I just heard that Hank Aaron passed away, and it immediately took me back to my years as a kid, when baseball was my game. R.I.P. Hank Aaron.
Back in the day, before we had substances that gave an athlete that extra edge, before social media existed, back in a time when–in between marble games–baseball cards were traded in schoolyards and streetcorners. On April 8, 1974, he finally broke Babe Ruth’s all-time home run record by hitting his 715th home run, and in so doing, left yet another indelible mark upon this country’s internal battle with racism and white privilege, one that would stand for another 31 years until broken by another man of color, Barry Bonds. By that time the sports world had changed, and the breaking of Hank’s home run record was forever marred by the BALCO steroid scandal, as was the breaking of the Bonds record.
“April 8, 1974, really led up to turning me off on baseball. It really made me see for the first time a clear picture of what this country is about,” he said. “My kids had to live like they were in prison because of kidnap threats, and I had to live like a pig in a slaughter camp. I had to duck. I had to go out the back door of the ball parks. I had to have a police escort with me all the time. I was getting threatening letters every single day. All of these things have put a bad taste in my mouth, and it won’t go away. They carved a piece of my heart away.”
R.I.P. Hank Aaron, you’ll always be The Greatest Slugger of Them All.
Thoughts to his family, and thanks to Hank for what he gave us.
