Austin Scott: “I rise on a very, very joyous and celebratory occasion, an occasion to wish happy birthday to an extraordinary person, a…”

“I rise on a very, very joyous and celebratory occasion, an occasion to wish happy birthday to an extraordinary person, a great American, and a leading world citizen, and that is home run king Hank Aaron. For on February 5th of this month, Hank Aaron will celebrate his 75th birthday, and I am sure all of us in this Congress and across America and around the world would love to take this opportunity to say, ``Happy birthday, Hank.'' Hank Aaron was born in 1934 in the midst of the Depression in Mobile, Alabama. In that same year, a gentleman by the name of Babe Ruth swatted his last home run for the New York Yankees. Who would have thought that this young, black kid in Mobile, Alabama in 1934 would one day beat the record that many said never would be broken? Then World War II comes along; Pearl Harbor is bombed. While Hank Aaron's father is in the shipyards of Mobile, Alabama, fixing up the boats and the ships to help win World War II, Hank Aaron is playing his very first ball game as a 7 year old in Mobile, Alabama.”