I grew up in Milwaukee. I saw Hank Aaron play for the Milwaukee Brewers at the old County Stadium. It was a huge honor to have Hammerin’ Hank play for us and I ate more O’Henry candy bars than any kid alive. As bad as my memory is, one thing I will never forget is watching Aaron beat Babe Ruth’s home run record on TV.
My God, what a moment.
Hank Aaron is a hero of mine and not because of anything mentioned above – I have never been much of a baseball fan — but for the same reason I idolize Jackie Robinson: because of the extraordinary grace he showed under intense and appalling racism. Not just as an athlete but as a man.
When I read a couple weeks back that Aaron showed a streak of his own appalling racism by comparing those who oppose Barack Obama to the KKK… Damn.
Hank now says he didn’t mean it.
He meant something else.
I’m going to take his word for it.
The worlds seems right again.
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