A Gentleman in Atlanta
One of the best baseball players in history just passed at 86.
Picture of Hank Aaron being hugged by his mom after rounding the bases following the 715th home run that put him ahead of Babe Ruth in total home runs. Photo: beinsports.com
Hank Aaron died recently and I don’t think during his lifetime he ever received enough credit. Hammerin’ Hank Aaron did the yeoman’s work, put up amazing statistics in almost every baseball category and never tooted his own horn.
In some ways he was overshadowed by baseball players who were more flashy, more glamorous, more controversial and less reticent. Some of you are not followers of sports, and some of you were born after Hank Aaron’s career was done.
So here are his stats and a portion of his career highlights:
In said career, Aaron hit .305/.374/.555 (155 OPS+) with 624 doubles, 755 home runs, 2,297 RBI, 2,174 runs, 3,771 hits and 240 stolen bases. He retired as the all-time home run leader and held the record for decades. He's still the all-time leader in RBI (Runs Batted In) and total bases. He also holds the record for the most All-Star games at 25 and the most seasons as an All-Star at 21 (for a stretch, MLB held two All-Star games per year).
The 1957 NL MVP, Aaron also won three Gold Gloves and two batting titles while leading the league in home runs four times, RBI four times, runs three times, hits twice, doubles four times, slugging four times and OPS three times. He won the World Series with the 1957 Braves and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in his first try in 1982.
The biggest moment most remember of Aaron's career was surpassing Babe Ruth's 714 career home runs on April 8, 1974. Here's the great Vin Scully on the call:
In terms of those career stats, Aaron stacks up as well as anyone. He's fourth in history in runs, third in hits, 13th in doubles, second in home runs, first in RBI, 27th in walks, 24th in OPS+, first in total bases, first in extra-base hits, seventh in times on base, fourth in intentional walks. He's even fourth in sacrifice flies.
There are few who can even come close to the type of statistical prowess Aaron put together on the field. For example, he's one of just three players with at least 2,000 runs and 2,000 RBI (Babe Ruth and Alex Rodriguez). Try this one: His lead in total bases is 722.
Just recently, stats from the Negro Baseball League have been added to Major League Baseball player’s numbers. I don’t know if NBL stats are reflected in those aforementioned official Hank Aaron stats. I doubt he played in the Negro Baseball League very long though because Jackie Robinson broke the barrier for Black baseball players in 1947 and Aaron’s career in Major League Baseball got underway in 1954. He would not have gone unnoticed in the Negro Baseball League for long.
But I don’t want to talk about Hank Aaron’s incredible career and how understated everything about it was. I want to talk about his quest to eclipse Babe Ruth’s home run record. He was playing for the Atlanta Braves at the time and it’s reported he was receiving 3,000 pieces of mail a day the majority of which were from racists spewing hate and threatening death.
In the decades following his surpassing Babe Ruth’s home run mark that had stood for nearly half a century, he donated his memorabilia to museums and charitable organizations. Gloves, bats, caps, uniforms, trophies, stat sheets, medals, you name it.
But Hank Aaron kept all of the hate mail.
He kept the hate mail as a reminder. A reminder to himself that no matter how many accolades he was awarded, no matter how high of a rung he achieved on society’s ladder, no matter how many commas and numbers were in his bank account, to many Americans he was just another shiftless Black man.
Hank Aaron appeared to be honorable, decent and selfless and, from all accounts, this was true. But he understood he’s a Black athlete in America where racism’s part and parcel of who we are.
I saw today that the Biden Administration has identified four overarching crises. I was happy to see racial equity was one of them because we just emerged from a crucible of racial enmity dragged out into the light.
The previous administration showed malice toward all who did not look, or think, like them from the nascent stages of its obnoxious presidential campaign in 2015. From the blatant dog whistles at rallies to the choice of a portrait of Andrew Jackson glaring down on the Resolute Dest in the Oval Office. From the Muslim ban right out of the gates to the fear mongering over migrant caravans coming out of Central America. From postponing Harriet Tubman’s portrait on the twenty dollar bill to belittling the Civil Rights activist and Congressional leader, John Lewis.
It’s morning in America, but no page has been turned and, like Hank Aaron, we need to hold on to the hate mail, the searing ugly imagery of the past four years. We need to keep in our mind’s eye the hate we saw in the faces at Charlottesville as they shouted “Jews will not replace us!” We need to envision the Confederate battle flags flying outside AND inside our nation’s capitol building on January 6th, 2021.
We can’t forget the Nazi symbols being brazenly displayed like badges of honor on shirts, flags and patches of skin. The insurrectionists storming the Capitol Building wearing t-shirts that said “Camp Auschwitz” or “6MWE” (which stands for ‘6 million weren’t enough’ - meaning 6 million Jews killed by the Nazis was insufficient) and I’m sure dozens of other equally hideous political statements.
White supremacy is alive and well. The last four years proved that beyond a shadow of a doubt. Not that Hank Aaron, or any living Black American, couldn’t have told you that if you asked.
But it goes well beyond the hate being spewed, the reddened faces and bulging neck veins and the patches, flags and caps.
White supremacy shows up in gerrymandering.
White supremacy shows up in our census.
The Senate filibuster is a relic of white supremacy. It has been wielded throughout the years to deny civil rights and deny voting rights. It will be used in the near term to stymie all progress.
The Electoral College might as well be considered to be a monument to white supremacy.
White supremacy shows up at every election in the form of voter suppression.
Our health care is burdened with white supremacy. Education, as well.
And, of course, it smothers our justice system, law enforcement and laws in general.
As a nation, we have so much on our plate. Even so, we can’t let this time of heightened awareness pass. We’ve been given a gift of sight. We’ve all just spent four years watching a malignant mass of domestic terrorists, uncivil behavior and bigotry grow at the behest of our so-called leaders. It was as if we too were receiving 3000 pieces of hate mail a day while we tried to go about our daily lives. It was being thrust in our faces.
Now, there’s no glossing over the ugliness that’s been exposed. We need to keep that ‘hate mail’. We need to do whatever is in our power to assist in the dismantling of racial inequity.
There’s a meme floating about the internet that goes, “The three people we should have listened to are Hillary Clinton, Dr. Anthony Fauci and Colin Kaepernick.”
Let’s heed Hank’s example. And let’s use our new awareness to start breaking down the wall of white supremacy brick by brick.
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My brother Mike suggested I watch Ewan McGregor’s Long Way Up which is streaming on Apple TV and, now that I am doing so, I can report that it is an addictive documentary adventure about two guys (and a small army of support staff) making their way from Ushuaia, Argentina to Los Angeles, California on prototype electric Harley Davidson bikes. They are accompanied by two prototype electric trucks manufactured by a company in the Midwest called Rivian.
If you don’t think you are an Ewan McGregor fan, I’ll bet you will be at the conclusion of this show. He and his buddy, Charley Boorman, also did two other documented travel adventures Long Way Down and Long Way Around. Those adventures, however, were on gas driven vehicles but I am sure the story is no less compelling.
Also, for you cat lovers out there!
One last thing. Before it becomes completely passé.
