Thursday, February 4, 2021

J-Speaks: The Passing of MLB's Original Home-Run King

 Over the course of the past few weeks, our nation has had to endure the passing of many iconic figures in sports and entertainment. Many of them of color displaying their greatness in their rise in the face of complete disrespect that was not warranted and denied the just do for their accomplishments at that moment. Late last month, the baseball world, especially the Negro League and Major League Baseball (MLB) lost one of those great icons who faced a great deal of push back during his rise in that sport, but still made his mark.

One week ago, Baseball Hall of Famer Henry Aaron, who played two years in the Negro Leagues and 23 years in MLB with the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves (1954-1974) and the Milwaukee Brewers (1975-76) passed away in his sleep at the age of 86. The cause of death was listed as natural causes but serious suspicion of his death came just 16 days after he and several public African American figures that included longtime activist Joe Beasley, former Atlanta, GA Mayor Andrew Young, and Founding Dean of the Morehouse School of Medicine and former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services during the George H.W. Bush Administration publicly received a Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination. They did so to squash the myth that this life saving vaccine is harmful to minorities and that it is safe and necessary to get.

“This is just a small thing that can help zillions of people in this country,” Mr. Aaron said back on Jan. 5 to ABC News.  

The man who was nicknamed the “Hammer” or “Hammerin’ Hank” for his uncanny ability to hit the ball right into the bleacher is survived by his second wife of 47 years Billye Suber Williams and their one child together Ceci. Mr. Aaron was also married before to Barbara Lucas for 18 years (1953-71) and they had five children together: Gary, Lary, Dorinda, Gale, and Hank, Jr.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said of Aaron’s impact on the game, “Hank Aaron is near the top of everyone’s list of all-time great players.”

“His monumental achievements as a player were surpassed only by his dignity and integrity as a person. Hank symbolized the very best of our game, and his all-around excellence provided Americans and fans across the world with an example to which to aspire.”  

Atlanta Braves legendary third baseman and outfielder in 1993 and 1995-2012 Chipper Jones said Aaron was the “epitome of class and integrity. RIP Henry Aaron!”

Jones also that Mr. Aaron was not only a “transcendent baseball player” but a “transcendent person” in our nation’s history.

“He set the bar not only for what you should strive for as a baseball player but as a human being.”

Braves Chairman Terry McGuirk said Aaron was: “A beacon for our organization.”

Before the Philadelphia 76ers tilt versus the Boston Celtics two Friday nights ago, a 122-110 win on ESPN, there was a moment of silence before the game in memory of Mr. Aaron.

Head Coach of the 76ers Glenn “Doc” Rivers, who played for the Atlanta Hawks from 1983-91 said on Friday night that Mr. Aaron was a great example where he replaced “anger” with “opportunity.”

“He’s a giant,” Rivers added. “You can still argue he still holds the home run record in a lot of people’s opinion, you know. He was just such a humble giant.”

Rivers former teammate during the 1980s and Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins said via Hawks Twitter page @HawksonFSSE/Twitter that Mr. Aaron had to be one of the greatest athletes of all-time because of the pressure he played under, without knowing if something bad would happen to him on the field or just by sitting in the baseball dugout.

“The thing for me that was most satisfying that he was able to sit down and give me tutelage to help my career,” Wilkins, who played for the Hawks from 1982-94 said on Friday night, adding, “and I owe Hank a lot because he made it possible for a guy like myself to persevere, and do something special in his life.”     

Mr. Aaron put together one of the greatest career resumes in the history of MLB finishing as the all-time leader in 2,297 career runs batted in (RBI), 6,856 career total bases, 1,477 extra-base hits, and 25 career All-Star appearances, which includes an MLB-record 21 All-Star selections.

Prior to 14-time All-Star Barry Bonds becoming MLB’s all-time leader in career home runs in 2007, which stands at 762, Aaron was the all-time leader in home runs from 1974-2007 at (755). He along with Bonds and the late great Babe Ruth (714) are the three players in MLB history with 700-plus career homers, with all playing 20-plus years in the major leagues.

Mr. Aaron in 11 of his 23 MLB seasons had more than 100 RBIs, 624 career doubles, 240 stolen bases, and 13 times he finished in the Top 10 in MVP voting.  

He also won three Gold Glove Awards (1958-1960); two National League batting titles (1956, 1959); four National League home run titles (1957, 1963, 1966, and 1967); and four-time National League RBI leader (1957, 1960, 1963, and 1966).

His No. 44 was retired by both the Brewers and Braves in 1976 and 1977 respectably.

To put into perspective what Mr. Aaron did in his major league career, former writer for Sports Illustrated Ralph Wiley, who now works for ESPN said back in 1998 that Aaron hit more homers than Ruth. Drove in more runs than Lou Gehrig. Scored more runs than Willie Mays and had over 12 miles in total bases than the runner-up Stan Musial.  

To honor Mr. Aaron, the Braves welcomed fans to visit his statue inside of Monument Garden at Truist Park in Atlanta, GA.

The Brewers will wear the No. 44 on their jersey sleeves for the 2021 season. The NFL’s Atlanta Falcons and Major League Soccer’s Atlanta United FC will both retire No. 44 jerseys for the 2021 season.

All flags at Georgia state buildings were flown at half-staff until his exceedingly small socially distant funeral that took place on Jan. 27 at Friendship Baptist Church in Atlanta, GA. S3

The most iconic and memorable homer that Aaron, who was 40 years old at that time hit was the one where he surpassed Ruth into No. 1 on MLB’s all-time list at No. 715 came as a member of the Atlanta Braves Apr. 8, 1974 in the national televised game then at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium of Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Al Downing at the bottom of the fourth inning.

While cannons fired off in celebration of this history making moment, as Aaron was rounding third base heading towards home plate, two college students sprinted onto the field and jogged alongside Mr. Aaron, which temporarily startled him.

Aaron after that was interviewed by the late great NBA on TNT sideline reporter Craig Sager between third and home plate for then Sarasota, FL’s WXLT (now WWSB-Channel 40). 

As the fan in the stadium cheered wildly for what just took place, Aaron’s parents, Aaron Sr., and the former Estella Pritchett ran onto the field as well to congratulate their son. His mother ran across the field and threw her arms around him, showing him love not just for the fact he surpassed Ruth, but that he was alive to witness this moment.  

Then Braves announcer Milo Hamilton, who called the game for WSB radio description of that milestone scene: “Henry Aaron, in the second inning walked and scored. He’s sittin’ on 714. Here’s the pitch by Downing. Swinging. There’s a drive into left-center field. That ball is gonna be-ee… Outta here! It’s gone! It’s 715! There’s a new home run champion of all-time, and it’s Henry Aaron! The fireworks are going. Henry Aaron is coming around third. His teammates are at home plate. And listen to this crowd! Met at home plate not by only every member of the Braves but by his father and mother.”

The Dodgers broadcaster in the late great Vin Scully took a different tone when describing the Aaron’s milestone homer as he addressed the racial tension. He began by saying how this was a “marvelous moment for baseball.” That it was a “marvelous moment for Atlanta and the state of Georgia; what a marvelous moment for the country and the world.”

Mr. Scully also said that “a black man” was getting a standing ovation in the Deep South for breaking a record of an all-time baseball idol.

“And it is a great moment for all of us, and particularly for Henry Aaron…And for the first time in a long time, that poker face in Aaron shows the tremendous strain and relief of what it must have been like to live with for the past several months.”

The good and the bad that Mr. Aaron faced during this proud moment in his baseball career is nothing new to him or many African Americans back then, especially in the Southern part of the U.S.

Born in segregated Mobile, AL on Feb. 5, 1954 one of seven children, including Tommie Aaron, who played with his brother in the majors, the game of baseball Henry saw as his way out of poverty, despite the fact he was not able to play organized baseball as a youth because of the aforementioned segregation then.

How poor was Mr. Aaron and his family when he was growing up in Alabama, he had to make his own baseball bats out of tree limbs. 

Mr. Aaron said that what made him such a great hitter in his career is that he would actually hit bottle caps and really small rocks that were a major aide in becoming the incredible hitter he was for over two decades in MLB, striking no more than 100 times in a season.  

Aaron thought he had escaped that part of his life when he made his major league debut with the then aforementioned Milwaukee Braves in 1954. But 12 years later the Braves moved to Atlanta, putting Aaron back in the Deep South, where he really worked hard to escape.

The late U.S. Congressman of the Georgia’s 5th Congressional District from 1987-2020 John Lewis (D-GA) said back in 2000 that the south Aaron was returning to then was what he called a “different South,” with Atlanta considered “the capital of the New South.”

Longtime Civil Rights Activist Dick Gregory added in 1999 saying that the Civil Rights Movement had already shocked the “New South” and Aaron being the face of the Braves who brought a class and dignity on the surface, but underneath had a sternness of “don’t mess with him, don’t talk down to him.”

As Aaron was approaching Ruth’s home run record that had been held for four decades by Ruth, Aaron received death threats and racially driven hate mail, that according to the ESPN’s Baseball analyst and de facto historian Tim Kurkjian total about 1,000 letters a day.

In fact, Mr. Aaron set the Guinness World Record for the most mail received by a private citizen of nearly 3,000 letters a day, that equated to nearly one million in 1974, and much of it was hate mail. 

One letter that was sent to Aaron said that someone was going to break his leg, his back and that he will “DROP DEAD.”

Another began with “Dear Nigger Henry,” and consisted of he would “((not))” break the record “established” by the great Babe Ruth. That Caucasians are “more superior than jungle bunnies,” and that person’s gun is “watching your ever move.”

Someone sent Mr. Aaron a picture of an ape, pointing his first finger at his head that asked, “This picture flatters you Hank. You Fag.”

“I couldn’t open a letter month,” Aaron said last year about that hate mail he received during that time. “They had to be opened by the FBI or somebody else.”  

Longtime sports commentator Bob Costas, now with the MLB Network said that Aaron saved each of those hate letters in a box in his attic as a reminder that not a whole lot has changed, even today in our nation when it comes to racism. Costas at one point in that interaction asked Mr. Aaron if those hate letter obscured that millions of Americans, not just African Americans admired and respected you.

Mr. Aaron responded by saying that he does know but it does not change what he had to go through.

“I couldn’t let that stand in my way,” Mr. Aaron said.

Adding, “When I look in the stands, you know, after they said these nasty things, I looked in the stands and I saw all these Black people in the stands. I said, ‘I can’t let them down.’”

Co-host and longtime media personality and writer Jemele Hill said last week on Vice TV’s “Cari & Jemele (Won’t) Stick to Sports” said Mr. Aaron’s drive to break one of pro sports all-time records was one he did not reflect positively on until later on his life.

The newspaper that covered the Braves had his obituary prepared to be published because of the fear he would be assassinated.

In fact, the newspaper that covered the Braves, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s then executive sports editor Lewis Grizzard reported that he was receiving numerous phone calls that called journalists “nigger lovers” because they covered Mr. Aaron’s chase of Ruth’s record. So, while preparing the massive coverage of Aaron’s chase of MLB’s all-time home run mark, Grizzard quietly had Aaron’s obituary written, fearing that someone was going to assassinate him.

“And so, when we acknowledge our Black icons, we need to also acknowledge what racism has done to their lives,” Hill said.

She added that we need to acknowledge what systemic racism has “stolen” from our Black icons in sports and entertainment.

Hill’s co-host and former ESPN “Sportscenter” anchor Cari Champion said that we needed icons like Hank Aaron, fellow Negro Leaguer and MLB legend in the late Jackie Robinson, and Muhammad Ali to push the needle to where seeing her and Hill host their own show. To see someone like now Vice President Kamala Harris, and longtime journalist with CNN and NBC Soledad O’Brien, the host now of the weekend political show “Matter of Fact” to give young minorities a vision of that they can also be in position of power, and leadership, which is how we can make our world better.

Aaron surpassed Ruth on the home run list and at the same time showed many other African Americans who played in the MLB that they can be great like him even if others do not think so, like Torii Hunter, who hit 353 career homers a 19-year career in the majors.

“For him to stay focused and hit 756 home runs, and I just don’t understand it. I don’t get it, you know,” Hunter said. “If a guy hit, you know, 300 or 400 home runs in the major leagues, he’s like a God. What’s higher than God? Hank Aaron.”

You would think the words that came out of Mr. Aaron mouth would be one of jubilation. That was not the case, as he said once he surpassed Ruth, “I just thank God it’s all over with. Thank you very much.”

Mr. Aaron saw his milestone moment as a sign of relief that it was over because this moment was just six after the assassination of Civil Rights icon Martin Luther King, Jr. Just six years after then U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy had been assassinated. Just a decade after then President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated.

“You didn’t know what was going to happen to Hank Aaron. You didn’t know if he was actually going to break the record,” ESPN’s Baseball Insider Buster Olney, said of what Mr. Aaron went through back then.

Aaron tied Ruth’s all-time home run record on opening day in the 1974 season and surpassed Ruth four days later.

Olney, who was age 10 at that time said that his mother the next left a note that Mr. Aaron had broken the all-time home run record, writing at the bottom of the note that the crowd cheered.

Olney said that the final part of that note he got from his mother was just as important as the fact that he became the MLB’s new all-time home run leader.   

After Bonds hit his record-breaking 756th career homer on Aug. 7, 2007, Mr. Aaron made a surprise appearance on the big video screen at AT&T Park in San Francisco to congratulate Bonds on this history making moment in MLB.

“I would like to offer my congratulations to Barry Bonds on becoming baseball’s career home run leader. It is a great accomplishment which required skill, longevity, and determination,” Mr. Aaron said that night. “Throughout the past century, the home run has held a special place in baseball and I have been privileged to hold this record for 33 of those years. I move over now and offer my best wishes to Barry and his family on this historical achievement. My hope today, as it was on that April evening in 1974, is that the achievement of this record will inspire others to chase their own dreams.”

When Bonds surpassed Aaron in 2007 on the all-time home run list, he showed the same grace and dignity that has been a part of him, all be it fraudulently because Bonds was found out to have used Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs) that he became known for his entire baseball career to him that Aaron did not receive when he surpassed Ruth.

“Hank Aaron—thank you for everything you ever taught us, for being a trailblazer through adversity and setting an example for all of us African American ball players who came after you,” Bonds said in a statement last weekend. “Being able to grow up and have the idols and role models I did; help shape me for a future I could have never dreamed of.”

This was another example of Mr. Aaron’s kindness and respect for another, which was nothing really new because ESPN’s Pedro Gomez said two weeks ago on “Sportscenter” that Aaron during his career took many minority baseball players that experienced the kind of systemic racism under his wing.

Mr. Aaron not only confronted that vitriol from many Caucasians and was open about it but showed the class in how he handled it.   

He did have his fun moments in his baseball career, especially on the back nine of it often joking about how old he was playing against younger player, and still besting them.

“The kid that was pitching, and the kid that was catching I was older than the two of them put together,” Aaron jokingly said with a smile in an interview once while playing with the Braves. “So, it was kind of embarrassing. But I felt good about it really. Because it’s very unusual to participate in this game that long.”

“His career demonstrates that a person who goes to work with humility every day can hammer his way into history and find a way to shine like no other,” Commissioner Manfred said.  

Aaron’s professional baseball journey started in the Negro American League in 1952 with the Indianapolis Clowns, that was separate but nowhere close to equal to the majors.

There, Mr. Aaron said that he played with some of the best baseball players that “knew how to play the game.”

He added that the players he played with taught him a great deal.

His MLB journey began with the Milwaukee Braves on Apr. 13, 1954 at age 20, where he went hitless against the Cincinnati Reds. Things would get better from there and in the 1957 season won his only National League MVP and led the Braves to that year’s World Series title over the New York Yankees in seven games. 

Even the eye-popping numbers Mr. Aaron put up in his remarkable career, he was always seen as underrated because he was not a player that took the approach to have all eyes on him. He never hit 50 homers in a single season, with his highest in one season being 47 homers. While he was remarkably consistent in his 25-year career, Aaron was always overshadowed by other MLB players, who had more charisma and played in more high-profiled media markets like Ruth with the Yankees.

“If Hank had played in New York like [Mickey] Mantle and [Willie] Mays, we all know it would have been a different story,” Academy Award winning film director/producer and New York sports fan Spike Lee said once. “He was stuck in Milwaukee.”

“I know they were in the World Series in ’57 and ’58. That put him in the spotlight. But other than that, it really wasn’t until he was getting into that Ruth territory that the spotlight finally shown on him the way it should have all along.”

ESPN Baseball Analyst Eduardo Perez, who played 13 years in the majors (1993-2000, 2002-06), said that Aaron was someone that was not only a great player on the baseball diamond, but the impact that he had off the field was even greater. 

The one number Perez said on ESPN’s “Sportscenter” two weeks ago that stood out about Mr. Aaron in his baseball career that he hit 44 home runs in four different seasons.

“I used to always be a numbers guy. Still am to this day. And No. 44, every time I think of it, it symbolizes Hank Aaron.”

After playing the final two seasons of his baseball career with the Brewers, Aaron stared across another racial divide as his next challenge, owning a baseball team.

“I look forward to one day that a Black will be able to run a professional ball club. And I’m hoping that one Black will be me.”

Following the 1976 season, then owner Ted Turner, founder of CNN, TBS, and TNT reached out to Aaron about being a part of the Braves front office, which he accepted and worked for the team he played for a little over two decades in several capacities for over four decades, that included being named Senior Vice President and assistant to the Braves’ President. He became the Corporate Vice President of Community Relations for Turner Broadcasting System (TBS), a member of the company’s Board of Directors, and the Vice President of Business Development for The Airport Network.

In 1982, Aaron was inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame, receiving 97.8 percent of the ballots, second only to the 98.2 percent of the vote Ty Cobb received in the inaugural 1936 Hall of Fame election. 

In 1999, MLB honored Mr. Aaron on his 65th birthday created the Hank Aaron Award in celebration of the 25-year anniversary of Aaron surpassing Ruth on the all-time home run list. This award is given annually to baseball played voted most effective hitter in both the NL and American League (AL).

In 2007 after the Braves were up for sale, then MLB Commissioner Bud Selig announced that Aaron would play a key role in the management of the Braves formation of programs through MLB that encouraged the influx of baseball into minority communities, which included Aaron founding the Hank Aaron Rookie League program.

The greatest award that Mr. Aaron has received came on Jan. 8, 2001 when then President Bill Clinton (D) presented the MLB legend the nation’s highest civilian honor in the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which he received by his predecessor George W. Bush ® in June 2002.

“Rosalynn and I are saddened by the passing of our dear friend Henry Aaron,” former President and Governor of Georgia Jimmy Carter (D) said in a statement. “One of the greatest baseball players of all-time, he has been a personal hero to us. A breaker of records and racial barriers, his remarkable legacy will continue to inspire countless athletes and admirers for generations to come.”

Former President Bush said of Aaron, “The former home run king wasn’t handed his throne. He grew up poor and faced racism as he worked to become one of the greatest baseball players of all-time. Hank never let the hatred he faced consume him.”

President Clinton said that Aaron’s passing, baseball lost “one of its greatest heroes” and that our nation lost “an inspiring role model and philanthropist, and I have lost a wonderful friend.”

President Barack Obama, who presidency back in 2008 is not possible if not for how Mr. Aaron stood strong in the face of racism said that the Hall of Famer not only “one of the best baseball players we’ve ever seen” but was one of “the strongest people” he ever met.

“Whenever Michelle [his wife] and I spent time with Hank and his wife Billye, we were struck by their kindness, generosity and grace—and were reminded that we stood on the shoulders of a previous generation of trailblazers.”   

The current President Joe Biden said that watching Hank Aaron play baseball that he knew he was watching “someone special.”

That seeing Mr. Aaron play baseball was more than just about watching a “gifted” athlete that mastered his craft as he worked towards what would be a Hall of Fame career as one of the greats to ever play baseball, but that every time we saw him round the baseball diamond that we were witnessing not just someone chasing an astonishing record, but he was helping the nation chase a better version of who we are and want to be.

Henry Louis “Hammer or Hammerin’ Hank” Aaron will forever in the eyes of many be remembered for a monumental swing that allowed this African American man to surpass a Caucasian man in fellow Hall of Famer Babe Ruth on Major League Baseball’s all-time home run list.

On that night, Mr. Aaron was getting showered with praise and appreciation at a time where he did not always get it back. What he really did was provide hope that our nation can break a systemic divide that has seemingly divide the U.S. into two countries where Caucasian Americans can do and get away with anything and minorities, like African Americans have to toe a certain line at all times.

Mr. Aaron was a very towering and monumental figure at a time in baseball that was a very harsh environment that might have left a much lesser man bitter or resentful for what he endured from racist Caucasian fans and the letters they sent to him back in 1974, and the threat of kidnapping his kids.

Aaron’s remarkable grace and focus did more than lived up, even surpassed the enormous responsibility he felt how he represented Black and Brown Americans. That focus led him to become a successful businessman. Raised and provided millions of dollars to school and charities.

In his later years, Mr. Aaron often said he hoped his lasting legacy to be not for the remarkable resume that he put together as an MLB player for 23 years. But for the many lives he help change.

“I think I want to be remembered as someone who was able to forget about baseball. But be able to help mankind,” Aaron said.

Henry Louis “Hammer or Hammerin’ Hank” Aaron memory for what he did on and off the field will never be forgotten. And while the Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium where his most famous swing took place is now gone, and is now a parking lot, the piece of the outfield wall where his 715th career homer landed remains.

Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of 1/22/2021 1 p.m. ESPN’s “Sportscenter” with Hannah Storm and David Lloyd, with reports from Buster Olney and Eduardo Perez; 1/22/2021 6:30 p.m. on “ABC World News Tonight With David Muir,” on WABC; 1/23/2021 12:30 a.m. ESPN’s “Sportscenter” from Los Angeles, CA with Neil Everett, and Stan Verrett; 1/27/2021 www.npr.org story, “Funeral For Hank Aaron: The ‘Marvel From Mobile’ Is Honored In Atlanta,” by Bill Chappell; 1/28/2021 11:30 p.m. Vice’s “Cari & Jemele (Won’t) Stick to Sports,” with Cari Champion and Jemele Hill; 1/31/2021 5 a.m. “Matter of Fact with Soledad O’Brien;” https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/HR_career.shtml; https://en.m.wikpedia.org/wiki/Ted_Turner; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carter; and https://en.m.wikpedia.org/wiki/Hank_Aaron

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