I am a third-generation baseball player. My grandfather, Robert McInnis, was an outfielder and catcher who barnstormed with Negro League players. To be clear, my grandfather never played in the Negro Leagues. But, when Negro Leaguers would play exhibition games across the South to generate publicity and extra money for themselves, my grandfather was one of the local players who often played against them. The film, The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings, starring Billy Dee Williams, James Earl Jones, and Richard Pryor, gives a good idea of that black sports culture and it’s an excellent movie. My Pops was a highly touted pitching prospect whose career was cut short by a back injury. Unlike them, I was a mediocre three-sport athlete, emphasis on mediocre. However, I was offered a couple of baseball scholarships that I foolishly rejected to try out at Jackson State University whose team was coached by the legendary Robert “Bob” Brady because, at that time, JSU was still regularly sending players to the pros. Yet, I was cut my freshman year, ending our family baseball legacy. So baseball is in my blood more than any other sport. Even today, when I smell the first freshly cut lawn of spring, my mind immediately explodes with visions of baseball diamonds as my hands become itchy for either a bat to swing or a glove to go shag a few. Then, I remember that I’m old and mediocre, and I go sit my old behind down somewhere.
So, y’all can imagine my emotions at the passing of Henry “Hank” Aaron. Aaron retired in 1976 when I was six-years-old and well knowledgeable of him. He is most known for breaking Babe Ruth’s record of 714 home runs. But, Aaron was the epitome of consistent excellence. He hit twenty-four or more home runs every year from 1955 through 1973 and is one of only two players to hit thirty or more home runs in a season at least fifteen times. Aaron holds the record for the most All-Star selections with twenty-five while sharing the record for most All-Star Games played (twenty-four) with Willie Mays AKA “The Say Hey Kid” and Stan “The Man” Musial. More than just a great hitter, Aaron was a three-time Gold Glove winner for being the best defender at his position. And even after retiring in 1976, he still holds three MLB records: most career runs batted in (RBIs) (2,297), extra-base hits (1,477), and total bases (6,856). Yet, the stat that most impresses me is that Aaron hit 755 home runs with a total of 3,771 hits for a lifetime .305 batting average. That is the type of well-rounded, complete hitter that was rarely seen in the past and is no longer seen now. Today, players either hit home runs, or they hit for average. But, nobody hits home runs while having a high average. Hank Aaron was a unicorn who is too often reduced to being the big black buck who simply hit the ball a long way. But more than all of his stats, Aaron became the symbol of grace and power under oppression.
During the season that he was about to break Ruth’s home run record, the US Postal Service has estimated that he received more mail than any person in the US, with most of it being hate mail from white folks angry that he was about to break a damn baseball record. Baseball was once “America’s Pastime.” Thus, y’all can imagine the ire of most white folks at this black man on the verge of becoming the most accomplished player of America’s most popular sport. Aaron received so much hate mail that the FBI had to appoint a security detail to his then college-aged daughter. The nerve of that Negro to hit too many balls over a fence, especially a white ball thrown mainly by white hands! And, y’all wonder why I wasn’t surprised by the events of January 6, 2021. But, to his credit, Aaron somehow managed to keep his cool without being seen as weak or pandering to white folks. Maybe his militancy came down to hitting that ball a long damn way. Or, maybe his militancy was implicit in all of the Civil Rights campaigns to which he provided his name and money though he rarely spoke. Or, maybe his militancy was seen in his refusal to ever appear scared, anxious, or bothered by anything that was said or done to him. As baseball legend and Hall of Famer Joe Morgan once stated, “Today, people know him has ‘Hank’ Aaron, but when he played he was known as ‘Hammering Hank’ because he hit the ball harder than anybody had ever hit it before.” And, as my Pops once said, “Son, white boys tried Jackie Robinson, and Jackie whipped their asses. But, not one white boy was fool enough to even try Hank.” Even when he became an old man, I thought it would have been foolish for anyone to “try” Hammering Hank. There was just something about the strength of his presence that resonated. He was always above the petty and foolish games of life while never being afraid to face anything. As a man who began his career in the Negro Leagues and finished it on top of MLB, Aaron was one more blueprint that I could use to become a well-rounded human being because his life showed what he did off the diamond was even more important than what he did on it. RIP Mr. Aaron. Your legacy will remain a lighthouse for many others, guiding them to transcend their professions and proving that greatness means that life is better after you than it was before.