I wont lie and say I loved Hank Aaron when I was a kid. He was a Brave. I was a Willie Mays fan. He was a Giant. But as Aaron closed in on Babe Ruth's 714 home run record I rooted for him. I was a teen and completely unaware of the racism the man endured as he closed in on the Babe. The death threats, the pressure, the fright he must have felt every time he stepped up to the plate didnt deter him. He mashed along, never hitting more than 47 homers in a single season, and passed Ruth on an April night in 1974 hitting number 715 and making Al Downing famous. Hank hit 40 more homers in his career to end up with the 755 number. The record that was never to be broken mostly because players don't play every inning of every game anymore.
Then came the Cheaters. The Cheaters jammed drugs and hormones into their bodies like a damn turkey and started smashing home runs like singles. And MLB let it happen to appease attention span challenged fans looking for fireworks every night.
One Cheater eventually passed Hank on a night in San Francisco with a cartoonishly large head and an even more cartoonishly evilness. As decent and humble as Hank Aaron was, the Cheat was equally indecent and a prick. The bad guy won that night. Im a Giants fan, but those years of the Cheat were especially difficult. Rooting for that Fathead was impossible. He was destroying my game that I feel in love with because of guys like Hank Aaron. Aaron was 6 feet and 180 lbs and hit 755. The Cheat was 6-1 and weighed whatever the freakishly large head and body weighed after the injections .
You're the king Hank. Just like Roger Maris is the single season king. If MLB had any scruples, those "records" would be re installed. You fucking cheated decent men out of their lifes accomplishments by allowing the Cheats to cheat.
Heres to you Hank!
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