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Visit progressive.com after this episode to see if you could save. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will bear, not available in all states. One second. Again, a standing ovation for Henry Aaron.
This is the Rich Eisen Show. Thank Aaron joining me here. Thank you for being you and how you went about your business and doing what you did in your baseball career and all the way to the present day. What is a pleasure? It indeed a pleasure being on your show.
The Rich Eisen Show. Earlier on the show. New York Jets head coach Robert Sala. Coming up. NFL network analyst Willie McGinnis.
Legendary broadcaster Bob Costas. From NBC's Mr. Mayor. Actor Bobby Moynihan. And now.
It's Rich Eisen. Our number two of the Rich Eisen Show on the Air here on NBC Sports on Peacock, the Rich Eisen Show Radio Network, Terrestrial Coast to Coast. Also, SiriusXM Channel 211. Which is NBC Sports Audio. Robert Salo, the head coach of the New York Jets, joined us in hour number one.
If you missed any of it, you can go to our YouTube page, youtube.com/slash Rich Eisen Show. For that and so much more every single day. We're closing in on 230,000 subscribers on that job on that site.
So good job, Bus. Is that what you said? Yeah, fantastic. Bob Costas will be calling in in about 20 minutes' time to talk about the passing of the great. Hank Aaron, And as we know, we are closing in on Championship Sunday.
as it will culminate with the Bills taking on the Chiefs in the AFC Championship game, the two best teams in the AFC all year long, I think, from jump all the way through to the finish. Uh with I guess Due respect to the Steelers winning their first 11 games, but they weren't the same team towards the end. and other teams that came on strong Titans, Colts, and Obviously the Browns had a very fascinating finish to their season. Phillip Rivers being gone, the Ravens having a nice finish. But Bills and Chiefs, I think, is a suitable AFC championship game, to say the least.
And then the NFC Championship game. Lambeau Field. Aaron Rodgers versus Tom Brady. It just, again, sounds weird. Tom Brady in an NFC championship game.
Playing for the Tampa Buccaneers, but get used to it, folks, because he is four quarters away from his 10th Super Bowl appearance. and eight quarters away from his seventh Super Bowl ring. Here to talk about this and so much more is my NFL media group Compadre. He's going to be joining me on NFL Game Day Morning on Sunday morning, part of our six-hour show that starts at 9 a.m. Eastern Time.
And somebody who's won three of those rings with Tom Brady, the great Willie McGinnis. How are you, Willie? I'm doing well, Rich. How are you? I am well.
What do you think is going through TB12's mind? Have you spoken to him this week, actually, or is he just shutting it down? What do you got? No, we've text back and forth. I think he's just relaxed, man, and he's excited for the opportunity.
Um You know, who would have thought, you know, what, 43 years old, you're playing for your for your seventh Super Bowl, going to your tenth, You're in a new situation. Your career has been kind of rejuvenated being in a different place, a new team and The first year you find yourself in the NFC Championship playing against Aaron Rodgers, it's kind of surreal. What do you think it means to him right now to be in this position? I just think as players get older and you're still performing at a certain level, you think about all the hard work you put in. Uh you really kind of For Tom.
Think of how he thinks. He really wants this for a lot of the guys that are on that team that's never been to the playoffs or a championship or even a Super Bowl. That's just how he's wired. That's how he thinks. He never puts his first or his.
His own um his own needs and wants ahead of the team. He's never been like that, so I'm sure he's wanting that. for the guys in that locker room. Um But he he I think he also wants people to know that he still had it. I think there was a lot of conversations before you know when he when he when things wasn't going well or when he when he was still when he was about to leave new england Is what he had left in the tank.
Could he still play at a high level? Could he go somewhere else? And help take that team to the next level and bring them some championships. Um you know, I I I think that chip is on his shoulder as well. I think he loves to listen to the to the critics.
And the criticism. And Just it just fuels him. You know, like it did all of us. It just fuels them. And I think this is a great opportunity.
Um for the hard work to pay off, but also to prove to a lot of people, regardless of what his age or what he's done, still has a lot left and he still has a lot of football, you know, to go.
Well, in that regard, the last part of what you just said, um I mentioned this the other day on the show, and I'll bring it back here for the purposes of this conversation, Willie McGuinness. The first is obviously special for the obvious reasons. The second one, for a quarterback, puts you in a different. Plain because you've won multiple Super Bowls. The next one is important because you win back to back.
So few people can say that you go back to back as a champion. And then the fourth one was to make sure everyone understood the first three were in a fluke. The fifth one was important because that actually separates him from Bradshaw. And the sixth one is just a nice little cherry on top to say that you've won six. If you want to.
You know, talk about Jordan and stuff like that and cross sports. If you want to even go on that stuff, it's a secondhand. This one, though, might be the most special of all because of the circumstances for Tom Brady. Can you make that argument, Willie McGuinness? Yeah, and I I'll even go back before the the sixth one.
Remember he was tied with Haley, you know, for the most. And I think after winning that six, when it separated him, he's the only one with six rings that's ever put on a uniform, correct? I believe so. I think now seven puts them in a whole different stratosphere. Um To say, I think it's also, you know, if you talk to Tom, it's not about him and his accolades, it's about.
You know, he'll turn this into a story to tell a kid somewhere. You know, whatever the limitations people have put on you or whatever you've gone through. don't ever let anybody dictate what you do in life and the goals and the heights you can reach. I can hear this man saying this and saying how important it was for that reason versus, oh, I wanted to be the best player ever and to have the most rings in the NFL. And he gave that type of speech.
I just Just the way his mind works, the way he was raised, his parents. I think that's more of the story that we'll hear versus the Personal side of it of what it means. to have all the different accolades. Um especially when you come into the league the way he did. You know, everybody knows.
That he wasn't a top draft choice. And he battled to start in Michigan. You know better than anybody, Rich. You're a Michigan alumni and fan. You understand that.
Um So to persevere at a high level. and to maintain the consistency over the years and constantly doubt. I mean, you know, prove the doubter's wrong and And do so many great things and give all. the praise to your teammates and everybody else that never Never seemed content or complacent. Um It's hard, man, for for athletes to do that with all the egos and and and and the individualism that goes on, it's tough.
So I think it's rare and it's special. If he achieves this, I don't think it'll ever happen again. Um And and football anyway. Uh but it's just a special moment.
So you know, even if he goes to the Super Bowl playing in your home stadium, has never happened.
So there's so many things that you know, start to unravel the goals, the records The meanings and what's going to happen. It's just a special moment, man. I'm just blessed to be. you know, be able to talk about it like you and and watch it unfold and You know, we'll see what happens. I know Aaron Rodgers.
And Green Bay doesn't, you know, he wants to spoil all the great plans and everything. And, you know, they got a great team, and it might happen, but. If it happens, it's just another another mark in history that we can all say that we witnessed and and watched and watched, you know. And unfold, watch unfold. Oh, Brady's a walking first right now, Willie.
I mean, literally, every single thing he's doing right now is the first time and maybe the only time we'll ever see this just because of his advanced age as well as his resume and how he's putting it all together. And you know, you're already hearing That folks are saying there's finally an answer to a question that I thought, you know. and still don't to this day think that there is an answer to it. And you're already hearing it, and it'll get even louder if he makes the Super Bowl.
So I might as well front-load it and ask you here before we do. Move on to the two games and X's and O's and how you think it's going to play out situation. But the fact that Brady's gotten to this far and could go even further answers the question as to who is more important to the success of a team that Brady's been on, Belichick or Brady. I mean, you're hearing that already. I don't think that this is a fair question or that there is an answer to it.
But I'm wondering how you feel about it. Willie. I don't. Um I don't think it's fair. I think In the relationship, you need both.
You need great coaching. Great preparation, great guidance. You need a blueprint. You need you need a staff and a coach that understands skill set. and how to incorporate that in the system.
and how to make adjustments and put people where they need to be. and make those type of changes And you gotta have men in the locker room buy into what you're selling. And So to be able to push all the personal stuff aside. as I mentioned earlier, and put team over individualism. And that's tough to do.
And Belichick is one of the smartest men I've ever met, not just coaches, but men. And We believed in what he was you know, what he was selling. Early on. And we probably didn't have all the best athletes ever on a roster that you can go down and be like, oh, they've got 15, 20 Hall of Famers. But we had guys that worked their asses off.
We had guys that believed And team. We had guys that were very competitive, that were tough, that were physical, that pushed each other. And you had guys with chips on their shoulders and that's where where Tom Brady enters. You know, a guy that came in and got an opportunity with a chip on his shoulder. And his work ethic.
and understanding that if he gets an opportunity, he never wants to give it away. and anything could happen, the injury, another guy coming in, And you know, his dreams and his future could go away, so he worked. Unbelievably, I work everybody and anybody and wanted to be the best and transformed his body. And his mind, his football IQ, everything you can think of. Uh he did it and he's still doing it.
And I think when you put those two Superpowers together when you got not only Brady, but a locker room full of guys like that in the coach. It makes it tough to beat. I think you can't have one without the other. You could be a great coach. And have guys that don't believe in the system or don't believe in you or don't buy in and win four games.
kind of like we did in Cleveland. You know, you win four and four games, you go four and twelve. You know, so I think they both needed each other. And I don't think this year because Belichick didn't go to the playoffs, And Brady Went to Tap and he's playing an NFC championship, proves anybody's point. is correct that oh, I told you Brady didn't need Belichick, because I think they both appreciate each other, respect each other on a certain level.
Okay. I needed what you gave me and you definitely needed what I gave you and this team. For the number of years we were together, and we accomplished all these goals together. together and that's how it's always been.
So you know, even though Brady's having success with the Bucks now, Yeah, is he a major factor? Of course. Of course, a lot of these great players are major factors. I will take nothing away from the individualism. You can have a great system.
If you don't have players rich to carry out your system and play at a high level, it doesn't matter. Your system doesn't mean anything. And Brady is one of those players. He's a one in a lifetime generational player that you can put in the system and it's In the locker room, outside of the pads, his mentality is contagious and it spreads throughout everybody. And it can take people's level toward different people's levels all the way up.
Just just how it is.
So What he's doing there, I'm not surprised. He has a lot of talent around him, but he is the nucleus that's making that. that engine go. Before I let Willie McGinnis go, Chris Brockman, ask him the poll question, which is a way to ask him how he thinks the weekend is going to go. Go for it, Chris.
All right, Willie. Hope you're doing well, buddy. Who wins this weekend? Who makes Super Bowl 55? Bills?
Bills and Chiefs? Bills and I'm sorry, Bills and Bucs, Bills and Packers. Chiefs Bucks, Chiefs Packers. Hey, Brock, I miss you, man. I hope you're doing well.
It's Super Bowl 55, which is a special number. Yeah, that's right.
Okay, cool. There you go. And I'm going I want to see The bucks play the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. But The the goat versus the kid. I would love to see that.
Any chance, Brady, if he wins it, he walks off? What do you think? Ooh. He says he's not going to stop until he sucks. Those were his words.
He definitely did. And he's got two more years left on his contract. And I don't think he sucks right now, Rich. No, he does not suck. No, last check of the suck level.
He does not suck. He does not at all suck.
Okay. You said that's what you'd like to see. Do you think that's what you will see, Bucs versus Chiefs? Willie. I think so.
I think it'd be tough in Lambo. Um Aaron has a lot to prove. He has a really good team. I love the balance. It just, in my opinion, whose defense can get more turnovers and more stops?
And right now, when you compare the defense, if the Bucs defense play like they did last week, I think the Bucks can beat 'em. Um regardless of what happened when they played early in the year. the defense is going to pretty much determine this game. far as once teams get in the red zone and turnovers and things of that nature. But, you know, this is this is the classic game we're going to see, man.
It's it's it's It's two guys with a lot to prove in their own way.
So I'm excited. Willie, I'm excited to see you on Sunday, have you part of the show. And I always am excited to chit-chat with you. Thanks for doing this. I know you've got a lot going on.
Appreciate it. Thank you, Rich. See you soon. That's Willie McGinnis. See you, brother.
Double nickel. Which, as you know, is uh A very famous number in the history of USC football, then he took it to the next level. 55. If you see a USC Trojan wearing 55, you know the coaching staff thinks that player is pretty special. Junior Sale, Willie McGinnis, just two.
Which is why Willie said 55. Look, uh Here here's Just in a quick nutshell. the Brady and Belichick, who's more important? Which one Who needed the other one? Without the other.
Well, it's clearly Brady's the most important quarterback-driven league. Look at this year's total proof that Belichick's Patriots fell apart. Brady's in the NFC Championship game, playing at the high level. And so on and so forth. But here's two instances Where this is just a Fallacious.
concept on its head. It is not at all A viable question. It is a false Question. to even pose. where you can even have an answer to.
Belichick, the way Brady was born. Don't forget. Drew Bledsoe had that $100 million contract that you can see. the Eagles refuse to move on from With what?
Now, I don't remember what the cap ramifications were for New England back in the day, but. This is a guy. Who was the franchise? They gave him a. very rich contract, maybe the richest at the time.
Brady comes in due to injury. Bledsoe is healthy. Who's the coach who had the cajonis? In just year two of being there, To say, sorry, Drew, you're out. The kid from Michigan, 199th overall.
We don't think he's a flash of the pen. We're going to keep going. And Drew You got to stay ready. Who's the coach who then got to the Super Bowl because Drew Bledsoe was in fact ready and won the AFC Championship game for an injured Brady, and then still said, We're going with Brady in the Super Bowl. Twice Belichick was forced by the local media and some of the fan base to say, who are you sticking with?
And then in the Super Bowl, who's the coach? Who said, let's not play for the field goal? Take an E, sit on it, take the air out of the ball. I'm sorry to say that, but you know what I'm saying? Like, Who's the coach, Chris?
who said at the time Let's go with Tom Brady. Let's keep pushing the ball down the field. Bill Belichick.
Okay? That's how Brady was born. And then The fourth ring that is clearly important because it was the first time that the Patriots said we're doing it again. That three and the four wasn't the flash. The parent were doing it again.
And the fourth put him on the mountaintop with Montana and... Bradshaw. Fourth ring. In terms of coaching and who's ready. And who's not?
And who's prepared and who's not? Two words, Malcolm Butler. Who the hell had ever heard of Malcolm Butler? How did Malcolm Butler get on the field and then know where to go? and how to make the play.
All right, it's a team effort. It's a team effort. And right now, Brady's got the better weapons, and he's got a terrific coaching staff. I mean Bruce Aarons didn't just fall off a turnip truck for crying out loud. He's got Bear Bryant DNA in him for crying out loud.
It's a lot of crying in the out louds.
So let's just put this to bed in advance of possibly Brady making his 10th Super Bowl and the first quarterback to ever. Playing his home stadium in one. I mean, he's a walking first. Let's take a break. We'll come back.
Bob Costas will join us on the passing of Hank Aaron here. On NBC Sports on Peacock and this Rich Eisen Show radio station. This episode brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game? shifting a little money here, a little there, and hoping it all works out.
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Restrictions apply. This is the Rich Eisen Show. This busy Friday before a championship weekend in the NFL. We're back here with our radio audience, and joining us here is A friend and a friend of the program, and a Hall of Famer, literally and figuratively in his own right, Bob Costas. How are you, Bob?
I'm okay, Rich, but more sad news. 10. Hall of Famers in the last nine months, beginning with Al K-Line in April. And of course, when you talk about Hank Aaron, it's insufficient to say that he's a baseball Hall of Famer. It's even insufficient to say he's one of the all time true inner circle Greatest baseball players.
All of that is true. But Hank Aaron transcended that. Hank Aaron is. An American hero, and as you mentioned a moment ago, a legitimate. civil rights Yeah.
It's often a cliche when people say, well, he was great at this or that. but he was also a great person. That happens to be true. Cliches become clichés because at least Occasionally, they're true. Hank Aaron was a great, great baseball player.
He was also. a very decent man. And I think a lot of what he was able to accomplish Uh beyond baseball. flowed from the fact that he was such an essentially good and decent man.
So let's, how do you want to handle this, Bob? I mean, because the story of how he broke into the bigs and then what he became and then what he was after playing, and then the night of April 8th, 1974. I guess let's get to that, I guess, through as the through line was that night. What were Your recollections of it and what conversations might have you had with Hank Aaron about that night where he broke the record?
Well, you think about that night. And before I get into the contrast, I want to say that I just read A very gracious statement. That Barry Bonds put out upon learning of Hank Aaron's death.
So we have to give Barry credit for that. But now When you think about april eighth, nineteen seventy four, Some of your audiences aren't old enough to have witnessed it firsthand. I did. I was a senior at Syracuse. University.
Um watched it on NBC that night with Kurt Gowdy and Joe Garagiola. Of course, Milo Hamilton's radio call for the Braves. And Scully, typically great on Dodger radio, are also frequently heard. But I remember Kurt Gowdy and Joe Garragiola that night. Uh I was Working already at WSYR TV and radio in Syracuse while still going to classes at the university.
So I was in the newsroom. Uh at WSYR. Yeah. And I remember that even then, and you couldn't take this for granted in 1974. There were two Black.
staffers there. One was a cameraman and one was a reporter. along with a couple of members of the sports staff and the news staff. And everybody stopped, no matter what they were doing. Aaron had one at-bat earlier in the game, I think, and he walked.
But each time he came up to bat, everything stopped. and everyone focused on the game. you have to remember that then Baseball was the true national pastime. You look at World Series and All-Star Game ratings then, as opposed to To now. And it was on NBC, not on ESPN.
No disrespect intended. It just had a different national impact. Everyone was talking about it. You didn't have to know a sacrifice bunt from a sacrifice why. to know that this really mattered.
And to give you an idea of what a different time it was, here's the nine or ten of us decide collectively, let's send Henry Aaron a telegram to congratulate him.
So we sent a telegram. I don't even know if Western Union and telegrams exist anymore. We sent a telegram to the Braves' offices in Atlanta. He used to think about. About this, right?
Henry Aaron probably being congratulated by everyone in baseball, by presidents and dignitaries. Hey, is there a telegram in there from Bobby Costas and the guys at WS? Yeah, pull that out. I'd like to frame that one. But anyway, you contrast that.
With The night that Bond's Statistically. And statistically only. surpassed Henry Aaron. Barry Bonds has seven more home runs than Henry Aaron. That is a statistical fact.
What Henry Aaron did on April 8th, 1974. has a deeper meaning and a deeper resonance. And so you contrast the ambivalence That people felt about what happened in 2007 in San Francisco. against the deep An abiding respect and appreciation that the images of April 9th, April 8th, rather than 1974 in Atlanta. call forth.
You know. Things are objectively factual, statistically factual. And then there's a matter of what it means to people emotionally, what it means historically, what it means in legend. Henry Aaron had all that. a thousand times over that night and throughout his career.
Did you ever have a conversation with him about the hate mail that he kept in his attic? Yes.
Okay, what was that about? We talked about it. It was an honor to be able to say not only that I covered and interviewed Hank Aaron, but that we were friends. And he asked me to MC a few events, charitable events that he was part of. a birthday celebration that President Clinton attended and the temptations Performed at, I guess, sometime in the late 90s because Clinton was still.
So I knew Henry pretty well. And we had this conversation both privately and once on the air. And my point I think that's I just hope you know. that even in the face of this Dark. unvarnished racism that you faced.
And I understand why. those letters. because he had explained it. many times. He didn't want to forget what it was that he faced.
And one reality, not the only reality, but one reality. of what America was. At that time. And I might say parenthetically here, Rich, we thought that had been confined to the deepest, darkest corners. I'd like to think it Isn't something that we're going to be living with.
forever, but we've seen in recent years Is that bad? that that dark element of American life has not been extinguished. It exists and it's larger than we wanted to believe it was. but it was right in Henry Aaron's face. As he approached, Hank Aaron's uh rather uh Babe Ruth's record.
But what I wanted the point I wanted to make to him was I hope you knew then and now. that millions and millions of white Americans We're also rooting for you. Not just black America. a sizable portion of white America got it. Surpassing Babe Ruth's home run total doesn't mean that Babe Ruth wasn't an all time great player and that he doesn't matter anymore in baseball history.
He'll always matter. Here's the proof. He still does. Babe Ruth's name still resonates, but that millions of white Americans, even then, Not in retrospect, but even then. had some understanding They couldn't have a full understanding because they didn't experience it directly, but some understanding of what it was you faced.
Not just as a player, but as a person. and great respect and admiration. For you triumphing not only on the field, but over all the societal pressures that you face. And his face softened in a small smile and he said yes. I understand that.
I've always understood it, and I understand it now. But that doesn't change the other reality. And of course he's right. Yeah. realities that you have to pick aside, they're both true.
One is a glorious. And triumphant reality, Henry Aaron's story. And the other is an ugly reality. what he had to face in addition to rival pitchers. And even today, we see that in one way or another, That that awful element I was American life.
has not been fully extinguished. We still have to confront it. Bob Cost is here on the Rich Eisen Show. And when Bonds broke the record, he was there. You know, he was there.
He took part in it. He did not. He did not, I guess, shy away from the moment. What was his take on all of that? uh with bonds now that we see his statement today Rich, it's a measure of just how classy and gracious he was.
that when the Giants asked him to do it. In anticipation of of bonds hitting 756. He agreed to do it. They stopped the game. There's a celebration in San Francisco.
And then, all of a sudden, on the Jumbotron, there appears. Henry Aaron, with a very gracious message of congratulations to Barry Bonds. And if Hank was annoyed. or felt Um Yeah. that his record was not only broken, but broken under the circumstances that it was, which we all understand.
He was too gracious. and too big. a man. to ever say that, to ever grouse about that publicly. And I think in many ways, not just with regard to the record.
But with regard to his whole life, his career and his whole life, for a very, very long time. Hank was very comfortable. with what he had achieved, the life that he led, and the way the vast, vast majority of the American public viewed him.
So he didn't have to offer any explanation or any, well, yeah, but I did this, I did that. You never heard anything like that from him. uh what he did Both as a player and as a person. spoke for itself. And I think he had great peace of mind.
about that every year at Cooperstown. when the Hall of Famers come back, and it's such a striking scene when you see all these boldfaced names on that stage in Cooperstown, and they're all warmly greeted, and the applause is greater for the Sandy Colfaxes and the Willie Mays and some others. And understandably, there's levels of greatness. But when Henry was introduced, he was in recent years. The appreciation had a different tone to it.
Um There was just an abiding respect and appreciation. You could feel it. in the way the crowd responded to him. And then afterward at the gatherings uh in the Hall of Fame, in the gallery where the Hall of Fame plaques are. Henry would swim.
Sit. especially in the later years of his life, he had trouble standing. And he would sit. And he was such a humble man. None of this came from him.
There was no bravado about him. But not only would fans and various baseball people, but Hall of Fame players themselves. Greatest of the great. Would come to him as as as if as if they were Coming to a dignitary of some kind, and he would sit there and almost receive them. And none of that came from any sense of.
Of ego on his part, but that's just the way people felt about him to see a Ken Griffey Jr. go toward him with the deepest respect. Um I'm talking to Mr. Aaron now. No, did no one else I'm talking to Mr.
Aaron now. That's what he that's the place he held and it was a place he had earned. A few more minutes left with Bob Costas here on the Rich Eisen Show. What do you think the conversation between Hank Aaron and Joe Morgan is going to be like tonight? Bob, what do you think about that one?
Well, you know, they knew each other well. Um I have great regard for both of them. happy to know that uh or to be able to say that I was friends with with both of them. Um you know, if if it if it happens that way, the way some people think it does, and it would be nice to think that it does. then it isn't just a conversation with Joe Morgan or Jackie Robinson.
It's a conversation with Babe Ruth. You know? It's a conversation with every great player who ever played. Uh-huh. if that's the way it plays out.
Yeah. It's amazing. Lasorda will be there too, right? I mean, it's just, ugh. You're right.
It's been a really tough year, Bob. It's been a rough year. For some living Hall of Famers who have left us 10. That's remember 10. I'm sorry, Rich.
Go ahead. No, no, no. I'm just please go ahead, Bob. I can listen to you all day.
Well, one one more thought here. Sure. I think very often we think of people defined by uh the big public stage circumstances of their lives. But how how they respond to those circumstances. is an outgrowth of who they were.
to begin with. I think of a conversation I once had with Arthur Ashe. And I made what I thought was a good point, and he thought it was too. I said The way you carried yourself, Arthur. of with such grace and class and dignity.
In part, was that the same thing as with Jackie Robinson? who was a more combative person. Person by nature than Arthur Ashe was, but you'll recall that Branch Rickey had the famous conversation with Robinson and said, at least for the first few years, you can't fight back. You have to carry yourself with great reserve if this experiment is going to work. And Robinson knew, as unfair as it was, that since all eyes were on him, any misstep would be misinterpreted and used against him and against the cause.
So Arthur, did you Understand that. when you were the only black face Yeah. on the court or in the stands. The only blackface there. Was that part of why you felt an obligation to carry yourself the way you did?
And he said, you know, what you're saying is true. And I understood that it was true of Jackie Robinson. But the main reason I was the way I was and am the way I am. Was that when I was a kid? If I wasn't, my father would have kicked my ass.
Yeah. So whether it's Arthur Ashe or it's Hank Aaron, whomever you want to name. who you are in the big circumstances is a product of who you were in the small circumstances. Bob, you're the best. You know, now that you have placed that in perspective, now I'm thinking, you know, what's the conversation with Muhammad Ali going to be like, right?
And Arthur, and Ash joining Jackie, welcoming. Hank Aaron in. It's just, I'm getting emotional just thinking about it, Bob. I really am. And you know, Rich, when people say, and I hope this has been discredited, except in other weird bubbles Stick to sports, stick to sports.
It hasn't always been African American players and athletes. But predominantly it has been. Why? because for the longest time sports and some aspects of entertainment. Were the places where black Americans were able to break through first.
and command people's attention. And since sports is basically a meritocracy. It's hard to deny. the greatness Um of Someone who establishes themselves like Muhammad Ali did, or Arthur Ash, or Hank Karen, or whomever. But This idea of stick to sports.
Okay. Sports sometimes, I'm not saying that every pronouncement by every black athlete. is automatically correct or automatically to be agreed with. I don't believe that every everyone with a Twitter account is automatically Frederick Douglass and Nikes, but there is a long and proud history of black athletes making a difference and not only representing other black Americans, But Forcing white Americans On The legitimacy of the points they were making, either making directly or or symbolically. And Hank Aaron is very, very near the top Of that list.
He is an important American, not just an important baseball player. Bob, thank you so much. I knew you were the first person I thought of.
So, thank you so much for taking the time here on a Friday at the last second. And let's chat down the road. You be well. Thank you, Rich. Take care.
The one and only bomb cost us. We'll take a break. I've got the Barry Bond statement. When we come back, I'll read that to you, and I'll take your phone calls as well at 844-204-RICH, and we'll unpack a little bit what Bob just laid out there. That was something.
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This is the Rich Eisen Show. We're back here on The Rich Eisen Show, 844-204 Rich. I've got the. Statement from Barry Barnes. Let me read it to everybody.
This is what Bob Costas was mentioning during his conversation with us just about 20 minutes ago as it started. This is from Barry Bonds. I want to send my heartfelt and warmest condolences to the Aaron family and their loss today. I was lucky enough to spend time with Hank on several occasions during my career and have always had the deepest respect and admiration for all that he did both on and off the field. He is an icon.
a legend and a true hero to so many who will forever be missed. Hank Aaron, thank you for everything you ever taught us for being a trailblazer through adversity. in setting an example for all of us African American ball players who came after you. Being able to grow up and have the idols and role models I did helped shape me for a future I could have never dreamed of. Hank's passing will be felt by all of us who love the game, and his impact will forever be cemented in my heart.
And he tweeted that out with a photograph. Hank. And a lectern with a bond symbol on it, and Barry's sitting there. This is in his playing days with a zip-up. Giants warm up.
And then There he is with Hank and Willie Mays. Another photograph. Oof. God bless Willie May is eighty nine years old right now. The Sayhey Kid.
You know, Willie playing his ball in New York. I mean, just again, the fact that. You can look at so many of the African-American players who came after Jackie Robinson and what they did and what they became and who they were on the field. I mean, you cannot. Forget.
where Hank Aaron was playing his ball. Milwaukee to start and then the Deep South. Just as the post-Jim Crow era that we're still seeing too much of in our country. was Just starting off. And don't forget, again, Hank Aaron, we see the footage of him going around the bases on that night.
After Al Downing gave up the home run, that. Fascinatingly enough, the left fielder who scaled the wall in Fulton County Stadium to try and bring that ball back, but it wasn't coming back. Was Bill Buckner? Bill Buckner, yeah. Bill Buckner was a left fielder of the Dodgers on that day.
And um You know, we we we just See that footage, and what a moment, crowning achievement, whatever. But the situation on the ground. The situation on the ground is Hank Aaron Hit his 713th home run at the end of a 1973 season. Season is over.
So everyone knew that in the 1974 season, down goes the Bambino. Bambino's going down. And that's when things began to perkling. It wasn't like, okay, he's closing in on 7:14 in the middle of July, right? the middle of a season and It's going down and Day in and day out you're playing baseball.
There was no baseball going on. as it was beginning to build and build and build. According to all reports and Hank Aaron. It confirmed it. He received in that Off season, nine hundred thirty thousand pieces of mail.
Almost a million. Missives were sent his way. 3,000 a day at one point I read. 3,000 a day. A lot of it wasn't very nice.
Racist, awful screed. Vile. I I I Reposted some of them on my Twitter page, and you know, I'm sitting here kind of wishing I hadn't read them because it's making me feel a certain way right now, but. That man had to deal with all of that throughout the offseason, like you said. And then during games, you know, he's being threatened.
You know, people are telling them that they're going to go from this park to this park to this park to follow them. He's not going to make out alive. You know, Hank Aaron would have to stay in separate hotels from his teammates. Because he Because of the threats, he'd have to have a bodyguard, an FBI agent at points, stay with him.
So he was in isolation a lot of this time because he couldn't be. With his team. I mean in terms of if you want to see how His Demeanor. In the face of this hatred. And how Special.
It was. Wouldn't you, if you have all of that, all those threats? And people are coming out of the stands. Yeah. as you're circling the bases.
Wouldn't you have just flattened them? Like, literally, cold-cocked one of them. I mean, yeah. Wouldn't you have, like, literally, like, so, okay.
So, yeah.
So, I'm rounded second. And here come two kids out of the.
Well, some of them, there were some grown-ass men. Two men. You know what I mean? They were early 20s. Wouldn't you like.
Now, luckily, those guys had nothing but the best thing. They just wanted to dap him up. And I've heard that they've even maybe had a relationship with them later on. But yeah, like, you don't know what. You've been threatened.
Your life has been threatened all this time. And then.
Someone's coming up behind you. Horrifying. He rounded the bases, got home, and then there's media. I mean, well, Craig Sager followed him down the third baseline. Unbelievable.
With his tape recorder. What a story to tell of children and grandchildren and for evermore. And the problem is for kids today, we can show them. the hatred that we're still seeing. Yeah.
Absolutely. Garbage. Trash. Real time. Decades later, and it seems like nothing's changed.
Exactly, and the concept of this is not us, this is not us.
Well, guess what? It is us. Maybe not you and I, but we still consider this a A union to be made more perfect. Didn't think I'd be talking about this stuff today, but the passing of Henry Aaron has brought it out, and it's worthy of the conversation, which we will always have on this show if it's Necessary to be had, and it is. And I think that we pay a respect to Henry Aaron to have a conversation like this on a day like today.
His passing. 844204 Rich is the number to dial. The Chris Brockman news update coming up at the top of the next hour in advance of Championship Sunday. Championship Sunday. We already talked about it with Willie McGinnis, Robert Sala.
Who coached on it last week saying that he's going to get the Jets to it?
So they're going to win championships. He's an hour number one. We'll have a little bit of fun with Bobby Moynihan, the SNL alum now on Mr. Mayer on NBC. He'll be joining us in hour number three.
Chris Brockman's news update. And Mike Del Tufo, I do need your weather report. And Chris, I do need your sneaky good game since you went 4-0 last week. Let's go, baby. That's all coming up in hour number three of this busy Friday here on the Rich Isaac Show.
