HANK AARON'S MESSAGE:
“I would like to offer my congratulations to Barry Bonds on becoming baseball’s career home run leader. It is a great accomplishment which required skill, longevity and determination.”
“Throughout the past century, the home run has held a special place in baseball, and I have been privileged to hold this record for 33 of those years. I move over now and offer my best wishes to Barry and his family on this historic achievement.
“My hope today, as it was on that April evening in 1974, is that the achievement of this record will inspire others to chase their own dreams.”
Good for Hank and good for baseball. It's too bad that all those erroneous reports documenting and interpreting Aaron's feelings regarding Bonds and the record turned out to be so close to the mark.
It just goes to show that you can't read what is inside a man's head or his heart merely by what he says. I'm sorry for the way these jokers made me feel about Aaron given the way the reports of his "feelings" were broadcast as fact. It was totally irresponsible to speak for the man by many who portrayed themselves as "insiders" and people who "knew" exactly how he felt, even when his spoken word conflicted with what they were reporting.
It seems like in hindsight as if many "responsible journalists" felt free to throw in liberal doses of their own personal animosities toward Bonds when speaking on behalf of Aaron. Yet you won't see any step up and offer any apologies. You won't see any retractions, you won't see any shame. But in fact, they all should be ashamed of themselves.
And it won't be too difficult to go back and find out who spoke out of turn and when. That's the fun part of the modern world, it's hard to run away from your record. That would be a fine research project to indulge in, wouldn't it?
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