John Schuerholz on Hank Aaron: “There’s no questions about how he hit his home runs”

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Ken Davidoff of the New York Post conducted an interesting Q & A earlier this week with former Braves general manager John Schuerholz. After leading the club to their incredible run of dominance in the National League East from 1991-2005, he was promoted to team president following the 2007 season. And he relishes that role.

..I call myself Obi-Wan Kenobi. When they named me president, I said, “Look, I’ll be over here in the corner, in my office, and if you need some wisdom, come see the old guy and I’ll tell you what I know and what I feel.” And they laugh about that. And we have a great communication system in our organization.

That’s a fun visual. I really hope he wears a brown hooked cloak to the office. Anyway, the real juicy stuff from the chat was when Davidoff questioned Schuerholz about the team’s insistence to refer to Hank Aaron as the “true home run king” even though Barry Bonds passed him on the all-time list.

JS : Listen. If you were in Atlanta and you worked for our organization, you would feel the same way. He’s without dispute, people in baseball would look at him as the guy they say is the quote-unquote real home run champion. There’s no questions about how he hit his home runs.

KD : But he admitted to using amphetamines. He used illegal PEDs, just like Bonds did.

JS : I’m not going to make a big deal out of this. He is for us the real home run champion. It’s our view. He’s our home run king. It’s our opinion. And we honor him for that. And I’m not going to stop saying it about him.

Well, as a Mets fan, it’s my opinion that Rey Ordonez is the true home run king, but I suppose we can agree to disagree there.

Anthony Rendon fan interaction video looked into by MLB

Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
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OAKLAND, Calif. – Major League Baseball is looking into a video circulating on social media that appears to show Los Angeles Angels third baseman Anthony Rendon grab a fan by the shirt through the bleacher guardrails after Thursday night’s game in Oakland, a league spokesperson said Friday.

Rendon looks to have grabbed the fan’s shirt near his chest through the bars of the railing and exchanged words with him before appearing to take a swipe at the bill of the man’s ballcap and walking into the tunnel.

Angels spokesman Adam Chodzko says the team has no comment. The Angels do not play Friday, but the club expects Rendon to address the video Saturday in the clubhouse before the game against the Oakland Athletics in Oakland.

The video shows the fan, dressed in A’s colors, approach the railing as Rendon turns toward him from the tunnel walkway below. Rendon then appears to grab the man’s shirt and ask him what he just said, accusing the fan of calling him a derogatory term before swiping at his ballcap.

The A’s won the game 2-1.