Rating: 
Summary: a genuine American hero
Review: I started following baseball when we moved to NJ in the late 60's and, serendipitously, the first season that really captured my attention was 1969. We had a color TV (a rarity at that time--it was a big old console job with stereo & turntable built-in. You sometimes had to bang underneath the picture tube with a hammer to fix the vertical hold) and our next door neighbor Joe Koberlein would come over to watch Mets games.) Unquestioningly loyal to our beloved Amazins, my brother and I had little doubt that Tommie Agee and Cleon Jones (both of whom happen to have come from Aaron's hometown of Mobile, AL) were the two best outfielders in baseball, maybe the two best ever. Our Father, who had doggedly remained a Dodger fan despite their move West, would put in a word for Duke Snider. We lived in Yankee country, so Mickey Mantle still had his backers and their were those residual Giants fans who stumped for Willie Mays--who also won allegiance from many black fans on racial solidarity grounds. But I really don't ever remember a Hank Aaron fan. Sure we knew he was good, especially during the NLCS were we reminded of how dangerous he was, but he just wasn't terribly glamorous or personable and he played for a team that noone rooted for, so to our minds he was barely worthy of notice. The, seemingly all of a sudden, we realized the guy was about to catch Babe Ruth. I remember NBC breaking into their regular programming to show his 715th HR live. Then began the arguments over just how good he was; arguments that always seemed to have a whiff of race about them. In the ensuing years this argument has hardly died down and the racial overtones have certainly not faded. In fact, the subtle assertion that the only reason you would deny Aaron primacy is that you are a closet racist has added an additional layer of bitterness to his legacy. All of this combined with Aaron's own demeanor, whether he is aloof or shy or whatever, has always led me to view him somewhat askance. There's that visceral level on which I just can't grant him equality with Ruth, let alone with the more personable Mays. So it came as a great surprise and a pleasure when this book was published, to find in its pages a Hank Aaron who was not only a great baseball player but a compelling hero and human being. Beyond simply providing a complex portrait of a gifted and proud human being, the book serves to provide some context for the pure numbers that Aaron put up in his career and, more importantly, reminds us of the backdrop of persistent racism against which these feats were achieved. We all find things easier to comprehend if they follow an easy narrative form, so when we say that Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier it is easy for us to misperceive this as meaning that racism in baseball ended in the late 40's. And Aaron, because he was so good for so long, seems to us a figure of the 60's, or even the 70's. But the book reminds us that Hank Aaron began in the Negro Leagues (with the Indianapolis Clowns), played in minor leagues which had only just lowered the color bar, had to stay in separate hotels and eat at different restaurants on road trips, etc. And still, some thirty years later, as he approached the Babe's HR mark, received virulent hate mail. Aaron's incredible career takes on a patina of real grace when considered against this pervasive and corrosive pattern of racial animus. His accomplishments, monumental in themselves, must be judged as singular when taken in conjunction with the unique challenges he faced. If I were picking my all-time team today, I'd still take Ruth and Mays over Aaron (Aaron vs. Ted Williams is a tougher call.) But if you were trying to judge them all as men, I think this book makes a compelling case that Aaron is one of the really great men in the history of sports and even one of the great men in our nation's history. A lot of people have been yammering about the stupid things that John Rocker said in Sports Illustrated, but when I read Aaron's comments that he found them unacceptable, I was struck by how much more moral authority he brought to the question. So many of the great men of the Civil Rights era are gone--Jackie Robinson, Martin Luther King, etc.--it is important to recognize that one remains, and he just happens to have been a great hitter too. GRADE: A
Rating:
Summary: More than Home Runs, More than Baseball
Review: I was a kid when Hank Aaron broke the Home Run record -- and I grew up thinking that's what he was about, like an early George Foster. The audio book, with a Foreword and Afterword read by Henry Aaron himself, really brings the player and the man to you. He was an all-around player, at least once he found a defensive position where he had major-league talent. His offense was outstanding, setting many more records than just Most Home Runs and reaching many milestones. He also is a man of conscience and character that pushed through a number of color barriers without the flamboyance of some of today's leaders. The narrative, read by Courtney Vance, shifts without warning between 1st and 3rd persons. I found this interesting and it helped hold my attention. If you enjoy baseball entertainment like the movie "Bull Durham", this is for you.
Rating:
Summary: More than Home Runs, More than Baseball
Review: I was a kid when Hank Aaron broke the Home Run record -- and I grew up thinking that's what he was about, like an early George Foster. The audio book, with a Foreword and Afterword read by Henry Aaron himself, really brings the player and the man to you. He was an all-around player, at least once he found a defensive position where he had major-league talent. His offense was outstanding, setting many more records than just Most Home Runs and reaching many milestones. He also is a man of conscience and character that pushed through a number of color barriers without the flamboyance of some of today's leaders. The narrative, read by Courtney Vance, shifts without warning between 1st and 3rd persons. I found this interesting and it helped hold my attention. If you enjoy baseball entertainment like the movie "Bull Durham", this is for you.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: If you are a baseball fan, of any age, this is the ultimate book by one of the greatest to play the game. Hank Aaron is a true American hero, and this book gives quite a bit of information on his early days and his struggles both on and off the field. This country needs more heroes like Hank Aaron.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: If you are a baseball fan, of any age, this is the ultimate book by one of the greatest to play the game. Hank Aaron is a true American hero, and this book gives quite a bit of information on his early days and his struggles both on and off the field. This country needs more heroes like Hank Aaron.
Rating:
Summary: The Greatest Hitter of All-Time
Review: In the early 1970's, as Hank Aaron was chasing Babe Ruth's career home run record, he received mountains of racially motivated hate mail. He received death threats. Undercover guards followed his children to protect them from kidnapping. The commissioner of baseball threatened to fine Aaron if he took days off while his team, the Atlanta Braves, played in other cities, and when Aaron finally passed the Babe, the commissioner did not come to Atlanta to witness the event. And when Aaron spoke of this, or when he wondered aloud why blacks weren't getting more opportunities in baseball management positions, the white media labelled him a bitter racist. In his autobiography, Aaron succeeds in setting the record straight. He discusses his poor upbringing in Mobile, Alabama, and his journey from those humble beginnings to the Hall of Fame. But what shines through this memoir is the sheer brilliance of Aaron as a ballplayer. Every baseball fan knows that Hammerin' Hank hit 755 home runs, but that number has actually obscured many of his accomplishments and the impossible has happened: major league baseball's all-time home run leader is actually underrated. Modern players like Mark McGwire and Ken Griffey, Jr. may eventually challenge Aaron's mark, benefitting from an offensive era the game has never before seen, an era in which players routinely hit fifty home runs in a season, a number rarely approached in Aaron's day, but they won't win batting titles on the way, and they surely won't end their careers with 3,000 hits. For my money, Hank Aaron is the greatest all-around hitter of all-time, and his book isn't bad either.
Rating:
Summary: The Greatest Hitter of All-Time
Review: In the early 1970's, as Hank Aaron was chasing Babe Ruth's career home run record, he received mountains of racially motivated hate mail. He received death threats. Undercover guards followed his children to protect them from kidnapping. The commissioner of baseball threatened to fine Aaron if he took days off while his team, the Atlanta Braves, played in other cities, and when Aaron finally passed the Babe, the commissioner did not come to Atlanta to witness the event. And when Aaron spoke of this, or when he wondered aloud why blacks weren't getting more opportunities in baseball management positions, the white media labelled him a bitter racist. In his autobiography, Aaron succeeds in setting the record straight. He discusses his poor upbringing in Mobile, Alabama, and his journey from those humble beginnings to the Hall of Fame. But what shines through this memoir is the sheer brilliance of Aaron as a ballplayer. Every baseball fan knows that Hammerin' Hank hit 755 home runs, but that number has actually obscured many of his accomplishments and the impossible has happened: major league baseball's all-time home run leader is actually underrated. Modern players like Mark McGwire and Ken Griffey, Jr. may eventually challenge Aaron's mark, benefitting from an offensive era the game has never before seen, an era in which players routinely hit fifty home runs in a season, a number rarely approached in Aaron's day, but they won't win batting titles on the way, and they surely won't end their careers with 3,000 hits. For my money, Hank Aaron is the greatest all-around hitter of all-time, and his book isn't bad either.
Rating:
Summary: Goes Beyond all of the Home Runs.....
Review: In this book, you'll find out that Hank Aaron is not just a home run smasher. Statistics show that he is an excellent all-round player, probably better than most fans make him out to be. On top of being a star, Aaron's story is amazing with all of the racism, discrimination & hate that he went through. After reading this book, you will probably wonder why No. 715 was only SECOND on mastercard's most memorable moments. Also, you may, like me, want Hank to keep the home run record forever. I'd rather have someone who worked hard for it than a hideously overpaid A-Rod, or stuck-up Bonds. Bottom line: get this book if you enjoy sports at all.
Rating:
Summary: I Had A Hammer A Hit
Review: The book is a must read. It shows Aaron fight against prejustice to evenutually break a record that he would be scorned and have his life threatend before he could break it. Also his triumph of breaking Babe Ruth's all time career home run record also winning in a white man's world.
Rating:
Summary: Goes Beyond Baseball
Review: The Henry Aaron story is one of the few that transcends the realm of sports. It really should become part of our national consciousness. He is a symbol of American identity. H is book tells it like it is. One thing that Henry Aaron does not muse upon-- he graciously lets others draw these conclusions --is that he leads by example much more than by words. His remarkable abilities are underscored by a sense of grace, modesty, consistency, and decency that have few parallels in sports, especially compared to today's fallen heroes. "I Had A Hammer" touches upon his modest-but-hardworking background, and emphasizes the strength and cohesiveness of his family. Indeed, Aaron makes it clear that he is a product of the values instilled in him by his father, mother, and older siblings as much as anything else. And if his current position on race issues seem a bit extreme now and then, well, read the book and you'll understand why he sees things the way he does. It wasn't so long ago that he was the victim of crude, stinging racism-- REAL, in-your-face racism, not subtle, ambiguous, or imagined! He bore a tremendous burden successfully. He pays significant homage to Jackie Robinson, and he has exemplified the same spirit through and through. Of course, he had support from good people-- white and black --and his book acknowledges this, too. Henry Aaron is our perfect American symbol of triumph over oppression. I was lucky to spend some time with him at a Harvard Commencement a few years ago (he was aptly elected as Class Day speaker for Harvard), and the entire Harvard community was thrilled and awed by his gentle grace. (As I shook his hand, for some reason it flashed through my mind that this hand hit seven home runs off the great Sandy Koufax!). Henry Aaron is, as Ted Turner says, a "right thinker" and he deserves even more credit and acknowledgment than he receives. In an era of flash, unbridled arrogance and conspicuous consumption, Aaron shows us the true path to respect, recognition, and character. He is the Zen Master of American sports.
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