The Last Hero

by Howard Bryant

  243 I always wondered: interview with Davey Lopes.

  244 Tom House considers to himself: interview with Tom House.

  245 He showed that it could happen: interview with Mike Marshall.

  246 I was just proud: interview with Cito Gaston.

  247 There were about fifty-five thousand people: interview with Dusty Baker.

  248 My thing was, It’s over with: interview with Jimmy Wynn.

  249 All he said was: interview with Wayne Minshew.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN: MORTAL

  250 The problem is: Hank Aaron, with Lonnie Wheeler, I Had a Hammer: The Hank Aaron Story (New York: HarperCollins, 1992), p. 285.

  251 You have to understand that we looked up to him: interview with Ralph Garr.

  252 With Henry Aaron, it didn’t matter: ibid.

  253 There is no question he lost something: interview with Allan Tanenbaum.

  254 It Won’t Be Hank: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, July 22, 1974.

  255 The way I saw it: Aaron, I Had a Hammer, p. 285.

  256 I think they owe me the courtesy of asking me: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, July 22, 1974.

  257 RHUBARB!: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, July 25, 1974.

  258 like bouncers about to break up a bar fight: interview with Dusty Baker.

  259 Splat!: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, July 26, 1974.

  260 All of Henry’s people: interview with Ralph Garr.

  261 Aaron’s Last Hurrah: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, October 3, 1974.

  262 His mood was flippant following the homer: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, October 3, 1974.

  263 Aaron’s Brilliance Leaves a Memory: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, October 1, 1974.

  264 While Henry was in Tokyo: interview with Wayne Minshew.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN: ACKNOWLEDGMENT

  265 In retrospect, Bill Bartholomay would view Henry’s leaving: interview with Bill Bartholomay.

  266 But Bud Selig spoke to Henry: interview with Bud Selig.

  267 He did not have as much left: ibid.

  268 I know there are a lot of people picking us: Milwaukee Journal, April 1, 1975.

  269 Busing To Integrate? Nope!: Milwaukee Journal, July 2, 1975.

  270 He was significant: interview with Robin Yount.

  271 I knew I was better than a .234 hitter: Hank Aaron, with Lonnie Wheeler, I Had a Hammer: The Hank Aaron Story (New York: HarperCollins, 1992), p. 285.

  272 Without the three-point shot: interview with George Scott.

  273 Only the home run I hit to win the 1957 pennant: Milwaukee Journal, July 12, 1976.

  274 A Singular Exit: Milwaukee Journal, October 4, 1976.

  275 There’s something magical about going back: Aaron, I Had a Hammer, p. 286.

  276 I didn’t think it bothered Hank: interview with George Scott.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN: DRIFT

  277 He was just raging: interview with Joe Klein.

  278 Hate mail and home runs: interview with Henry Aaron.

  279 Bill was farm director when I promoted him: interview with Ted Turner.

  280 We were sitting back in our conference room: interview with Paul Snyder.

  281 He went to spring training: interview with Carolyn Aaron.

  282 Something’s got to be done about it: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 1, 1978.

  283 No Place for Aaron With All-Time Stars: Associated Press, January 3, 1977.

  284 Aaron Hammers At Racism: Minneapolis Star Tribune, July 30, 1979.

  285 When Did “The Hammer”: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, July 20, 1977.

  286 They criticize me when I don’t speak: interview with Henry Aaron.

  287 Any woman who had to go through: interview with Dusty Baker.

  288 Maybe somewhere on the periphery of my personality: interview with Billye Aaron.

  289 I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to be unanimous: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, July 27, 1979.

  290 With all the things I’ve done: New York Times, July 30, 1982.

  291 I’ve never been able to live down: interview with Henry Aaron.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: CARS

  292 Henneberry had started out in the business: interview with Bill Henneberry.

  293 We had no car, no beer: ibid.

  294 Still, Selig at the helm meant Henry: interview with Bud Selig.

  295 Hank was the only choice: interview with Bill Henneberry.

  296 Levin was also concerned: interview with Rich Levin.

  297 Bill Clinton traced the roots: interview with William Jefferson Clinton.

  298 Clinton was holding a rally at Georgia Tech: ibid.

  299 Georgia was good to me: White House transcript of President Clinton’s remarks, at the Democratic National Committee dinner, October 29, 1999.

  300 We were in a tough, tough campaign: interview with William Jefferson Clinton.

  301 He was poor and unlearned: Mobile Register, May 27, 1998.

  302 You never know what it means to me: interview with Henry Aaron.

  303 Both Henry and I had come up: interview with Billye Aaron.

  304 I wouldn’t say that the twenty-fifth was a major success: interview with Bill Henneberry.

  305 I received hundreds of calls to do interviews: Mobile Register, October 9, 1998.

  306 So, we’re going to meet and sign: interview with Bill Henneberry.

  307 Everybody was going to blame me: interview with Bud Selig.

  308 Hank Aaron Goes To Bat For BMW: Atlanta Business Journal, June 1, 1997.

  309 There were some black folk: interview with Allan Tanenbaum.

  310 Why was I chosen?: Black Enterprise, June 1, 2004.

  311 I don’t want to say that all the wounds: interview with Mike Tollin.

  312 The thing about Hank is: interview with Dusty Baker.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: 756

  313 Go ask Henry Aaron: Jim Bunning’s testimony before the House Government Reform Committee, March 17, 2005.

  314 Aaron Prefers To Focus On The Positives: Associated Press, June 15, 2006.

  315 The one thing Henry hated was cheating: interview with Ralph Garr.

  316 I just don’t want to get involved with conversations: interview with Henry Aaron.

  317 He knows what he did: interview with Billye Aaron.

  318 In fact, I was just going to ask you: Associated Press, May 14, 2007.

  319 The conversation was brief: interview with Mike Tollin.

  320 The discussions proceeded in earnest: ibid.

  321 There’s a heart beating there: ibid.

  322 Susan wouldn’t even let most people finish: interview with Allan Tanenbaum.

  323 Would you at least consider a taping?: interview with Larry Baer.

  324 I remember the moment he hit it: interview with Dave Sheinin.

  325 It’s weird. It cheapened the moment: ibid.

  326 Janie McCauley, a reporter: interview with Janie McCauley.

  327 What was happening is that: interview with Henry Edwards.

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  ———. Redemption: The Last Battle of the Civil War. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006.

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  DISSERTATION:

  Nordmann, Christopher Andrew. Free Negroes in Mobile County, Alabama. Ph.D. diss., University of Alabama, 1990.

  ILLUSTRATION CREDITS

  Insert 1

  Booker T. Washington: University of South Alabama Archives

  Babe Ruth: Erik Overbey Collection, University of South Alabama Archives

  Davis Avenue pool hall: University of South Alabama Archives

  Alabama Drydock entrance gate: Alabama Drydock and Shipbuilding Corporation Collection, University of South Alabama Archives

  In Jacksonville team uniform, 1953: ICON Sportsmedia

  At Lulu Mae Gibson’s boarding house: Getty Images

  With Bill Bruton, Jim Pendleton, Charlie White: Getty Images

  With Eddie Mathews and Joe Adcock: National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown, N.Y.

  Jackie Robinson: ICON Sportsmedia

  At spring training, 1957: National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown, N.Y.

  With Ted Williams: ICON Sportsmedia

  At bat: National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown, N.Y.

  Warren Spahn: ICON Sportsmedia

  At home with Barbara and children: Getty Images

  With Eddie Mathews, 1965: ICON Sportsmedia

  In Atlanta: National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown, N.Y.

  With Willie Mays and Roberto Clemente: Bettmann/Corbis

  With home run 500 trophy: ICON Sportsmedia

  Insert 2

  Home run 703: National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown, N.Y.

  With the Rev. Jesse Jackson: National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Coopers town, N.Y.

  Peanuts comic strips: © United Feature Syndicate, Inc.

  With Billye and Governor Jimmy Carter: National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown, N.Y.

  Breaking Ruth’s record: National Baseball Hall of Fame Librar
y, Cooperstown, N.Y.

  With his brother, Tommie: Bettmann/Corbis

  At bat: National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown, N.Y.

  With Willie Mays: National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown, N.Y.

  With Billye at the Hall of Fame: National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown, N.Y.

  With his mother and father: Azalea City News Collection, University of South Alabama Archives

  With President Bill Clinton: Getty Images

  With Barry Bonds: ICON Sportsmedia

  Bonds 756: ICON Sportsmedia

  Henry Aaron: National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown, N.Y.

  Henry Aaron: ICON Sportsmedia

  A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Howard Bryant is a senior writer for ESPN.com and ESPN the Magazine. He is the author of Shut Out: A Story of Race and Baseball in Boston, and Juicing the Game: Drugs, Power, and the Fight for the Soul of Major League Baseball, which was a finalist for the Society for American Baseball Research Seymour Medal. He has worked at the Oakland Tribune, the Boston Herald, and the Washington Post. He lives in western Massachusetts.

  Copyright © 2010 by Howard Bryant

  All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Pantheon Books,

  a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and in Canada

  by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.

  Pantheon Books and colophon are

  registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

  Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission

  to reprint previously published material:

  Ig Publishing Inc.: Excerpts from Baseball Has Done It by Jackie Robinson, copyright © 1964 by Jackie Robinson. Reprinted by permission of Ig Publishing Inc.

  The Saturday Evening Post: Excerpt from “Born to Play Ball” by Furman Bisher (The Saturday Evening Post magazine, August 25, 1956), copyright © 1956 by Saturday Evening Post Society. Reprinted by permission of The Saturday Evening Post.

  The Washington Post: Excerpt from “Hank Aaron Ties Ruth Homer Mark after 77 Games” (The Washington Post, July 11, 1957), copyright © 1957 by The Washington Post. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of PARS International Corp., on behalf of The Washington Post and protected by the copyright laws of the United States. The printing, copying, redistribution, or retransmission of the material without express written permission is prohibited.