“Forgotten Hollywood”- Hammerin’ Hank Celebrates 80 Years!

Posted on February 9, 2014 by raideoman1 | No Comments

Manny P. here…

   At a private party celebrating his birthday, friends, former teammates, and luminaries paid tribute to Henry Aaron, who turned 80 on Wednesday. His tribute continued, when he spoke as part of the Living Portrait Series at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. In addition, a painting of the baseball great, done by Ross Rossin of Atlanta, will be unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery.

HankAaronHallofFamePlaque   At a ceremony overlooking the White House, Attorney General Eric Holder motioned toward a window and paid Aaron a huge compliment, saying President Obama’s path was made easier. Former slugger Reggie Jackson compared Henry to Jackie Robinson, who broke baseball’s color barrier in 1947. Frank Robinson spoke of the thrill of entering the Baseball Hall of Fame with Hank in 1982. Other speakers included Hall of Famers Jim Rice, Rickey Henderson and Ozzie Smith, who grew up in Aaron’s hometown of Mobile, Alabama. Former teammate Robin Yount said he was his mother’s second-favorite player — behind Aaron! Bud Selig, the commissioner of Major League Baseball, spoke of his friendship with Henry, which dates back to ’58. Selig also talked of his long overdue acceptance in a career often overshadowed by Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays. As the event came to a close, Aaron and his wife of 40 years beamed as the crowd sang Happy Birthday.

   Forty years ago, Henry Aaron surpassed the hallowed record of Babe Ruth on his way to 755 career home runs, while combating racism with a quiet dignity. After Hank’s retirement from the Major Leagues, his legacy has continued to grow…

Until next time>                               “never forget”

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 9th, 2014 at 12:45 am and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.


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