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This will help put his career into context.
On top of his actual play, he suffered an awful amount of abuse, especially as his closed in on Babe Ruth's career home run record. You should be able to find video interviews of him discussing online.
Aroogah-
How would those stats look if those players didn't hit the juice? I'm not a huge baseball fan, but I'm pretty sure most of the more modern names on that list have had quite a bit of help from the roids.
A-Rod, Bonds, Pujols, McGwire, Sosa all have tested positive or have strong accusations against them. Perhaps it makes Hank Aaron's stats even more impressive (if he has a clean record)
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Thanks, shame I can't find that image in non-truncated form on-line. It seems to have been from an article on Albert Pujols originally.
roboto
Oliver Schick
I used to enjoy watching baseball and followed the Atlanta Braves, mainly because of their pitchers in the 90s, especially Maddux. Aaron was mentioned all the time around the organisation. I've only watched clips of him on-line, I guess you had to be there to really appreciate how good he was, and I don't really know enough to have a particularly decided opinion, but I always thought it seemed as if he was the best non-pitcher in baseball. I also fall on the side that doesn't recognise Barry Bonds' home run 'record'. When all that doping happened, and with Sammy Sosa, too, it gradually put me off baseball and I stopped following it.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/jan/22/hank-aaron-home-run-leader-obituary
Mind you, it's not as clear in baseball as it is in some other sports, but he certainly had a claim.
But as you say, like other athletes of that era, like Muhammad Ali, Aaron was also politically important and helped break open the kind of disgusting stereotypes that we've seen become more openly stated in the last few years. I'm sure that one factor in their resurgence is that all those important figures, also Mandela or Martin Luther King, have died and not been replaced by anyone of their stature. I don't see anyone among current black athletes, cultural figures, or politicians who can measure up to their example, but the same goes for white people, too.