WEEP NOT FOR HANK AARON 8/13/07

by Jimmy Russotto

After having had a couple of weeks to digest Barry Bonds breaking of the career home run record, I think I can begin to look at the whole matter dispassionately and write a few thoughts that perhaps have not made their way into the newspapers or blogosphere.

I should first point out that I'm 59 years old and remember well the playing days of Hank Aaron and can even recall as a young boy the tales of the exploits of Joe DiMaggio and the sadness of his retirement. I recall vividly the magic of Mickey, Willie and the Duke, and rushing home from school to see the end of each World Series game.

As a baseball player myself, I appreciate all the finer points of the game, the vagaries of the hit-and-run and the stolen base, the thrill of an outfielder throwing a man out at the plate, the turn and throw from deep in the hole at short.

And yet, for all of this, I can still appreciate the grandeur of the home run. They're beautiful to watch, and even hear...the crack of the bat and the smoothe rise of the ball as it reaches the heights and sails over the fence, as the announcer, in a thousand different signature variations, reassures us that that ball is indeed going...going...GONE...

There is a natural fascination in us all for the big man. In any sport with weight classes, we'll marvel at the skill of the welterweights but we'll anxiously look forward to that last confrontation of our big man vs their big man, the man in the middle, the heavyweight champ, the last man standing…

And, in all life’s endeavors, only the most talented AND the hardest, smartest workers can become champions. Only the most single-minded, sharply focused and overly zealous individuals can attain that pinnacle, the biggest of the biggest, the best of the best.

Is it any wonder then, that one of the best ball-players of all time, a true prodigy of the game, the god-son of Willie Mays, should become incensed by the attention lavished on a grand usurper, a big red-headed and kind of clumsy guy from St Louis? Or that he should decide to level the field?

All that being said, should he be considered the career home run record-holder? By baseball fans, I would say no. By baseball, I would say yes. The unregulated use of steroids for at least five years calls all stats (doubles, triples, even won-lost records) accumulated during that period into question and no move to strike that particular record only could go unchallenged in the courts of the land.

But how important is it really? I can tell you that Hank Aaron was never a great star from year to year. Although he was a very steady player, he was never an outstanding fielder or baserunner, could never be judged a leader really either. He lasted a long time. Ripkenesque, he prevailed. I can’t recall him ever climbing a wall to make a catch, or stealing a key base, or making any extraordinary throws, and, to be honest, in his time he was almost always overshadowed by other great players, either for their power, speed or leadership. He was no Mickey or Willie or Duke; he was no Mike Schmidt, no Ernie Banks, no Pete Rose, not even an Eddie Matthews. He showed up and he was steady.

We’ve all lived and worked with the steady people who show up on time, they do their job, they get a 5% increase every year. They don’t lose the game for you and they contribute, but they don’t inspire, they don’t make other players better, the mark of the truly great team player. They don’t win games for you, either by making the great catch or the bullet throw right on target. He doesn’t change the game. He doesn’t make his team win the game.

Give me the mayflies, the guys who extend themselves every time on the field and at bat, who give themselves up to move the runner over, who’ll steal a base in a big moment, even if they don’t possess great speed. Give me the guy who makes opponents try to not hit the ball to him, because to involve him in the game at all is to invite trouble, not just because there is a good possibility he’ll make the play in the moment, but because there’s a good possibility he'll make such a great play as to inspire everyone else on his team to play better. He turns the Cubs into the Yankees (or the Nats into the Red Sox) for a good percentage of the opportunities he’s given. THAT’s great.

So give me the Mick flying down the baseline like Mercury, give me the Duke climbing the Ebbets Field wall, give me Carl Furillo gunning a throw to the plate. Give me Jose Reyes making the play in the hole, stealing the base and extending every double into a triple; yes, and even jumping 3 feet in the air to celebrate a teammate crossing the plate, whose love for the game transcends his concern for life and limb, not to grandstand (necessarily) but because he knows that he can.

So give me Curt Schilling pitching with a bloody sock, Tom Terrific striking out 18, Ernie Banks yearning to play two, Keith Hernandez settling the pitcher and infield in tough times. Or Barry Bonds finding McCovey cove once again.

Weep not for Hank Aaron. Barry Bonds was a truly great player; even in his twilight years he approaches greatness. He has been twice the player Hank Aaron ever was. Or Mark McGuire. Or even Willie McCovey, but much closer..

But he cheated, you say. I say, baseball is not golf, a different culture entirely. When the umpire calls you safe, you don’t argue. He played within the enforced rules of the game. So give him the record, let his buddy out of jail. Let’s stop this nonsense and PLAY BALL !