An Introduction

8 Times Hank Aaron Faced Racism

From April 8, 1974 until August 7, 2007, Henry Aaron was baseball's reigning home run king. In sports, it is the most hallowed of records, and the record itself has cast a long shadow over Aaron's life and career. As a player, he was one of the most well rounded superstars in the history of the game, and easily one of the ten best hitters. He was a crusader for civil rights and has worked doggedly to increase the role that minorities play behind the scenes in baseball. The home run record was a remarkable accomplishment, but it barely touches all that which comprises the Hank Aaron story.

This isn't the story of just any baseball player, this is the story of a black baseball player. In the world of 2009, it might not seem that the distinction has much meaning, but in the world of Hank Aaron it means everything. Every accomplishment, every record, every moment of his career must be viewed through his experience as a black man. He was the best of the generation of players that followed Jackie Robinson into the big leagues. While Jackie Robinson may have broken baseball's color barrier, the work of equality was just beginning. Baseball reflected Jim Crow, and this was the world into which Hank Aaron stepped at the dawn of his career.

It would be easy to dismiss Hank Aaron's story as just a sports story, or as nonsense about baseball, but that would be a travesty. There is much to learn from the story of "Hammerin' Hank". It is, after all, a story of strength in the face of adversity. It is a story of perseverance against a tidal wave of hatred. It is a story of triumph against the most impossible of odds. It is a story of race and the divisions that threatened to rip our country apart. The story of Hank Aaron is important because it is the American story. It is our history.

My primary source for the information in this series is Hank Aaron's 1991 autobiography, I Had a Hammer: The Hank Aaron Story, co-written with Lonnie Wheeler.