FLASHBACK: The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast of Hank Aaron

Wednesday marked the 41^st anniversary of Hank Aaron achieving the unthinkable…breaking Babe Ruth’s career home run record.

And while we all remember the iconic video image of Aaron being congratulated by a pair of 17-year-old strangers as he rounded the bases, forgotten is the then-future home run king being roasted. That’s right, long before Justin Bieber was taken to the woodshed by a group of jackals on Comedy Central…Aaron fell victim to Dean Martin and his band of merry men and women.

“The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast of Hank Aaron” was recorded between the 1973 and 1974 seasons and aired on March 29, 1974, less than a week before the start of the historic season. Among those on the dais…roast regulars Joey Bishop, Foster Brooks, Norm Crosby, Lou Rawls and Nipsey Russell. Also on hand, were Hall of Famer Dizzy Dean and Aaron’s former teammate (and manager at the time) Eddie Mathews.

The hour was filled with the three staples you’d expect from any of Martin’s roasts…drinking, smoking and more racist jokes you could swing a bat at.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, yes…Aaron was among those puffing away on a cig. His brand of choice? Camel.

Some of the best (worst?) jokes of the night:

Dean Martin – Hank certainly has come a long way. He was born in Mobile, Alabama to very poor parents. Most poor blacks in Alabama lived on the wrong side of the tracks. Hank’s family was so poor…they lived on the tracks!

Joey Bishop – I know very little about baseball. I always thought Vida Blue was a toilet bowl cleanser.

Norm Crosby – The Atlanta Braves management finally think they have solved Hank’s fielding problem. Next year, they’re going to paint the ball green. You never saw one of them guys drop a watermelon.

Nipsey Russell – When you start making commercials, please advertise only the commercials where the products live up to their claims. Don’t go around advertising false products. Some of them don’t work. I took a bath in Clorox…didn’t mean a thing.

But it was Aaron that had the line of the night.

“This has been quite an evening,” the outfielder said with a laugh. “If I’d have known I was going to be insulted like this, I’d have stayed home and read my hate mail.”

And now, thanks to the internet…you can watch the entire roast online. Enjoy.