Hammerin' Hank

Trivia question - When Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run to break Babe Ruth's career record, what high school did the pitcher who gave up the home run attend?

The pitcher was Al Downing, if that helps.

Hank Aaron passed away last week two weeks shy of his 87th birthday. Perhaps more than any other athlete in any sport ever, Aaron put together a career of incredible consistency.

There are 30 players who have hit at least 50 home runs in a season. It may surprise you to know that Hank Aaron is not one of them.

On the other hand, "Hammerin' Hank" hit at least 24 home runs every year from 1955 through 1973, and he reached 30 home runs in a season 15 different times while having eight different 40 home run seasons. His career high was 47, in 1971.

He also had 11 seasons of between 106 and 132 RBIs, and his 2,297 career RBIs are still the Major League record.

Aaron was named to 25 all-star teams in his 23-year career (there were two all-star games a year from 1959-62).

As TB said, he was a model of consistency. And a model of modest, team-first, non-spectacular sportsmanship. To be honest, TB doesn't remember anyone who would say that Aaron was their favorite player. He also doesn't know anyone who would say they didn't respect Aaron and the way he played the game. 

His list of baseball accomplishments is nearly endless. There is no believable list of the greatest players of all-time that doesn't include Hank Aaron in the top 10. 

Oh, and if you were a fan of the TV show "The Odd Couple" in the 1970s, then you also remember that Aaron's name was featured in one of its greatest scenes.

What TB didn't realize about Aaron is that he was the recipient of an honorary degree from Princeton in 2011 until he saw it on Princeton's social media feed.

Here's what the University said about him:
Henry “Hank” Aaron is one of the most accomplished baseball players in American history and is currently senior vice president of the Atlanta Braves. As a player entering Major League Baseball soon after its integration in 1954, he confronted racism with quiet dignity, and as an executive he has fought discrimination in hiring practices ... As he approached Babe Ruth’s record of 714, he received almost a million letters, many of them abusive. Today America is a much better place with much more opportunity for all, in part because he gave all of us an imperishable example of grace under pressure.

That last part, about the abuse he took for chasing down the beloved Babe, was 100 percent true. It's one of the things TigerBlog remembers most from that time. 

TB watched the game live on tv when Aaron hit 715. And where did Al Downing go to high school? Trenton High School.

TigerBlog remembers when another athlete, Mia Hamm, received an honorary degree from Princeton as well. This was in 2006, five years before Aaron did.

TB was one of Hamm's escorts that day. He first met up with her at the Nassau Inn early on the morning of graduation, and he was with her through a reception, the ceremony and a luncheon.

What stands out most about that day?  

It was the way Hamm was mobbed wherever she went by basically everyone she ran into. 

There haven't been too many more popular athletes, male or female, in this country over the last 25 years or so than Mia Hamm.

Here's what was said about her:
For men and women around the world, but especially for girls in this country, she has personified the achievement of excellence, the expansion of opportunity and the determination needed to overcome defenders of opponents’ nets and limitations on the participation of women in sports. Because of her, many have dreamed what they otherwise would not have dared to dream, and have set out to realize their dreams by following her model of courage, integrity, discipline, good sportsmanship and effective teamwork.

Every word of that is true.

There was a time when women's athletics had no crossover appeal to the mainstream male audience. 

Just as no believable list of the greatest baseball players of all-time can exist without Hank Aaron, no credible list of the women athletes who made that crossover possible can exist without Mia Hamm, right up there near the very, very top.