The Hammer gets screwed again

This week's Sports Illustrated features a most-deserving cover subject: Hank Aaron. Partly because of where he played (Milwaukee and Atlanta) and partly because he wasn't flashy, the Hammer was grossly underrated throughout his career and since its completion.

Within the SI article, Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson crowns Aaron "the people's home run king." Well said. As Barry Bonds is on the verge of breaking Aaron's all-time homer record (a feat he may well accomplish against either Milwaukee or the Braves, San Francisco's next two opponents), now is the ideal time to celebrate the game's greatest-living player. No disrespect to Willie Mays, or Stan Musial, but SI scribe Tom Verducci includes a stat about Aaron that makes the case:

Aaron was such a masterly hitter that he would have passed 3,000 hits even if he had never hit a home run. Pick any star who ever played the game and give him 180 additional homers, and Aaron still would have more total bases.

For those who don't follow baseball closely, 3,000 hits is a hallowed mark in the game, one that has certified Hall of Fame membership to all who've reached it (save for Pete Rose). Total bases are calculated thusly: one base for a single, two for a double, and so on. When you leave the likes of Babe Ruth and Ted WIlliams in the dust, you merit recognition as the greatest.

More importantly, Aaron was a model of class, a player who, as Verducci writes, "did as much for the racial integration of the sport as any man who followed Jackie Robinson."

The sublime Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully said it best in his call of Aaron's 715th home run: "A black man is getting a standing ovation in the Deep South for breaking the record of an alltime baseball idol."

I'm not big on heroes, but Hank is mine, even if his career concluded before I came of age. While his greatness may be overlooked, no one's more revered in the sport I love, or in the city I call home. Those who dare criticize him for choosing not to watch Bonds -- a cheater and an asshole -- break his record better not speak those words in my presence. Face, meet spit.

Cheers to SI for recognizing Aaron's brilliance as we endure Bonds' trek towards immortality, er, infamy. The Hammer might've even gotten a mention on ESPN -- perhaps even a shout out on local sports talk radio -- had it not been for a certain quarterback who plays in Aaron's adopted hometown.

Michael Vick is everything Hank was not. He's also innocent until proven guilty, although that shouldn't prevent the Falcons from suspending him until he clears his name (don't hold your breath). Imagine what would happen if you were accused of such atrocities? I wouldn't count on paid leave.

Astonishingly, some consider that unfair, but how can anyone pity Vick, a multimillionaire who's been coddled at every turn, regardless of his behavior? It's not a black thing, nor a ghetto thing; many athletes have followed Vick's path -- from the projects to stardom -- and they lead dignified, admirable lives.

Men such as Hank Aaron:

While he was born in a section of town referred to as "Down the Bay," he spent most of his youth in Toulminville. Aaron grew up poor and his family couldn't afford baseball equipment so he had to hit bottle caps with sticks.

Worse, he grew up in the segregated South, where his career took off despite a steady diet of vitriol.

In 1953, at age 19, only one year removed from hitting cross-handed for the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro leagues, he was one of five players thrust into the integration of the Class A South Atlantic League, in the heart of Dixie. (The major leagues, which Robinson had integrated six years earlier, still played no farther south than St. Louis and Cincinnati.) Aaron could not eat in the same restaurants, sleep in the same hotels or drink from the same fountains as his white teammates. Fans heaped racially charged insults at the teenager. A white teammate, Joe Andrews, bat in hand, would escort him out of the ballpark after games. And lo, Aaron hit .362 and was named the league's MVP.

Dixie was still awakening from its racist fog some two decades later as Aaron approached the Babe's record. For nearly a year, Aaron endured countless death threats and a torrent of hate mail. He was afforded around the clock police protection. SI recorded the period thusly:

Is this to be the year in which Aaron, at the age of thirty-nine, takes a moon walk above one of the most hallowed individual records in American sport...? Or will it be remembered as the season in which Aaron, the most dignified of athletes, was besieged with hate mail and trapped by the cobwebs and goblins that lurk in baseball's attic?

The shame about Bonds is that he's the greatest player I've ever seen. In his prime he had no flaws, at the plate or in the field. Without steroids, he still would've ranked among the pantheon of baseball greats. I could overlook the sour personality -- Joe DiMaggio was a prickly control freak, and Ty Cobb was a racist thug (term advisedly used). But neither cheated. Nor did Pete Rose.   

I may be rambling, but Hank deserves the ink. Even Bonds deserves a little -- he's one of hundereds who juiced while baseball looked the other way. If he wasn't breaking Aaron's record, I wouldn't care if hit 1,000 homers.

Unfortunately, Vick is going to receive more attention than both. Hank's been there, done that (appearing on only three SI covers.) While he's demonstrated some justifiable bitterness over the years, I think Aaron has found comfort in the shadows. He deserves the peace, and the eternal respect of every American, whether you care about sports or not.      

Comments

[james]

man, this was one of the best personal sports testaments i have read in a while.

good job.

[altmalcontent]

Thanks man -- you couldn't ask for a better inspriation.

[CatherineAtlanta]

Nicely done. I just hope that the stats will always show a asterisk by Bonds.

[Thomas]

Dusty Baker Remembers Hank's 715th (http://youtube.com/watch?v=lZF529oHmTU).

[Thomas]

Dang. That extra ")" on the end shouldn't be there.

[Seth]

I got to meet Hank a couple of years ago at Rubye Lucas' retirement party. He was extremely kind and genial and it was a true honor and pleasure to chat with him and shake his hand.

I recounted to him a story my dad told me about seeing Hank in the Milwaukee airport in the early 70's that speaks volumes about the man. Basically, he got stopped by a big group of kids asking for autographs and obliged them all.

Hank seemed very pleased to hear me tell my dad's story and thanked me for telling him.

THAT (his actions in the 70's not my storytelling) is how professional athletes should be expected to act, especially the biggest of stars.