Hank Aaron     

Hank aaron was born in 1934 when he was a Kid he wanted to be a BaseBall player. But evryone said that he wouldent make it Because he was Black. But even when they said that he said I will Still folow my dream.but e had no wear to play baseball so he use to play with a brome stick and a bunch of cloths. there were no baseball fields but there was but all of them said WHITES ONLY!      

Listen to AN INTERVIEW  WITH HANK AARON           

Have you ever seen Hank’s bat in the baseball hall of fame? Or his world record of most homeruns? He broke Babe Ruth’s record. But not everyone believed that he could be a baseball player.

Henry (Hank) was born on February 5, 1934. Hank grew up in a poor area of Alabama. When Hank was little he used to play baseball with wadded up clothes for the ball, a broom stick for a bat. He would play in his front yard. There were fields but they all said WHITES ONLY! Hank thought that was wrong, but he couldn’t do anything about it. But then they opened a field that said COLORED ONLY! He used to play there with his friends until the sun would go down. He was the best player out of all of his friends even though he batted wrong. He batted left hand over right hand even though he was righty.

          When Hank was growing up, he had many different jobs. He mowed and delivered ice. After work, he would go home and listen to Jackie Robinson play baseball on the radio. While listening, Hank would dream of becoming a major league baseball player like Jackie. Hank went to games with his dad and watched Jackie Robinson play too. He knew that baseball was what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. One time Hank was playing baseball with his friends and a coach walked up to him, and wanted him to be on his team in the Negro Leagues. He thought Hank had potential. Hank was so excited that he might have a shot at becoming a professional baseball player. He first played for the Indianapolis Clowns, even though they weren’t even from Indianapolis. Henry’s parents weren’t the best fans of him playing baseball. His mom and dad wanted him to go to college and get a job. Henry had to drop out of school to play, but then they let him.

          As an adult, Hank married Mrs. Barbara Aaron. Together they had six kids. Their names were Larry, Henry Jr., Gail, Dorinda, and also Gary (Larry’s twin). But Gary died two days after birth.

          Hank Aaron was now on the Braves as #44. Hank was good, but he still needed to learn how to hold the bat correctly. One game, he switched his hands and got a homerun. When his teammate, Bobby Thomas, broke his leg, Hank was there. Hank got three outs playing Thomas’ position that day. Hank lost his protective helmet when ducking from a close pitch. It happened in 1969 during the Braves versus the Mets playoff series. But the Mets won each game. One game Hank reached 713 homeruns. The record was 714 though, so he needed two homeruns to break the record. He got one homerun that game to tie. Even though you would think everyone would be excited for him to break the record, this was not the case. There was still a lot of racial tension between whites and blacks. Some people sent mail to Aaron encouraging him to beat Babe’s record. However, other people threatened him and were disgusted that a black would beat the sacred record. But Hank kept following his dreams, no matter what anyone said. The next game he said his eye was on the ball. He hit the ball. It was a homerun! Skyrockets shot in the air and his family ran to him to congratulate him.

          Hank continued to play with the Braves, and played very well. At the end of 1974, he added 20 more homeruns to his record. After that season, he went back to Milwaukee so that he could play baseball where he first started as a young boy.

          Hank retired in 1976 and then worked with the major leagues to help hire minorities. He also was inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982. He wrote an autobiography called, I Had a Hammer as well. In addition, he was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2002.

 Hirshberg,AL. Henry Aaron. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1969