The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron (80 page)

169
The Camel Mildness Test:
Milwaukee Journal
, April 16, 1951.

170
He was such a good, open man:
interview with Joe Torre.

171
It was almost from the time we met:
interview with Carolyn Aaron.

172
Dressen never blended with this club:
interview with Joe Torre.

173
The two things I remember most:
interview with Tim McCarver.

174
I don’t think I’ve earned my due:
Robinson,
Baseball Has Done It
, p. 140.

CHAPTER ELEVEN: ATLANTA

175
This is a moral issue:
The Sporting News
, January 16, 1965.

176
I thought about history:
interview with Bill Bartholomay.

177
Mr. Perini is planning to move the Braves:
The Sporting News
, November, 7, 1962.

178
Milwaukee Syndicate Offer:
The Sporting News
, December 1, 1962.

179
The cow had been milked:
The Sporting News
, November, 7, 1962.

180
Move To Georgia Peachy? Not To Aaron:
Chicago Defender
, April 17, 1965.

181
Aaron and Maye Disturbed:
Associated Press, January 16, 1965.

182
I have lived in the South:
Chicago Defender
, April 17, 1965.

183
Not only were blacks forbidden to sit:
Gary Pomerantz,
Where Peachtree Meets Sweet Autumn: A Saga of Race and Family
(New York: Penguin, 1996), p. 257.

184
When I was in high school:
interview with Bob Hope.

185
There was a real hostile feel:
interview with Bill Bartholomay.

186
The leaders of the city didn’t want:
interview with Andrew Young.

187
Aaron Says He Could Have Won:
Chicago Defender
, March 2, 1964.

188
I had read so much about Musial:
Associated Press, May 14, 1970.

189
Martin was a big baseball fan:
interview with Andrew Young.

CHAPTER TWELVE: WILLIE

190
Eisenberg was a Braves batboy:
interview with Buz Eisenberg.

191
What got you here is what’s going to keep you here:
interview with Ralph Garr.

192
Francona had been a big leaguer:
interview with Tito Francona.

193
When his son, Terry:
interview with Terry Francona.

194
In New York, Tito and Henry:
interview with Tito Francona.

195
Yet Ralph and Dusty saw Henry:
interview with Dusty Baker.

196
There were times I got called in:
ibid.

197
And then there was the infamous evening:
New York Times
, August 9, 1966.

198
You could never tell at the plate:
interview with Ralph Garr.

199
I had the fortune to room with a guy:
interview with Cito Gaston.

200
He used to tell me all the time:
interview with Ralph Garr.

201
Already he ees showing me:
Al Stump, “Hank Aaron: Public Image vs. Private Reality,”
Sport
, August 1964.

202
I don’t know if I’m talking out of school:
interview with Tito Francona.

203
Somewhere during the exchange:
interview with Joe Torre.

204
No way was Willie a better hitter than me:
interview with Henry Aaron.

205
I consider us the best of friends:
Wall Street Journal
, April 17, 1970.

206
Hank Becomes A Hit:
Sports Illustrated
, August 18, 1969.

207
Move Over, Babe:
Los Angeles Times
, October 5, 1969.

208
We were off that night:
interview with Ralph Garr.

209
Aaron—600G For 3 Years:
Chicago Tribune
, March 1, 1972.

210
It was Milo Hamilton, the broadcaster:
interview with Wayne Minshew.

211
I’ll see how it goes:
Washington Post
, January 30, 1972.

212
It’s July 1957:
interview with Reese Schonfeld.

213
I was just a kid, and it was exciting to me:
ibid.

214
Wednesday Night:
New York Times
, June 1, 1972.

215
It’s kind of fun now and then:
Charles Einstein,
Willie’s Time: A Memoir
(New York: Penguin, 1989), p. 34.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: RUTH

216
He had leukemia:
interview with Bob Hope.

217
Just give us the chance:
interview with Buck O’Neil.

218
For our community:
Jimmy Carter,
An Hour Before Daylight
(New York: Simon and Schuster), 2001, p. 32.

219
Like Jimmy Carter, Bob Hope also felt a certain swell:
interview with Jimmy Carter.

220
He refused to defile his body:
The Long Winter of Henry Aaron
, originally broadcast by NBC, 1973; rebroadcast by ESPN, 2006.

221
I would like to read to you:
ibid.

222
It’s the only place:
“Hank Aaron: Going for the Record,”
Ebony
, September 1973.

223
Henry would sit in the boat:
“Chasing the Babe,”
Newsweek
, August 13, 1973.

224
Aaron Sued For Tenfold Alimony:
Associated Press, June 3, 1974.

225
I’ve always read Mickey Mantle:
“Henry Aaron’s Golden Autumn,”
Time
, September 24, 1973.

226
The game was being televised on Channel 17:
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
, April 5, 1974.

227
It should not even have been necessary:
interview with Billye Aaron.

228
“Ralph,” Henry said at his locker:
interview with Ralph Garr.

229
I just feel good and happy:
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
, April 9, 1974.

230
To Downing, the words were another:
interview with Al Downing.

231
If there’s anything I can ever do for you:
ibid.

232
One night, someone brought up the idea:
Jim “Mudcat” Grant, Tom Sabellico, and Pat O’Brien,
The Black Aces: Baseball’s Only African-American Twenty-Game Winners
(Farmingdale, New York: Black Aces, 2006), p. 319.

233
Henry Aaron. What else did you need to say?:
interview with Steve Yeager.

234
I had no idea who they were:
interview with Mike Marshall.

235
Everybody expects him to do it every time now:
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
, April 8, 1984.

236
Henry begins to walk up to home plate:
Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream
. Directed by Mike Tollin; produced by Mike Tollin and Brian Robbins. Copyright 1955 TBS Productions, Inc.

237
No, you have your own footsteps:
interview with Jimmy Wynn.

238
There’s Al Downing:
interview with Al Downing.

239
And swinging two bats is Henry Aaron:
Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream
.

240
It was a long time ago:
interview with Steve Yeager.

241
If you told someone you were Cape Verdean:
interview with Davey Lopes.

242
Well, I wasn’t really sure what I was going to do:
interview with Ron Cey.

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.