[CommerceComet]

Hank Aaron ticked off all the progressives at Harvard in the 1995 commencement by asking everyone to pray for Mickey Mantle. That added to my appreciation of Aaron, even when I don't agree with him on a lot of political issues.

On another note, I think he was underrated as a ballplayer during his whole career. While Mantle and Mays dominated the headlines, Hank quietly kept putting up impressive numbers year after year after year. Aaron couldn't match Mantle or Mays during their glory years but those two can't match Aaron's career numbers.

[Alberta's Child]

A few interesting facts about Aaron's career stats really jump out at me:

1. He never hit 50 home runs in a season, which is remarkable for a guy who finished his career with 755 home runs. It says a lot about his longevity as well as his consistency.

2. He had a higher lifetime batting average (.305) than Pete Rose (.303).

3. He would have more than 3,000 hits for his career (3,016 to be exact) even if you subtracted his 755 home runs from his career hit total.