#hankaaron

On April 8, 1974, Hank Aaron hit his 715th career home run in front of a crowd of 53,775 people — breaking Babe Ruth’s record of 714 homers.

President Jimmy Carter welcomes Hank Aaron to the White House, 8/15/1978, from the Carter Library, NARA IDs 180805 and180806.

President George W. Bush Presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Hank Aaron, 7/9/2002, from the George W. Bush Library, NARA ID 6734115.

WE REMEMBER HAMMERIN’ HANK

By Miriam Kleiman, Public Affairs

“A breaker of records and racial barriers, his remarkable legacy will continue to inspire countless athletes and admirers for generations to come.”

--President Carter

Baseball legend and Civil Rights icon Hank Aaron died Friday at age 86. Aaron rose to the top of baseball while facing systemic and extreme racism that included hate mail and death threats. He described the effects of this hatred on his family and his heart:

“It really made me see for the first time a clear picture of what this country is about. My kids had to live like they were in prison because of kidnap threats, and I had to live like a pig in a slaughter camp. I had to duck. I had to go out the back door of the ball parks. I had to have a police escort with me all the time. I was getting threatening letters every single day. All of these things have put a bad taste in my mouth, and it won’t go away. They carved a piece of my heart away.”  NYT interview.

Aaron saved many of those letters and even the death threats: 

“To remind myself that we are not that far removed from when I was chasing the record. If you think that, you are fooling yourself. A lot of things have happened in this country, but we have so far to go. There’s not a whole lot that has changed.” USA Today interview.

But such hatred didn’t stop him. He seized the opportunity for greatness and advancement on the field and beyond (from here):

“In playing ball, and in life, a person occasionally gets the opportunity to do something great. When that time comes, only two things matter: being prepared to seize the moment and having the courage to take your best swing.”

Tweets from the Carter Library, 1/22/2021. Online here and here.

See related resources:

Special Topics page: Baseball at the National Archives

eBook: Baseball: The National Pastime in the National Archives

Related Tumblr post: Letter from Jackie Robinson to Nixon Deputy Special Assistant Roland Elliott, 4/20/1972.

Teaching with Documents, Jackie Robinson, Civil Rights Advocate

Prologue Magazine story: Jim Crow, Meet Lieutenant Robinson

Pieces of History blog post: Jackie Robinson’s 100th

Teaching Activities on DocsTeach: Analyzing Jackie Robinson’s White House Letter, Analyzing a Photograph of Jackie Robinson, Analyzing a Letter from Jackie Robinson: “Fair Play and Justice”

Online Exhibit: Letter from Jackie Robinson to IKE about the Little Rock 9