Hammerin' Hank — Baseball Bench Coach

Welcome to the third season of Baseball Bench Coach! MLB’s 2020 version was certainly memorable with the many changes made to address the pandemic – a shortened season, the DH in the National League, and 7-inning games. It was a year that many players and fans are wont to forget. As the calendar turned to 2021, we learned that MLB would have a full 162-game schedule and fans would be gradually returning to the ballparks. There is indeed some glimmer of a return to normalcy in baseball. 2021 was only 3 weeks old though when we also learned of the passing of baseball legend Hank Aaron. We should not begin BBC’s third edition with anything other the Aaron story; it’s just that important. So instead of looking ahead to Opening Day this coming Thursday, let’s first look back at the life of Hammerin’ Hank, truly one players and fans should never forget.

My first memory of Hank Aaron is on Opening Day, April 4, 1974. The Reds have opened their season at home in Cincinnati for decades. It’s a day of celebration for the Reds, a downtown parade, the introduction of the team, and the ceremonial first pitch. 1974 was different. The country’s attention was focused on the visiting Atlanta Braves and their home run hitter, Henry Aaron. I was an ecstatic 15-year old that afternoon as my teacher rolled a television set into our ninth grade classroom. My classmates and I watched as Aaron came to the plate in the first inning and hit Reds pitcher Jack Billingham’s first pitch over the left field wall at Riverfront Stadium. It was Hank’s 714th career home run, tying Babe Ruth’s all-time mark. Aaron would go on to break the record four nights later with #715 off Al Downing of the Dodgers before Hank’s home Atlanta fans and a national television audience.

What I knew about Hank Aaron when I was 15 was his baseball greatness. I thought of him as a true hitter and slugger, and certainly his career totals reflect that – 755 HRs (ranked 2); 2,297 RBIs (1), 6,856 total bases (1), 3,771 hits (3), and 1,477 extra-base hits (1). My other image of Aaron back then was that he was the left fielder of the magnificent NL All-Star outfield that also included Willie Mays in center and Roberto Clemente in right. I really don’t have a memory of Aaron, unlike that of Mays and Clemente, making an outstanding play in the outfield. Yet, Aaron’s legacy is not complete without acknowledging that he too was a graceful fielder with a strong throwing arm (a 3-time Gold Glover) and an exceptional baserunner. He was, in baseball’s new terminology, a five-tool player (hitting, hitting for power, running, fielding, and throwing).

What I didn’t realize as a 15-year old was how much Hank Aaron suffered personally while setting the baseball records. His life growing up in Mobile, Alabama, was one of poverty and segregation. He saw baseball as a way out, and in many ways it failed him. After his successful debut as the Rookie of the Year in the 1952 Northern League, the Braves assigned Aaron the next season to their Class A affiliate in Jacksonville, Florida, where he was named the South Atlantic League MVP. He led that league in runs, hits, doubles, and RBIs (but not HRs). Aaron’s success on the diamond in 1953 was remarkable, not because of the numbers but what he had to tolerate. He was the constant target of racial slurs and death threats. As young Hank reached the big league club in Milwaukee in 1954, the personal ridicule continued as baseball struggled with bringing black players into the major leagues. And sadly, twenty years later, on the precipice of breaking Babe Ruth’s home run mark, he suffered through a 1973-1974 offseason of racial epitaphs, and again, death threats. He entered the batter’s box on Opening Day in 1974 not only as a great home run hitter, but also as a survivor.

Although Hank Aaron the baseball player broke the home run record that first week of April in 1974 and retired 2 years later with remarkable career records, his contributions might have been greater off the field. Aaron was a true civil rights pioneer. After his passing two months ago, his baseball brethren remembered him for his leadership, outspokenness, and genuine concern for all whose paths he crossed. Former President Carter called Hank his “personal hero”, and former President Obama deemed him a “towering example”. In early January, two and a half weeks before his death, Aaron made it a point to take the COVID vaccine in public, a signal to his beloved black community that the shots were safe in the midst of the pandemic.

Aaron told it like it was in his post-baseball career, providing a message that we needed to hear. He spoke often about the need for more blacks in the management of baseball organizations. After the Astros cheating scandal was made public less than two years ago, Aaron called for much greater discipline than MLB handed down. Hank believed that everyone in the scandal should have been banned from baseball for life, sounding the message that cheating in baseball should never be tolerated. Prior to that, Aaron spoke against allowing Pete Rose into the Hall of Fame, a position with which I understand but disagree. More than anything, Hank Aaron was a strong voice representing the black community, a voice of integrity, passion, and forthrightness.

The nickname “Hammerin’ Hank” recognizes Aaron’s long career with the Braves and his record 755 home runs (second all-time). The nickname though has drawn criticism from Native Americans, as has the team name “Braves”. You might recall during the 2019 NL playoffs that the Atlanta crowd’s chant and motioning of a Tomahawk Chop came under scrutiny. A St. Louis Cardinals pitcher, Ryan Helsley, who is a member of the Cherokee Nation, indicated that he found the chant offensive. The Braves’ organization did recognize the concern and halted the playing of the chant during the last game of the 2019 playoff round. Interestingly, after Aaron’s death, there have been some who have campaigned for renaming the team the “Hammers”.

Hank Aaron will be honored in the Atlanta sports scene this year. His number, 44, has long been long retired by the baseball Braves, but will now also be retired by the NFL Falcons, the MLS Atlanta United, and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football program. The Milwaukee Brewers have also announced that their players will wear a “44” patch on their uniforms in honor of Hank. Aaron started his career in Milwaukee as a Brave, and ended it in 1976 as a Milwaukee Brewer. Aaron will indeed be at the front of our minds in 2021 as we hope for a better year in sports.

I am excited for Opening Day this Thursday, much like I was as a 15-year old in 1974. Looking back, I am a little embarrassed that I didn’t know the story of the treatment of Hank Aaron off the field. I wish I had known. This past week, almost 47 years later, I read that college basketball stars E.J. Liddell of Ohio State and Kofi Cockburn of Illinois were the targets of racist social media comments after their teams’ early round losses in the NCAA tournament. I am again embarrassed that our society continues to espouse such hate. On Thursday, let us take a deep breath, and hope that someday, somehow, we can be better.

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach