Aaron grew up poor. His parents could not afford regular sports equipment, so Aaron played baseball by hitting bottle caps with a broomstick. Try it some time. It’s really difficult.
In addition, Aaron had no one to show him how to hold a bat. So he hit “cross-handed.” That means when he was batting right-handed, Aaron placed his right hand at the bottom of the bat handle and his left hand on top instead of the opposite (and traditional) way.
Still, Aaron was a baseball and football star in high school. He also played on several semipro baseball teams in the Mobile area as a teenager, although his mother wouldn’t let him travel out of town with one of the teams.
At age 17, Aaron (still hitting cross-handed) signed a professional baseball contract with the Indianapolis Clowns, a team in the Negro Leagues. In the early 1950s, Major League Baseball (MLB) teams did not allow many African Americans to play, so Black players had their own leagues and teams.
The Clowns played serious baseball but would also do tricks and fool around to entertain the crowds, as the Harlem Globetrotters do on the basketball court.
MLB scouts soon recognized Aaron’s talent. In 1952, he signed a contract with the Boston Braves (later the Milwaukee and now Atlanta Braves). After excelling in the minor leagues (he no longer batted cross-handed), Aaron played his first season for the Braves in 1954.
Aaron quickly became a star. He led the Braves to a World Series championship in 1957 and was named the National League’s Most Valuable Player.
Aaron played 23 seasons and was, at the time, among the career leaders in many important offensive categories. He was first in “runs batted in” and total bases, third in hits and fourth in runs scored.
The most famous record Aaron set, however, was when he broke Babe Ruth’s for most career home runs. It should have been a happy time for Aaron, but some people did not like a Black player aiming to break a record held by a White player. As Aaron approached breaking the record, some people wrote him terrible letters threatening him and his family.
When other people found out about the hate-filled letters, some fans, including kids, sent Aaron kind, encouraging letters. It is estimated that Aaron received 930,000 pieces of mail by the end of 1973. He endured all the hate and pressure and broke Ruth’s record on April 8, 1974. Aaron’s story makes him a baseball legend and an American hero.
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