Hank Aaron, MLB legend, dead at 86
Hank Aaron, who endured racist death threats while chasing down and breaking Babe Ruth’s all-time home run record, and still considered by many to be baseball’s legitimate long ball king, died Friday. He was 86.
“Hammerin’ Hank” eclipsed Ruth’s longstanding mark with his 715th career home run on April 8, 1974, and he finished his 23-year major league career – mostly spent with the Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves — with 755 total. His record stood until Barry Bonds broke it in 2007 and established the new mark of 762, although suspicions that Bonds used performance-enhancing drugs prompted some in the baseball community to advocate for an asterisk to be placed on his new mark and has kept him out of the Hall of Fame.
I’ll entertain the idea that Bonds’ number should have an asterisk as soon as MLB and any number of other sports rule that wins/records established after athletes who have had their vision Lasik’ed down to 20/10 get the same asterisk. If you push me, corrective lenses at all. Zero difference between “Age required that I have my vision restored” and “Age required I have my quick-twitch muscles restored.”Report