Hank Aaron: A True Hero

Ricky Martin once said, “Heroes represent the best of ourselves, respecting that we are human beings. A hero can be anyone from Gandhi to your classroom teacher, anyone who can show courage when faced with a problem. A hero is someone who is willing to help others in his or her best capacity.” What fits the standards of a hero are certain people such as Malala, Nelson Mandela, and Hank Aaron because researchers have proved us to them and think they are a good fit. A real hero is someone that is brave, admirable, and desirable. One person that has all of those traits is Hank Aaron, he is admirable because he helped stand against racism, he is brave because he kept on playing baseball when people were calling him bad names, and lastly he was …show more content…
“The only thing I can say is that I had a rough time with it. I don't talk about it much. It still hurts a little bit inside, because I think it has chipped away at a part of my life that I will never have again. I didn't enjoy myself. It was hard for me to enjoy something that I think I worked very hard for. God had given me the ability to play baseball, and people in this country kind of chipped away at me. So, it was tough. And all of those things happened simply because I was a black person.” This demonstrates that Mr. Aaron was a hard working man that will work for anything he needs. Since he is black, people put him down so that made him work harder. Another reason why Aaron is determined is because it took him a long time to get into baseball and continues to play no matter what people do to him or what they tell him. “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. It took me seventeen years to get three thousand hits in baseball. I did it in one afternoon on the golf course. I don't feel right unless I have a sport to play or at least a way to work up a sweat. 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. I'm mad at Hank Aaron for deciding to play one more season. I threw him his last home run and thought I'd be remembered forever. Now, I'll have to throw him another. 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. 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.” It is clear that Hank Aaron is determined because he was not just interested in baseball, but he worked