More From I Had A Hammer

"One time that relief pitcher for St. Louis, 'The Mad Hungarian', Al Hrabosky -- the one who was always strutting around the mound and talking to the baseball -- one night he struck out Hank in a big spot to win the game, and he was jumping up and down and making a big show. The next time we saw him, Hank hit one into the upper deck, and when he got to the dugout, he said, 'Let's see the son of a bitch find that one and talk to it.' " -- Paul Casanova.

"Not long after I got my three thousandth hit that year, Willie got his. It was the first time I had ever reached a milestone ahead of him, and, frankly, it felt good. But Willie was still more than forty homers ahead of me, and that's where the attention was focused. It was still mostly on Willie, and I'd be lying to say it didn't bother me a little bit, because the same thing had been going on for fifteen years. I had to work at not being envious of Willie. I always told myself that my time would come. I considered Mays a rival, certainly, but a friendly rival. At the same time, I would never accept the position as second best. I looked at Willie as my guideline. There were certain things that I couldn't do as well as he could, but I felt if I could do some things a little better, I should and maybe would be classified as the same type of ballplayer. I've never seen a better all-around ballplayer than Willie Mays, but I will say this: Willie was not as good a hitter as I was. No way." -- Hank Aaron.