John Whitehead's Commentary

When I was in a ballpark, I felt...like I was surrounded by angels and I had God's hand on my shoulder.--Hank Aaron

My father was a rabid St. Louis Cardinals fan and listened to virtually all their games on the radio from our home in Peoria, Illinois. Occasionally, we would drive the three hours to St. Louis to see his heroes in person. On one of the trips, the Milwaukee Braves were playing the Cardinals. And I, like my Dad, was a Cardinals fan. But as fate would have it, I left the park that day a Hank Aaron and Eddie Mathews fan.

The most remarkable memory from that trip was not the game itself. It was the Braves' pre-game batting practice, and I watched as Aaron and teammate Mathews smashed one pitch after another over the fences. I had never seen ballplayers hit the ball so hard--and I haven't since.

Mathews was a great player. Soon, however, age caught up with him--but not before he and Aaron combined to hit the most homers as teammates. And Aaron and Mathews are the only teammates to hit 400 homers each as teammates.

However, while Eddie slowed, Hank kept smashing the baseball and went on to set numerous records. But no feat would match Aaron's historic assault on Babe Ruth's career homerun record of 714, climaxing this week 30 years ago.

Who would have guessed that this shy kid from Alabama would change history--especially in light of the racial tensions of the day? In 1952, Hank quit high school to join the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro American League. His talent was apparent to the baseball scouts. In fact, after a brief stay as the Clowns' shortstop, Hank was sold to the Braves for $10,000. After excelling in the Braves' farm system for several years, Aaron joined the Braves in Milwaukee.

The year was 1954, and it didn't look like the 20-year-old Aaron would make the team. But then one of the starting outfielders broke an ankle, and Hank was tapped to replace him. From there, Aaron never looked back. In 1955, he battled .314 with 27 homers and 106 RBIs. The next season, Hank won his first of two National League batting titles.

In 1957, Aaron hit a National League-leading 44 homers, while driving in 132 RBIs and batting .322. And to cap off the season, he hit an 11th inning homer late in the season to clinch the pennant for the Braves. Aaron won the MVP that year, and the Braves went on to win the World Series.

Year after year, Aaron proved his hitting and fielding prowess. And although he was 6 feet tall, he was never a heavy man and only reached 190 pounds. The key to Aaron's hitting was his supple, powerful wrists that allowed him to crack his bat like a buggy whip. Aaron credits hauling ice as a 16-year-old for developing his wrists, working from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. for $2.25 a day.

Despite his heroics, Aaron was not normally an excitable sort. One observer remarked that Hank seemed to be looking for a place to sit down when he approached the batter's box. The Hall of Fame pitcher Robin Roberts once remarked that Aaron was the only batter he knew who "could fall asleep between pitches and still wake up in time to hit the next one."

Maybe it was Hank's laid-back style that allowed him to creep up on Babe Ruth's homerun record before anyone knew it. Indeed, the chase to beat Babe Ruth only heated up in the summer of 1973. But unfortunately, so did the hate that simmered beneath society's surface. Much of it came by way of the mailman, with Aaron receiving an estimated 3,000 letters a day, more than any American outside of politics. Sadly, racists did much of the writing. Here's a sample:


Dear Nigger Henry,

You are (not) going to break the record established by the great Babe Ruth if I can help it. Whites are far more superior than jungle bunnies. My gun is watching your every black move.


As the mail rolled in, it was more hateful than Aaron had ever imagined. "This," Aaron said later about the letters, "changed me."

The summer of 1973 ended with Hank at 713 homers--one shy of tying the Babe. He was 39 years old.

In his first at bat in 1974, Aaron homered--tying Ruth. Then on April 8, 1974, the largest crowd in Atlanta Braves history came out to witness the historic moment. Hank didn't disappoint them. With a mean whip of the bat, his first swing of the evening, Aaron sent the ball into the Braves bullpen in left center field--approximately 400 feet from home plate.

The large message board blared "715." Just like that, Hank Aaron had eclipsed the Great Bambino to become the homerun king.

When Aaron rounded third, he broke into a wide grin at the sight of his teammates waiting for him at the plate. With tears in his eyes, Aaron was met at home plate by his mother. Fireworks went off, as the crowd roared for ten minutes. "I just thank God it's all over," said Aaron. He had endured months in the fishbowl of media coverage, death threats and hate mail.

Aaron went on to play the entire game that night. Afterward, ever the model of professionalism and modesty, Aaron told reporters: "The home run wouldn't have meant that much to me if we hadn't won the game."

Hank Aaron played several more years, amassing a career total of 755 homers. But nothing equaled that night in April of 1974 when Hammerin' Hank stepped past Babe Ruth and racial hatred into history.

ABOUT JOHN W. WHITEHEAD

Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. His most recent books are the best-selling Battlefield America: The War on the American People, the award-winning A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, and a debut dystopian fiction novel, The Erik Blair Diaries. Whitehead can be contacted at staff@rutherford.org. Nisha Whitehead is the Executive Director of The Rutherford Institute. Information about The Rutherford Institute is available at www.rutherford.org.

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