the room.  I can still picture that huge television that weighed about as much as a Honda Civic.  I can also picture the small portable television that we actually were watching because it sat atop the large television that was never getting fixed.  Please refrain from adding a sentence that ends with "you might be a redneck".  We just didn't have money.

I know my parents were watching and a few others were occupying the other seats.  My brother and I had our usual spots, on the floor or course, where we watching Monday Night Baseball and Monday Night Football.  I had gotten a small, cheap tape recorder at some point.  I remember sitting close to the television to record the event for future generations.  I don't remember ever hearing that recording again so it probably didn't work out so well.  

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