Hank Aaron Recalls “Toothpick” Sam Jones
From John Klima at Yahoo! Sports’ The Postgame on March 2:
This story has mustard on it, but that makes it even better. Once, Henry Aaron struck out three times in one game. The pitcher in question used to nibble on a toothpick as comfortably as Aaron rolled his bat in the palms of his hands. This time the pick topped the hammer.
“That was the most embarrassing feeling in the world,” Aaron told David Letterman on the CBS Late Show last week. “I remember my third year, I faced Sam Jones and he struck me out three times in Chicago.”
Aaron held up three fingers for emphasis and said he met Jones for dinner that night: “I told him, ‘You’ll never have that opportunity against me again’ –- and I meant it. From that day on, he and I had an understanding.”
The understanding was that Aaron would never let Toothpick Sam Jones beat him like that again –- and he never did.
That was no easy feat.
Read the full story here: http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/throwback/201103/hank-aaron-recalls-toothpick-sam-jones
Originally published: March 2, 2011. Last Updated: March 2, 2011.