Hammerin’ Hank has a chance to be even bigger in death.
Hank Aaron was truly one of the legends of the game, from his first season through his last. When he passed away this week at 86, the tributes poured in over Aaron’s mythical status off the field, too.
As the hero of the Milwaukee Braves 1957 World Series championship, Aaron’s presence when the ball club moved to deep south Atlanta was critical in the newly integrated team’s acceptance and eventual growth in popularity.
By the time Aaron cracked his 715th career home run to surpass Babe Ruth more than 15 years later, he had long been pursuing the Bambino amidst death threats from white supremacists who didn’t want a black man to hold that record, a kind of throw back to Jesse Owens winning Olympic gold medals in Nazi Germany.
After retiring Aaron worked tirelessly on civil rights issues in the state’s capital with black leaders like Andrew Young. He supported and helped fund the coalition that propelled Bill Clinton to win Georgia in 1992, after which Aaron and Clinton became close friends.
Aaron put most of his time into helping underprivileged children get fed and remained one of baseball’s greatest ambassadors. When Fulton County Stadium was torn down, a small commemorative wall was left standing where Hammerin’ Hank’s 715th landed.
His funeral procession intentionally passed through the new commercial area just about at that spot. And now, two stadiums removed from Aaron’s old home, the franchise has a golden opportunity to make the social justice move of a generation.
Native American groups have been after the team to get rid of the Braves moniker, much the same way colleges like Stanford and Washington in the NFL. The team brass can change nicknames and give both social justice and baseball history a major league victory.
Eventually, the Braves name will be gone, and now comes a chance to immortalize Aaron by calling the team the Atlanta Hammers. Nothing makes more sense on both fronts.
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