Back when Aaron and Willie Mays were running #2 and #3 in homers behind Babe Ruth’s 715, I took my genuine Babe Ruth autographed baseball to Atlanta Fulton County Stadium for a Braves Giants game where Brave’s official Don Davidson agreed to ask Hank and Willie to sign it.
Mays’ signature was obviously carefully written, perhaps with an understanding that such a baseball would be a fine piece of history. Aaron on the other hand appeared to have chosen a dead ballpoint and to have scratched an illegible scrawl on the ball.
Though a Braves fan always, from that day to this I have preferred Mays to Aaron and have noted that Hank never misses an opportunity to trot out his “death threat” card. Having been part of the Atlanta crowds that absolutely adored the man, I cannot help but view his festering victimhood as highly exaggerated if not completely false.
Aaron may be the Home Run King, but Mays is the Greatest Player, ever.