Lake Buena Vista, Fla. -- Mark Teixeira was only the second-best slugger to arrive at Braves spring training Tuesday. The Hammer took top billing.

Braves home-run king Hank Aaron was in town for the annual Braves executive meetings. Nattily clad in a guayabera shirt, he stood next to hitting coach Terry Pendleton and team officials, including general manager Frank Wren and president John Schuerholz, and watched pitchers throw batting practice.

"If I had to take batting practice against people like [Tim] Hudson and [Tom] Glavine, I think I'd take a raincheck," Aaron said, smiling. "Because they might have put me in a slump."

Aaron, who turned 74 on Feb. 5, remarked on the fitness level of today's players. Most show up for spring training already in shape after a winter of weight training and conditioning.

"Kids today come in in much better shape," he said. "They've got money to have trainers [in the offseason]. I had to go work to support my kids."

Aaron, a Braves senior vice president, has been following baseball's ongoing steroids and human growth hormone scandal, including the Mitchell Report and congressional hearings with alleged user Roger Clemens and his accuser, former Yankees strength coach Brian McNamee.

"I think baseball is trying to clean up its act," said Aaron, a longtime friend of commissioner Bud Selig. "Unfortunately for baseball, the Mitchell Report ran into some high-profile players.

"[But] baseball has been through scandals. It went through the [Black] Sox scandal and survived. And it's going to survive this."

Asked if he believed Clemens' claims of innocence, Aaron said, "Only Roger can answer that. If he was telling the truth, he was telling the truth."

Would Aaron object to having Clemens and/or Barry Bonds join him in baseball's Hall of Fame?

"If they join me, that's fine," he said. "If they don't ... I don't make decisions on that."

Aaron's Braves duties primarily consist of advising team chairman Terry McGuirk. Aaron is easing into retirement, having recently sold his chain of car dealerships.

"I've foregone involvement with automobiles, so now I'm mainly involved with the Atlanta Braves," he said. Then he laughed and added, "But I don't want to be characterized as involved with anything."