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Hank Aaron Quotes

Hank Aaron Quotes

Enjoy the top 65 famous quotes, sayings and quotations by Hank Aaron.

“In baseball, there is something electrifying about the big leagues. I had read so much about (Stan) Musial, (Ted) Williams and (Jackie) Robinson. I had put those guys on a pedestal. They were something special. I really thought they put their pants on different, rather than one leg at a time.”
— Hank Aaron —

“It took me seventeen years to get three thousand hits in baseball. It took one afternoon on the golf course.”

— Hank Aaron

“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

“Failure is a part of success.”

— Hank Aaron

“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

“My motto was always to keep swinging. Whether I was in a slump or feeling badly or having trouble off the field, the only thing to do was keep swinging.”

— Hank Aaron

“I don't see pitches down the middle anymore - not even in batting practice.”

— Hank Aaron

“I'm hoping someday that some kid, black or white, will hit more home runs than myself. Whoever it is, I'd be pulling for him.”

— Hank Aaron

“You can only milk a cow so long, then you're left holding the pail.”

— Hank Aaron

“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

The triple is the most exciting play in baseball. Home runs win a lot of games, but I never understood why fans are so obsessed with them.

— Hank Aaron

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

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

— Hank Aaron

“On the field, blacks have been able to be super giants. 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

“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

“I never thought we'd ever have a black president. President Obama has done such a tremendous job ... He just has been unable to get what he needs to be moved at the level it should be moved.”

— Hank Aaron

“Didn't come up here to read. Came up here to hit.”

— Hank Aaron

“In playing ball, and in life, a person occasionally gets the opportunity to do something great. When that time comes, only two things matter: being prepared to seize the moment and having the courage to take your best swing.”

— Hank Aaron

“Failure is a part of success. There is no such thing as a bed of roses all your life. But failure will never stand in the way of success if you learn from it.”

— Hank Aaron

“I had many, many, many death threats. I couldn't open letters for a long time, because they all had to be opened by either the FBI or somebody. I couldn't open letters. I had to be escorted. In fact, just recently I went to a funeral, Calvin Wardlaw, who was the detective
the policeman
with me for two years, passed away just recently. He and I got to be bosom buddies really, but that was the hardest part. I wasn't able to enjoy
you know.”

— Hank Aaron

“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

“Does Pete (Rose) hustle? Before the All-Star game he came into the clubhouse and took off his shoes and they ran another mile without him.”

— Hank Aaron

“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 ever game the moment I woke up.”

— Hank Aaron

Can I smoke now without someone taking my picture?

— Hank Aaron

“Looking at the ball going over the fence isn't going to help.”

— Hank Aaron

“I need to depend on Someone who is bigger, stronger and wiser than I am. I don't do it on my own. God is my strength. He gave me a good body and some talent and the freedom to develop it. He helps me when things go wrong. He forgives me when I fall on my face. He lights the way.”

— Hank Aaron

You know what the hardest thing is? What nobody wants to understand
is me. People want their memories of me to be my memories of me. But you know what? They're not.

— Hank Aaron

Baseball is a lot like the ivy-covered wall of Wrigley Field
it gives off a great appearance, but when you run into it, you discover the bricks underneath. At times, it seems that we're dealing with a group of men who aren't much different than others we've all run into over the years, except they wear neckties instead of robes and hoods.

— Hank Aaron

“I thought my chances to make the Braves were better and that they were being fairer to me, paying me more money to play in a lower classification ... Besides, the Giants spelled my name "Arron" on their telegram.”

— Hank Aaron

“[My father] didn't make much money, and I tell a lot of people, you know, I was a vegetarian before people knew what a vegetarian was. That's all I ate was vegetables.”

— Hank Aaron

“You may not think you're going to make it. You may want to quit. But if you keep your eye on the ball, you can
accomplish anything.”

— Hank Aaron

“Whatever we do, make sure we clean up baseball.”

— Hank Aaron

“I used to love to come to the ballpark. Now I hate it. Every day becomes a little tougher because of all this. Writers, tape recorders, microphones, cameras, questions and more questions. Roger Maris lost his hair the season he hit sixty-one. I still have all my hair, but when it's over, I'm going home to Mobile and fish for a long time.”

— Hank Aaron

“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 ways to go in the country.”

— Hank Aaron

I had just turned 20, and Jackie told me the only way to be successful at anything was to go out and do it. He said baseball was a game you played every day, not once a week.

— Hank Aaron

“Consistency is what counts; you have to be able to do things over and over again.”

— Hank Aaron

“The first thing baseball wants to do is make you a superstar and then say that you owe baseball something. I don't owe baseball anything. Baseball owes me.”

— Hank Aaron

“I would like people not to think in terms of the 755 home runs I hit but think in terms of what I've accomplished off the field and some of the things I stood for.”

— Hank Aaron

“I never doubted my ability, but ...”

— Hank Aaron

I don't want people to forget Babe Ruth. I just want them to remember Henry Aaron.

— Hank Aaron

“You got to play a hundred and fifty games a year, so pick your spots. You can miss two games a month; so pick the days you're gonna be hurt, or you're gonna rest or you're gonna have a drink or two. The rest of the time, be on that field.”