Hank Aaron

As I saw it almost 47 yrs. ago, seated on the couch at 8497 Sunset Blvd. 'Cept in monochrome on a 12" screen.As a non-baseball fan saw Hank.

A few days before he tied the old record, I found myself in a bar — a very rare occurrence — where someone whose purchases there were making up for my abstinence and that of about ten other folks. This very loud, very drunk person was holding forth on how Mr. Aaron should "know his place." That term was only uttered about eighty times, which was a few less than the accompanying "N-word." 

Apparently, Aaron's "place" was to not play to the best of his ability…an odd position for the bombed bigot who also announced that he always bet serious money on the Braves. You'd have thought he'd have liked the concept of a Braves batter belting one over the left field fence or wherever he Aaron that one. But no. Only if that Braves batter had been a white guy. It made about as much sense as that kind of hatred ever does. 

I never saw Hank Aaron play and I know very little else about his career other than that it was long and that The Babe's wasn't the only record that got shattered. But merely based on how mad he must have made that guy in the bar when he did beat Ruth's record, I liked Mr. Henry Aaron a lot.