Best Hank Aaron Quotes

Hank Aaron Quotes Life, keep Swinging, Civil Rights, Opportunity, Funny & Success! Hank Aaron was broken the Babe Ruth’s record of 714 home runs and broke several other significant league records. On February 5, 1934, Henry Louis Aaron was born. After developing an early interest in baseball and football, Aaron put more effort into athletics than academics. In his junior year, Aaron made the move to the Josephine Allen Institute, a nearby private school with a thriving baseball team.

During his professional baseball career, Aaron played in the Negro Leagues in 1952. In 1954, Aaron joined the Milwaukee Braves of the major league, eight years after Jackie Robinson became the first person to play in a major league baseball game. Aaron was the last player from the Negro League to play in the majors. Braves’ hitter of the year in 1956, he rapidly established himself as a critical player and earned the National League hitting championship.

The Second batting championship for Aaron in 1959. Baseball’s all-time leader with 500 home runs and 3,000 hits achieved this feat in May 1970. On April 8, 1974, he hit his career 715th home run in front of a crowd of more than 50,000 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

When he retired from baseball in 1976, he had hit 755 home runs in his career, a record that remained for decades. Following his playing career, Aaron went on to become one of baseball’s first African-American executives, working for the Atlanta Braves. He was awarded to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982. Aaron passed away on January 22, 2021, at 86.

Best Hank Aaron Quotes

1. “On the field, blacks have been able to be supergiants. But, once our playing days are over, this is the end of it and we go back to the back of the bus again.” — Hank Aaron

2. “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

3. “Sure, this country has a black president, but when you look at a black president, President Obama is left with his foot stuck in the mud from all of the Republicans with the way he’s treated. We have moved in the right direction, and there have been improvements, but we still have a long way to go in the country.” — Hank Aaron

4. “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

5. “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

6. “Some people resented the fact I was trying to break a white man’s record.” — Hank Aaron

7. “I don’t see pitches down the middle anymore – not even in batting practice.” — Hank Aaron

8. “It took me seventeen years to get three thousand hits in baseball. I did it in one afternoon on the golf course.” — Hank Aaron

9. “The pitcher has got only a ball. I’ve got a bat. So the percentage in weapons is in my favor, and I let the fellow with the ball do the fretting.” — Hank Aaron

10. “I never smile when I have a bat in my hands. That’s when you’ve got to be serious. When I get out on the field, nothing’s a joke to me. I don’t feel like I should walk around with a smile on my face.” — Hank Aaron

11. “The thing I like about baseball is that it’s one-on-one. You stand up there alone, and if you make a mistake, it’s your mistake. If you hit a home run, it’s your home run.” — Hank Aaron

12. “I looked for the same pitch my whole career, a breaking ball. All of the time. I never worried about the fastball. They couldn’t throw it past me, none of them.” — Hank Aaron

13. “There is no logical reason why girls shouldn’t play baseball. It’s not all that tough.” — Hank Aaron

14. “I think about how a guy mentally prepared himself to do battle, to go out and face the pitcher. I think so many hitters do not know how to get themselves prepared to play or hit against a pitcher. You have to mentally be prepared to hit against all pitchers.” — Hank Aaron

15. “Guessing what the pitcher is going to throw is 80% of being a successful hitter. The other 20% is just execution.” — Hank Aaron

16. “I played sometimes about as dull as you can play it. I did things the right way; you know. I think I modeled my playing ability after one of the all-time greats, Joe DiMaggio. You always found Joe, when he played, you know, he always threw to the right base. He ran, he caught the ball. He did all the right things. He was an idol of mine in the outfield. He played the game the way it was supposed to be played.” — Hank Aaron

17. “Looking at the ball going over the fence isn’t going to help.” — Hank Aaron

18. “I think what separates a superstar from the average ballplayer is that he concentrates just a little bit longer.” — Hank Aaron

19. “You visualize [pitches]. You see it in your head; you think it…I used to play every pitcher in my mind before I went to the ballpark. I started getting ready for every game the moment I woke up.” — Hank Aaron

20. “I never doubted my ability, but when you hear all your life you’re inferior, it makes you wonder if the other guys have something you’ve never seen before. If they do, I’m still looking for it.” — Hank Aaron

21. “I’ve tried a lot of things in the off-season, but the only thing I really know is baseball.” — Hank Aaron

22. “I don’t feel right unless I have a sport to play or at least a way to work up a sweat.” — Hank Aaron

23. “I came to the Braves on business, and I intended to see that business was good as long as I could.” — Hank Aaron

24. “Last year, I was sort of a kid and I was a little scared, I ain’t scared anymore.” — Hank Aaron

25. “I am very proud to be an American. This country has so much potential, I’d just like to see things better, or whatever, and I think it will be.” — Hank Aaron