“He’s in the last sentence of greatest player of all time,” Jackson said. “Aaron, Ruth, Mays, Gehrig, Mantle — I don’t know that Ted Williams gets there because he couldn’t run like those guys — and Ty Cobb and Rickey Henderson. So they’re in a class by themselves, and I think for sheer talent, Griffey is in there, too. The game was easy for those guys.”
All plaques are the same size in the Hall of Fame gallery. Officially, Aaron and Mays share the same status as Elmer Flick and High Pockets Kelly. Unofficially, a few rise far above the rest.
“Reggie used to say there’s Hall of Famers and then there’s really Hall of Famers,” Palmer said with a laugh. “Maybe only Reggie can say it, but it’s true: This is Hank Aaron! When you think of the great players, you think of Ted Williams, you think of Stan Musial, you think of Willie Mays. I mean, I was a good pitcher, but I wasn’t Tom Seaver. And Hank Aaron — it’s like getting to the top of the mountain.”
Beyond that, Palmer said, Aaron personified class. Jackson said Aaron carried himself with a kind of regal dignity that few others have had: Joe DiMaggio and Sandy Koufax, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Julius Erving.
“There’s something about them,” Jackson said. “There’s some kind of angel or some kind of sainthood that’s around them. If they were in England, they’d all be knighted.”
All plaques are the same size in the Hall of Fame gallery. Officially, Aaron and Mays share the same status as Elmer Flick and High Pockets Kelly. Unofficially, a few rise far above the rest.
“Reggie used to say there’s Hall of Famers and then there’s really Hall of Famers,” Palmer said with a laugh. “Maybe only Reggie can say it, but it’s true: This is Hank Aaron! When you think of the great players, you think of Ted Williams, you think of Stan Musial, you think of Willie Mays. I mean, I was a good pitcher, but I wasn’t Tom Seaver. And Hank Aaron — it’s like getting to the top of the mountain.”
Beyond that, Palmer said, Aaron personified class. Jackson said Aaron carried himself with a kind of regal dignity that few others have had: Joe DiMaggio and Sandy Koufax, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Julius Erving.
“There’s something about them,” Jackson said. “There’s some kind of angel or some kind of sainthood that’s around them. If they were in England, they’d all be knighted.”
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