HANK AARON QUOTES II
American baseball player (1934- )
I'm sure this is a hard thing to understand for somebody who isn't black; but what kind of man would I be if I cashed in my fame and retired to a comfortable life with my wife and my trophies and my tennis court? See, I'm one of the lucky ones. I could do something that white people would pay to see. Singers, dancers, boxers, ballplayers -- sure, we can make it in the white world. White people love to have us entertain them. But what about all the black teachers and mechanics and carpenters and janitors and waitresses? Am I supposed to say to them: Hey, folks, I know it's rough, but look at me, I made it? What am I supposed to do with my good fortune? Am I just supposed to say, thank you, Lord, and then get fat and sign autographs for fifteen bucks a shot? I don't believe that's the reason God gave me the gifts that he did. I think that if I were the kind of man to be satisfied with the way things are, he would have given my eyes and my hands and my mind to somebody who would put them to better use.
HANK AARON
I Had a Hammer: The Hank Aaron Story
You know what the hardest thing is? What nobody wants to understand -- is me. People want their memories of me to be my memories of me. But you know what? They're not.
HANK AARON
attributed, The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron
When I was a young kid growing up in Mobile, Alabama, I chased a dream and found it and played baseball for 23 years. I see these young kids coming along now and they are chasing their dreams. It just so happens that their dream costs a little bit more than mine did. I'm hoping they catch it and that they're able to do the things they want to do in life.
HANK AARON
"Hank Aaron wants to be remembered for more than home runs", The Undefeated, April 14, 2017
I came from a family of eight. We only had outdoor plumbing. We would see white people live in a way we couldn't dream of, because if we did think we could live like that, we were simply being foolish and we would get depressed at our own lot in life. You have to understand what that could do to a person. A lot of players who came up through Mobile went through the same thing.... Watching that type of disparity had a direct effect on all of us, and it was just a matter of time before it had to stop. I wanted to make my mark, I wanted people, white people in power especially, to know that I was alive and when it came time for me to confront them, I was going to do that by hitting the baseball. Hard.
HANK AARON
attributed, Shut Out: A Story of Race and Baseball in Boston
I was being thrown to the wolves. Even though I did something great, nobody wanted to be a part of it. I was so isolated. I couldn't share it. For many years, even after Jackie Robinson, baseball was so segregated, really. You just didn't expect us to have a chance to do anything. Baseball was meant for the lily-white.
HANK AARON
interview with Bob Nightengale, USA Today, Apr. 8, 2014
The most important thing in my career out of the 23 years I played is I never struck out 100 times. Getting the base hits was the greatest thrill of my life.
HANK AARON
The Enquirer, April 17, 2015
I tell young people -- including my granddaughter -- there is no short cut in life. You have to take it one step at a time and work hard. And you have to give back.
HANK AARON
"Affable Hank Aaron reminds us what is important: Family", Detroit Free Press, May 6, 2017
Once the record was mine, I had to use it like a Louisville Slugger. I believed, and still do, that there was a reason why I was chosen to break the record. I feel it's my task to carry on where Jackie Robinson left off, and I only know of one way to go about it. It's the only way I've ever had of dealing with things like fastballs and bigotry -- keep swinging at them.
HANK AARON
I Had a Hammer: The Hank Aaron Story
There wasn't much white people would allow us to do in those days. You could be a schoolteacher or an athlete to get away from the manual labor and servant-type jobs, but there wasn't much else they were going to allow you [to] do.
HANK AARON
attributed, Shut Out: A Story of Race and Baseball in Boston
[My father] didn't make much money, and I tell a lot of people, you know, I was a vegetarian before people knew what a vegetarian was. That's all I ate was vegetables.
HANK AARON
interview at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., Feb. 8, 2014
I don't see pitches down the middle anymore - not even in batting practice.
HANK AARON
The only thing I can say is that I had a rough time with it. I don't talk about it much. It still hurts a little bit inside, because I think it has chipped away at a part of my life that I will never have again. I didn't enjoy myself. It was hard for me to enjoy something that I think I worked very hard for. God had given me the ability to play baseball, and people in this country kind of chipped away at me. So, it was tough. And all of those things happened simply because I was a black person.
HANK AARON
American History, Jun. 2006
There's only one way to break the color line. Be good. I mean, play good. Play so good that they can't remember what color you were before the season started.
HANK AARON
attributed, Hammering Hank: How the Media Made Henry Aaron
The way I see it, it's a great thing to be the man who hit the most home runs, but it's a greater thing to be the man who did the most with the home runs he hit. So as long as there's a chance that maybe I can hammer out a little justice now and then, or a little opportunity here and there, I intend to do as I always have -- keep swinging.
HANK AARON
I Had a Hammer: The Hank Aaron Story
Roger Maris lost his hair the season he hit sixty-one, I still have all my hair, but when it's over, I'm going home to Mobile and fish for a long time.
HANK AARON
attributed, The Mac Attack: The Road to 62 and Beyond!
No matter what happens the rest of my life, I don't think I'll ever hit another home run. So wherever people want to rank me is fine.
HANK AARON
interview with Bob Nightengale, USA Today, Apr. 8, 2014
The little house that we had, you know, at night time you could hear your parents talking to each other, and my father's name was Herbert Aaron, and she [Hank Aaron's mother] never would beat us--she couldn't. There was too many of us. So, on a Friday when he get off from work, I hear them in the bedroom, and she says, "Herbert." He says, "Yeah?" She says, "I want you to go in there tomorrow and get that boy, and ... I want you to beat him." That's all she had to say. And next morning, I would try to wake up early ... and get out of the house because I knew that if he ever caught me, it was gonna be the end of it. And he would tell you, he said, "You go outside and get me a switch." And you better get the right one because if you didn't, if he go out there, he gonna get two or three of 'em!
HANK AARON
interview at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., Feb. 8, 2014
I got a thrill out of the home run that won the pennant, and when I hit No. 500, and I thought this would mean something extra special to me ... I felt good all day long, until Rose tied the game. Losing just took the edge off of it. It's just another home run.
HANK AARON
attributed, Hammering Hank: How the Media Made Henry Aaron
Look around the stadium. There's not one memento of what I did. There's nothing about what I did in this stadium, but they've got a statue of Ty Cobb sliding into a base.
HANK AARON
attributed, The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron
When I was in high school--when I was in Mobile, Alabama--I remember Jackie Robinson. They had a farm team in Mobile, and teams always used to come through there to play the Mobile Bears. And Jackie came there to make a speech, and I remember that I stayed out of school to listen to him speak.... Well, he certainly did affect me when I listened to him. But even before then he affected me, just knowing that Jackie Robinson was the first black man that ever played professional baseball certainly inspired me to go ahead and fulfill my dream.... I would have to say almost ninety percent of the blacks--of minorities in this country--became Dodger fans. In fact, a lot of them still hold the Dodgers to be true. They still feel like they were the ones who broke the ice, and they need to be loyal to them.
HANK AARON
interview, American History Magazine, Jun. 2006