Word: aarons
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Flesh and Blood. On one level, Aaron's reach for the record is a consummate professional's personal quest for immortality. For years he was underrated, and that still rankles. "I've always read Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Roger Maris−then Hank Aaron. I've worked awfully hard to get my name up front. I've waited for my time, and it's just now coming," he told TIME Correspondent Paul Witteman...
...Aaron's pursuit of the Babe's magic number has other meanings as well. Ruth was larger than life, (see box next page) a carefree superman in a giddy era. Aaron cannot depose him no matter how many home runs he hits. But Aaron, by comparison merely a flesh-and-blood Everyman, demonstrates that a hero need not be mythic...
Ruth used the home run to transform baseball. In the process, he made the homer a part of American culture, a symbol of the country's affection for the fast, decisive stroke that can determine the outcome of a contest. Aaron, Ruth's heir if not his rival, has kept that drama alive. Baseball may no longer be the national pastime. But when a slugger steps into the box to face a good pitcher, it is man-to-man combat, and the possibility of a home run still carries excitement. With Aaron, year in and year...
Sleeping Lion. Will he or won't he do it this season? In spring training, Aaron himself allowed that at best he had only an outside chance. At an age when most of his contemporaries are breaking into the insurance business or learning microphone manners, he confessed that "I can't play every day anymore. It's not that you get tired, but your body just doesn't come back as fast as it did. You think you can swing the bat, but you're just a fraction off. The balls you used...
Once the season began, opposing pitchers felt as though they had awakened a sleeping lion. Though he has sat out 39 games so far this season, Aaron has been belting the ball as if a time machine had somehow subtracted ten birthdays. As of last week, the man who said that he would be satisfied with 30 home runs this year already had 37−the fourth highest total in the majors. Going into the 1973 season, Aaron was averaging one home run for every 16 at-bats. Now he is hitting one round-tripper every nine times he goes...