715

8 Times Hank Aaron Faced Racism #7

Everybody loved Babe Ruth. You will be the most hated man in this country if you break his career home run record.

When Hank Aaron arrived in Atlanta, he changed his game. Throughout his career, Aaron was one of those guy who had line drive power to all fields. He hit home runs that infielders thought they had a chance to leap and grab. The dynamics changed when he arrived at Fulton County Stadium. At the time, Atlanta was at the highest elevation in the league, which, when combined with the heat and humidity of the American south, led to the stadium receiving the nickname of the "Launching Pad". Aaron would abandon his style of hitting and begin to concentrate on pulling the ball. Year after year, the home runs would just keep coming.

Listen Black Boy, We don't want no nigger Babe Ruth.

If you had asked the baseball experts in the early 1960s, Aaron would not have been the man they picked to capture the home run crown. He would sneak up on the entire nation. In 1967, a reporter for the Milwaukee Journal dropped a hint that maybe Aaron was the man who would take Babe Ruth's record. Journalist Furman Busher would say the same thing later in Atlanta, but for baseball fans across the country, Hank Aaron was still operating under the radar. His 500th home run would come in 1968, and Aaron seemed to be at his peak as a power hitter. Nationally, his profile was raised considerably when he got hit number 3,000 during the 1970 season. Still, no one thought Aaron was the man to break the record. After hitting his 600th home run in 1971, people all over the country began waking up to the fact that Aaron was the man.

I hope you don't break the Babe's record. How do I tell my kids that nigger did it?

Through the early 1960s, many baseball fans thought that Mickey Mantle was the man who would break the record. He was the golden child of the New York Yankees and many believe that he was the rightful heir to Babe Ruth's throne. Mantle was a truly great ballplayer who may very well have made a run for the record, but injuries and hard living led to a late career slide in his numbers, and career was over by 1968. Attention would then turn to the amazing Willie Mays. Mays was baseball's number one showman and he may very well be the best all-around player the game has ever seen. His numbers began to fall in 1967 and would never really recover. He would make it to 660 home runs but his body simply couldn't go anymore.

You can hit all dem home runs over dem short fences, but you can't take dat black off yo face.

There's little doubt that Mantle and Mays would have been treated better if they had made the run at Babe Ruth. Mantle was white, popular and a Yankee and would have been embraced with open arms by baseball fans all over the country. Willie Mays was also popular enough that he would have avoided much of the trauma that Aaron faced. Mays was always more acceptable to the white masses than Aaron thanks to his outsized personality. He would have encountered some racist resentment, especially in the southeast, but it's doubtful that Mays would have faced the same level of vitriol as Hank Aaron.

How about some sickle cell anemia, Hank?

Despite the best efforts of Mantle and Mays, if anyone was going to break the Babe's record, it would be Aaron. He had become, almost despite himself, a celebrity. The 1973 season would not be an easy one for Aaron. Despite his home run chase, the crowds in Atlanta were sparse for most of the season, and would stay that way until Aaron closed in on Ruth. (The Braves would draw their smallest crowd ever on the night Aaron hit his 711th home run.) Despite the relative indifference the home run race received in Atlanta, the rest of the country was stoked. Aaron would receive standing ovations night after night across the country. The problem was the few who didn't want to see the record broken.

I hate you!!!! Your such a little creap! I hate you and your family. I'D LIKE TO KILL YOU!! BANG BANG YOUR DEAD.

Aaron faced the usual racism that season, including an altercation with a group of white fans in May, but it was nothing compared to the hate mail. Letter after letter would arrive in the Aaron mailbox. Much of it was just garden variety hate, but it would occasionally cross the line into threats. The F.B.I. would begin to investigate much of his mail. There were even rumors of a kidnapping plot against his daughter. The treatment was outrageous, but it didn't cause Aaron to cower. He was scared of course, any sane man would be, but he turned the fear and the anger into determination. The best way, Aaron decided, to get back at the hatemongers was to claim the record for himself and for his race.

You black animal, I hope you never live long enough to hit more home runs than the great Babe Ruth.

As the season went on, stories were written in newspapers across the country about the hate mail. Many people were moved to write Aaron letters of support. Opposing teams would even put messages of support on their scoreboards. Aaron was moved by the support, and it would bolster his spirit. In the last series of the season, at home in Atlanta, he would close to within one home run of the Babe. When Aaron trotted out to left field after failing to tie the record in his last at-bat of the season, something special happened. The Atlanta fans, which had packed the stadium 40,000 strong hoping to see Aaron tie the record, began a spontaneous outpouring of gratitude towards Aaron. The cheering would last five minutes.

I hope lightning will strike you before next season.

Aaron was determined the end the chase as quickly as possible during the 1974 season. He tied the record during the first game of the season in Cincinnati. He would break it during the fourth inning in the first home game in Atlanta. An African-American man, Hank Aaron, would receive an impressive, sustained ovation by a mostly white crowd in the south for breaking the most hallowed record in the history of the game. I can't speak as to whether the struggles and the abuse were worth the outcome, but Hank Aaron's 715th home run was a landmark for the game of baseball and it was a landmark for race relations in our country. There isn't a baseball fan alive who doesn't get goose-bumps listening to Vin Scully's call of the historic home run for the Dodgers. Hopefully, there isn't a human being alive who isn't disgusted by much Aaron's treatment in the race for the record.

I am confident that a man of your caliber will instill in others the spirit and love that you have given to major league baseball. My heart and feelings are with you and your kind friendship will mean more to me than any other person in life. Proud to be your friend. -Ernie Banks

The quotes throughout this post are from actual letters received by Hank Aaron.

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.

Previous entries in this series: Introduction, The Negro Leagues, Even in Wisconsin, Integrating the Sally League, Major League Rookie, A Natural Hitter?, Atlanta

8 World Health Care Rankings (Recap)

This series of eight charts has accomplished something rather simple ... it has shown that our health care system in the United States is broken. Despite spending more on health care than any country in the world, we are less healthy. We are more likely to die young. Our babies are more likely to die. We are more obese. Our teenagers are more likely to get pregnant.

Let's not pretend that our system isn't broken. Let's not pretend that we have the best health care system in the world. We do not and the proof is in the numbers. We need universal health care and we need it now.

1. Adult Mortality Rate
2. Healthy Life Expectancy
3. Infant Mortality Rate
4. Adult Obesity
5. Adolescent Fertility Rate
6. Maternal Mortality Rate
7. Total Health Expenditures
8. Private Health Expenditures

Atlanta

8 Times Hank Aaron Faced Racism #6

When the Braves first moved to Milwaukee, they drew record crowds. The crowds would stay strong throughout the 1950s, but they would drop off as the years wore own. During the 1957 season, when the Braves captured their only world championship in Milwaukee, they drew 2.2 million people. In their last year in Milwaukee, 1965, they only drew 550,000. The team's new ownership decided that they would like to try their luck in a new market. With no major league team in the south, they decided Atlanta, home of the Braves' AAA team, would be a good choice.

Hank Aaron was apprehensive about the move from the moment it was announced. He had enjoyed his time in Milwaukee immensely, and loved the fans there as much as they loved him. Since he had grown up in Mobile, he was also unsure about moving back to the segregated south. Sure, Atlanta was among the most progressive cities in the south, but it was still far behind Milwaukee in the area of racial understanding.

Although Aaron was thrilled to find a vibrant and successful African-American community upon his arrival in Atlanta, he also faced a racial backlash from day one. He began receiving a hate letter or two almost every day in the mail. His wife had an incident with a security guard at a gate by the stadium that led to charges against her. (The charges were dropped when the racial overtones of the situation became known.) Some of the redneck fans would yell "nigger" and "jigaboo" at him nightly.

Aaron would also become more vocal in his criticism of the practices employed by most of the big league teams. In his last year in Milwaukee, Aaron had decried the lack of black managers in the game for an article in Sport magazine. In the first year in Atlanta, he launched a full fledged rant against the rulers of the game in Jet magazine. Aaron would let loose with a laundry list of the ways minority players were discriminated against, including salary discrepancies, the lack of African-American managers and a near total absence of minorities in the front office. There would be the predictable backlash from many of the white redneck fans, who would accuse him of not being sufficiently grateful for his position.

Still, Aaron would persevere and he would become a hero to many in Atlanta. It was during his time in Atlanta that he would finally become the nationwide star that his talent demanded. As the careers of his contemporaries, like Willie Mays and Ernie Banks, slowed down, Aaron would maintain his remarkable consistency at the plate. It was while playing in Atlanta that Hank Aaron wouldn't just become known as one of the best players in the game now, but as one of the best of all-time.

The move to Atlanta also landed him in the middle of an activist minority community where he would become more vocal than ever on racial issues. He realized that with his popularity as a Major League Baseball player, he was in a position to accomplish much good. He felt a responsibility to his fellow African-American players and he was happy to shoulder the burden. To his immense credit, many believe that Aaron helped usher in a new level of racial understanding in the Atlanta area. These were remarkable accomplishments from a remarkable man.

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.

Previous entries in this series: Introduction, The Negro Leagues, Even in Wisconsin, Integrating the Sally League, Major League Rookie, A Natural Hitter?

Tondee's Tavern

8 Blogs Flying Beneath the Radar #3

http://www.tondeestavern.com/

A liberal living in the state of Georgia is typically lonely. Oh, there are plenty of us, but most of us have gone underground. If you are white and live in the suburbs or more rural areas, you are expected to be embarrassed if you are liberal. If you aren't, you are then expected to, at the very least, keep quiet. You might look at polls and think that 4 out of every 10 neighbors are Democrats, but that doesn't jive with what you see ... what you witness when you are out and about.

During the November election, you see 30 McCain signs for every Obama sign. You visit your local home supply store and hear the old white men bitching about those "liberal communists". You see the Confederate flag flying from houses and trucks everywhere you go. Where you don't see the flag, you see bumper stickers at the very least. Still, on an intellectual level, you know there have to be liberals in white Georgia. You know there have to be progressives in the Atlanta suburbs. You know that there have to be Democrats in rural areas.

Tondee's Tavern is the proof. The Tavern isn't just the best of the Georgia state blogs, it is a full fledged community. For Georgia political news, there is no better site in existence. Best of all, they now host Amy Morton's terrific Georgia Women Vote blog.

If you want to keep up to date with the political scene in Georgia, you must visit the Tavern. If you are just looking for the realities faced by progressives in a red state, you must visit the Tavern. If you are looking for a window into the mind of southern progressives, you must visit the Tavern.

Inflation Rate

8 Important Economic Statistics #4

Definition

The government, with the help of some really smart economists, has defined a "basket of goods" typically purchased by a run-of-the-mill urban consumer. The basket consists of, quite literally, thousands of different items. Government economists track the prices of these goods and compiles a statistic known as the Consumer Price Index (CPI). When the CPI increases, this is known as inflation. Conversely, a decrease in CPI is called deflation. The inflation rate is the change in CPI represented as a percentage. 

The Problem with Inflation

Inflation is an increase in prices, but the best way to think of inflation is as a decrease in the purchasing power of the dollar. If inflation rises rapidly, people will rush to spend their money quickly before their purchasing power declines even further. Inflation will distort investment returns and taxes. Unchecked inflation can have a catastrophic effect on an economy. In order to maintain the purchasing power of a currency, central banks work hard to keep inflation under control by tightening or expanding the supply of money.

The United States

Unlike Germany in the 1920s and Central America towards the end of the 20th century, the US has never experienced a period of hyperinflation. (A rapid increase in the inflation rate where inflation appears to be out of control.) Our worst period for inflation was the period from 1973 to 1981 which saw four years of double digit increases in the inflation rate (including an inflation rate of a whopping 13.58 in 1980). The inflation rate in 2008 was 3.85% which is slightly higher than what economists would like to see (2%).

Further Reading

• Naked Economics
• Investopedia
• Wikipedia
• Misery Index

Previous Entries in this Series: GDP, Unemployment Rate, Poverty Rate

Private Health Expenditures

8 World Health Care Rankings #8

Update: I just noticed that I misspelled expenditures! I'm too lazy to correct the graphics, but I have corrected the title to the post.

Majikthise

8 Blogs Flying Beneath the Radar #2

http://majikthise.typepad.com/

Majikthise is one of the philosophers from Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which easily ranks as one of my favorite novels ever. When I saw mention of a blog named Majikthise at James Wolcott's blog, I think it may have become one of my favorites before I had even clicked the link. Fortunately, after I did, it remained one of my favorites for a different reason.

When I first visited Majikthise, Lindsay Beyerstein, the blogger behind Majikthise, was in New Orleans chronicling the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Her photography and words were among the best coverage we had of the disaster. There's little doubt that the 10 days she spent in New Orleans in September 2005 left a mark on her, and there's even less doubt that her remarkable coverage left a mark on all who read it. (She would visit New Orleans again for the anniversary of Katrina and her photographs from that visit are the best I've seen from her.)

The site is a hodge podge, but it's a good hodge podge. It's a mixture of liberal politics, investigative reporting, photography, and movie reviews. Lindsay's career seems to be taking off as she now blogs for the UN Dispatch and Alternet. She also works with the blogger advance team for The Washington Post's PostGlobal blog. Her photography has been published throughout the world.

I promise you, if you add a bookmark for Majikthise, or if you subscribe in your RSS reader, you won't regret it.

Poverty Rate

8 Important Economic Statistics #3

Definition

At its most basic, poverty is a lack of sufficient resources. The amount of resources needed to stay out of poverty is subject of debate, but it is generally defined by a society and the values embraced by that society. In the United States, we have set an income level that is known as the poverty line. A single person who earns less than 11, 201 a year was considered to be living in poverty in 2008. The percentage of people who live under the poverty line is the poverty rate.  

Problems with the Statistic

The united states poverty rate is understated for a number of reasons. The number does not take into account the different income levels needed to live in different parts of the country. (It costs more to live in California than Nebraska for instance.) The "basket of goods" used to determine the poverty line has not been updated in 50 years. (The prices are indexed for inflation, but the goods themselves have not been altered.) 

The United States

In 2007, 12.5% of all Americans lived in poverty. This is 37.3 million people. With the current economic crisis in full swing, it is expected that the 2008 and 2009 numbers will decline further. (When George W. Bush took office, the poverty rate was 11.3%, which is still too high. His administration clearly did not do enough to tackle this problem.)

Like other developed countries, poverty in the United States is cyclical. At some point over every ten year period, 40% of Americans will experience poverty. 

Further Reading

• Naked Economics
• U.S. Census Bureau
• Wikipedia
• Ending Poverty in America: How to Restore the American Dream

Previous Entries in this Series: GDP, Unemployment Rate

Total Health Expenditures

8 World Health Care Rankings #7

A Natural Hitter?

8 Times Hank Aaron Faced Racism #5

One of the most common slurs hurled at African-American athletes is to call them "natural" athletes, while white athletes were portrayed as "thinking" athletes. You saw it in the NBA in the 1980s where Larry Bird was the thinking champion, but Magic Johnson was the natural athlete. You see it in the NFL, especially when talking about quarterbacks. (The single most egregious offense in the NFL is the continued bias against African-American quarterbacks.) You certainly saw it when talking about Hank Aaron the hitter.

Ted Williams is considered the most scientific of hitters, and for good reason. He broke down hitting to a science, as explained in his book, Science of Hitting. Williams broke down everything he believed a hitter needed to do in order to be a successful major league hitter. Williams would dissect the batting stance, how you shift your weight during your swing, and why your swing shouldn't be level. He was held up as the thinking man's hitter.

In the 1950s and the 1960s, the same terms were never used to describe African-American ballplayers. Hank Aaron seemed to face the bias more than anyone. Articles written about Aaron would talk about his strong wrists and the pure strength he used to whip his bat around. One particular article even had a sub-heading saying that "Hank Aaron doesn't go in for 'scientific hitting'". In a way, Aaron was a natural "swinger". He didn't worry too much about the part he played in every at-bat because he had enough confidence in his own ability to swing a bat. Don't believe this means that Hank wasn't a thinking hitter.

Aaron's main preoccupation about hitting concerned the pitchers. He would study them. He knew their release points. He knew which pitches they like to throw and when they were mostly likely to throw them. He would sit up nights thinking about the next day's starting pitcher. From the moment he would wake up every morning, he was thinking about the pitcher he would face in the evening. Aaron and Williams were both "thinking" hitters ... they just thought about different things.

One thing to consider, Aaron was not the only great hitter of the era who was more preoccupied with the pitcher he was facing than the mechanics of his swing. The great Stan Musial was no different. He and Aaron would meet up at the batting cages whenever the Braves would play the Cardinals and discuss hitting. Other players would get near them and keep quiet to try and learn from these two masters. If Aaron was a purely natural hitter, why would these other players be so interested in what he has to say?

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.

Previous entries in this series: Introduction, The Negro Leagues, Even in Wisconsin, Integrating the Sally League, Major League Rookie

Major League Rookie

8 Times Hank Aaron Faced Racism #4

Upon his arrival at the Braves spring training camp in Bradenton, Florida in 1954, the press would tout Hank Aaron as a major prospect. Hank felt like anything but. He spent the Spring fighting the bigoted notion that he was lazy, a label often placed on African-American players. His manager had even nicknamed him "Stepanfetchit" in the papers First baseman Joe Adcock labeled him "Slow Motion Henry". They even misspelled his name on his locker. Aaron didn't believe he had any chance of making the team, but when Bobby Thomson broke his ankle, Hank Aaron was made the team's starting left-fielder. It would be 23 years before he would leave the starting lineup.

After spring training, the Braves and Dodgers would barnstorm their way north playing exhibition games across the south. It was a particular thrill for Hank to play against Jackie Robinson in front of his Dad in Mobile. The African-American players from both teams would spend their evenings in Jackie Robinson's room. Robinson and the other veterans offered advice to the newer players about surviving in the game as African-American players. Hank Aaron said he learned from hanging out with the veteran Dodgers that ...

I could never be just another major-league player. I was a black player, and that meant I would be separate most of the time from most of the players on the team. It meant that I'd better be good, or I'd be gone. It meant that some players and some fans would hate me no matter what I did. 

Life in the majors was a step up for Aaron, but his race presented the usual difficulties. He wasn't allowed to eat in the hotel restaurants with most of his teammates. He had a hard time finding a restaurant that would serve him. Once, Aaron was riding around with a friend of Italian descent in Cincinnati, his friend's wife and her sister when they were pulled over and the police made Aaron get out of the car and told him to get out of town. He hid in the woods and snuck back to his hotel.

As a player, Aaron was solid as a rookie and would improve as the season went on. There was no doubt that he was a major league hitter. His image, however, was that of a backwoods, country boy who wasn't very bright. Much of that image was the result of stories from manager Charlie Grimm, a natural entertainer. Unfortunately for Aaron, it is an image he has spent his entire life attempting to shake. It was hard because, as good as Aaron was, he was never a flashy player like Willie Mays. So he had the deal with the typically stereotyping applied to black players: he was slow and dim-witted and whatever talent he had was just a natural occurrence.

Aaron's rookie season would end in September when he broke his ankle. When he would return to the Braves in 1955, he would establish himself as one of the best players in the league. He'd be one of the best for 20 more years.

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.

Previous entries in this series: Introduction, The Negro Leagues, Even in Wisconsin, Integrating the Sally League

Blue Seeing Red

8 Blogs Flying Beneath the Radar #1

http://abombanation.blogspot.com/

When I first visited GreenSmile's site, I was taken aback. I'm an angry liberal and the description at the top of his blog, "We went wrong when we accepted that anger is a source of power" turned me off a bit. On the other hand, the content turned me on.

GreenSmile doesn't post often, but everything he posts is worth reading. Oh, and he is angry. He's angry about the AIG bailout. He's angry at the Republicans. He was angry about George W. Bush. I like anger. Anger speaks to me.

Additionally, I find myself envious of him. He has a tremendous grasp on economic issues, where, as you can tell from this blog, I'm still getting my head wrapped around the basics. He has the gift for a great turn of phrase ... the kind you remember days after reading a post. Best of all though, he's just one hell of a writer, which also leaves me green with envy. He conveys economic truths without resorting to confusing jargon, while simultaneously making sure the post is entertaining. Good stuff.

Maternal Mortality Rate

8 World Health Care Rankings #6

Unemployment Rate

8 Important Economic Statistics #2

Definition

An unemployed individual is someone who wants to work, is capable of working, and is actively seeking work. The unemployment rate is the percentage of unemployed workers in the total labor force. Economist Arthur Okun studied unemployment data and GDP from 1930 through 1980 and observed that rises in GDP are directly related to a lowering of the unemployment rate. In other words, in a growing economy, the unemployment rate falls. In a stagnating or recession economy, the unemployment rate will rise.

Problems with the Statistic

The unemployment rate in an imperfect statistic and does not accurately reflect the state of the workforce. The rate does not include those individuals who have given up looking for work. It does not account for those that have had to accept lower paying jobs. There is no accounting for part time employees who would prefer full time work but can't find it. The rate doesn't account for those who have accepted contract positions but would prefer a permanent position. There's no denying that a lower unemployment rate indicates a stronger economy, but the rate itself is an imperfect measurement.

The United States

We are in the midst of a major economic recession. Naturally the unemployment rate has fallen. In an April 3rd article on the MSN Money site, it was reported that the unemployment rate is 8.5% which would be the worse since the recession of the early 1980s. Worse yet, when the people who are in the circumstances mentioned in the problems section above are counted, the rate balloon even further. In other words, the real unemployment rate might be as high as 15.6%. I don't know about you, but I find that number shocking.

Further Reading

• Naked Economics
  
• Wikipedia
• CNNMoney.com
• EconEdLink

Previous Entries in this Series: GDP

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

8 Important Economic Statistics #1

Definition

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the market value of all goods and services produced by a nation in a given year. It is calculated by adding all spending (government, consumer, and investment) and exports and subtracting the value of imports. For GDP to have any real value as a statistic, it has to be adjusted for inflation. (If GDP grows 5% one year, but inflation is also 5%, no real growth has taken place.) 

Usage

GDP is the statistic used by economists to determine if the economy is growing from year to year. Two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth is called a recession. 

GDP per capita (a country's GDP divided by the population of the country) is often used to determine a nation's standard of living, but there are limitations. There are items that GDP does not take into account, such as income inequality, black market transactions and bartering. All of these provide value and could either increase or reduce an individuals standard of living, but they cannot be measured.

The United States

According to the CIA The World Factbook,  the United States ranked 10th in the world by the measurement of per capita GDP in 2008. Most of the countries ahead of the United States are small, rich countries such as Liechtenstein and Qatar. The United States ranks well ahead of all their so-called western neighbors such as the European Union and Canada.

Further Reading

• Naked Economics
• Investopedia
• Wikipedia
• About.com
• EconEdLink

An Introduction

8 Blogs Flying Beneath the Radar (Intro)

This blog is sort of a record of my search for knowledge. I'm out there reading anything I can get my hands on. I scan through multiple Google listings everyday looking for education. Is it taking? Am I getting smarter? Do I feel better informed? Some days I think so. The primary reason why is because nothing ... and I do mean nothing ... educates me more than the blogs I read.

I need to build out my blog rolls and I'm going to start with eight blogs that fly underneath the radar. Now, these blogs are read far more often than say ... I don't know ... this one. If you are overly familiar with the liberal blogosphere, then you'll know them. Still, they haven't achieved the notoriety of the "big boys" like Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo or Eschaton.

No matter. In terms of sheer excellence of content, or in terms of pure entertainment value, they are as good as any site on the net. These are my favorite blogs.

Integrating the Sally League

8 Times Hank Aaron Faced Racism #3

Since Major League Baseball didn't extend any further south than Cincinnati, St. Louis and Washington DC at the time, the south had become a hot bed for minor league baseball. As a sign of the times, the southern minor leagues would fight integration tooth and nail. Many teams played in cities with laws that explicitly prohibited mixed race play. Teams would refuse the assignments of African-American players from their big league counterparts. One league even attempted to ban an entire franchise for willingly fielding African-American players.

The Braves sent Hank Aaron to their minor league boot camp in Waycross, Georgia. Here, the players lived in integrated barracks, not unlike the Army. Occasionally, there would be a bus to take players into town so that they could run errands and do laundry. On one occasion, Aaron missed the bus back to the barracks and had to return on foot. It was a long walk in the dark and it proved to be a harrowing experience upon his return. There was a fence to get on the grounds and then a long road to the barracks. Aaron decided it would be easier to cut through the woods. When he came out of the woods, a security guard spotted him and began shooting. Fortunately, he would make it into the barracks without getting shot.

Aaron was assigned to the Braves Jacksonville team coming out of camp where he would play for a manager named Ben Geraghty. Aaron, along with his teammates Horace Garner and Felix Mantilla were going to be integrating the South Atlantic League (along with two players on the Savannah ball club). Their manager wanted them on his team, but he also wanted them to know what they would be up against. During the season, he would make a point of visiting them wherever they were staying and would often eat with them when they couldn't eat with the rest of the team. They knew it wouldn't be easy, but the young players were glad to know their manager was on their side.

It wouldn't be easy. They knew that they weren't just playing for themselves. They were setting the stage for other players of their race to join the league down the road. They were expected to hold their tongues no matter what was screamed at them. They were expected to keep their cool if pitchers on opposing teams through at them. They were expected to be saints in a world of sinners.

At ballparks all over the South, the Jacksonville team was drawing large crowds. The "black section" in each park was full to cheer the African-American players, and the white sections were full just to see the spectacle. This could have led to a disaster. After being hit by a pitch in Macon, Mantilla started to rush the mound but was quickly restrained by teammates. First white fans began spilling onto the field in anger, followed by the African-American fans. If not for the police, it is conceivable that a race riot would have taken place.

Aaron, Mantilla and Garner would suffer indignities at every turn. The fans would throw rocks at them. They were insulted with every racist slur known to man. White fans would throw black cats on the field. Aaron was chased through the streets of Phenix City, Alabama by a group of white guys. Even worse, they would receive death threats, often threatening to shoot them from the stands. At not point could they relax at the ballpark. Their only possible revenge was to play the game well and that they did.

Aaron would be selected to play in the leagues All-Star Game. Rumor had it that Georgia Governor Herman Talmadge was going to block him from playing. Aaron would be spiked in the last game before the All-Star Game and it became a moot point. No black player would make the All-Star team that year. Still, Aaron would lead his team into the playoffs. (One white fan would greet the team after they clinched their spot in the playoffs with "I just wanted to let you niggers know you played a helluva game."

When it was over, Aaron knew he was a survivor. He had taken everything that could be thrown at him and thrived as a ballplayer. He saw that he and his teammates has slowly won over many of the fans in the league across the season. It has been said that Aaron might have been the catalyst for Jacksonville to become a more racially tolerant city. "I'm not sire I've ever done anything more important" was Aaron's response.

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.

Previous entries in this series: Introduction, The Negro Leagues, Even in Wisconsin

Adolescent Fertility Rate

8 World Health Care Rankings #5