Jason Mayo 5/16/95 Period 6 Book Report- "I Had a Hammer, The Hank Aaron Story" The book I read, I had a Hammer, The Hank Aaron Story by Hank Aaron with Lonnie Wheeler is the autobiography of Hank Aaron, the home run king of major-league baseball. The historical period this took place in was from the mid-1940's to the mid- 1970's. The setting in this story was very historically accurate. A quote that demonstrates the environment of the 1940's is "...when white workers started rioting for two days at Alabama Dry Dock and Shipbuilding because black workers had been promoted in their stead. Another that shows the 1950's is "The Korean War was going on and... I had to register for the draft." A quote showing the environment of the 1960's and the bigotry against blacks is "We'd sit in the stands and hear Aaron being called "nigger" and "jigaboo." And finally a quote demonstrating the attitudes of whites in the late 60's and early 70's is "... and you may replace Babe Ruth in the hearts of the liberal sportswriters, the liberal newspapers, TV, and radio, as well as the hearts of the long-haired Hippies... so roll in your undeserved glory, Black Boy. Hank Aaron encountered countless obstacles in his quest for equality in baseball, as well as his own personal freedom. In every situation he responded effectively, and his motto was "Just keep swinging," which meant that as long as he just played ball he would be fine. A few specific examples are racist and bigoted managers, racists in the stands, and teammates, the always judgmental media, and he had to deal with death threats to his family and him during his chase for the home run record. He also had to deal with segregation from the rest of the team in hotels, restaurants, etc. To deal with racist managers and teammates he tried to avoid them as much as possible. He would sit away from them on the busses and in the locker rooms. One time on the Milwaukee Braves there was a player, Lew Burdette, who happened to become famous, who was a pronounced racist. Hank Aaron dealt with this by just getting to the field before him or not staying near him in hotels. While playing he tried to push all the people yelling and screaming at him out of his mind and just play ball. But even while he was playing he faced racism because of all the pitchers who disliked blacks that threw at him. It is sometimes justified to throw at a player if someone on your team has been hit or the game is a blowout, but sometimes pitchers threw at Aaron with the game on the line in the late innings. During the home run chase he was forced to hire a bodyguard because of all the death threats. The bodyguard followed him around like a shadow, he was with Aaron every second from the hotel to the ballpark. He had to do this even though most of the threats were just meant to scare him. An event that had a big impact in Hank Aaron's life was when he was 14 years old. Jackie Robinson, the first black person to play in the major leagues came to his town to speak. Jackie was to speak in the auditorium on the main street in Aaron's home town, Toulminville This event inspired the young and impressionable Aaron to become a major league ball player. A passage from the book showed Aaron's idolism for Jackie Robinson is as follows: "Jackie Robinson was the hero of Davis Avenue- he and Joe Louis. When Louis would fight, everybody would get together and crowd around a radio, and when the dodgers were on- a Mobile station carried pirated broadcasts from an announcer named Gordon McLendon- it was practically the same thing. The day Jackie Robinson came to town in 1948, I skipped shop class to hear him speak in the auditorium on Davis Avenue. That same day, I told my father that I would be in the big leagues before Jackie retired. Jackie had that effect on all of us- he gave us our dreams. He breathed baseball into the black community, kids and grown-ups alike. Before then, whenever I said I wanted to be a ballplayer, Daddy would set me straight... I said okay then I'll be a ballplayer. He said, 'Ain't no colored ballplayers.' But he never said that anymore after we sat in the colored section of Hartwell field and watched Jackie Robinson." The one person that was the most influential for Hank Aaron was the person mentioned above, Jackie Robinson. This person was influential at first because he gave confidence to a little black kid from Mobile to strive to become a professional baseball player. But he was most influential later in Hank's life, when Hank got to the major leagues and achieved stardom. During the summer Hank would go barnstorming, that is to play exhibition games day after day all throughout the country, with a team of black players assembled by Jackie. During this time Jackie told Hank of all the injustices going on towards black players in the major's in that day. He told that only the best black players could make it to the major leagues while marginal white players could. He also said that blacks could not obtain any front office jobs on teams. Later, when Aaron had achieved the home run record he was an avid activist for blacks to obtain front office jobs in major league clubs. And he told of how white racist pitchers threw at him and the other few black players with the intent of injuring him while they were batting. He said that his main goal in baseball was to open the doors for the rest of the black players in the Negro leagues. This gave Hank the will to fight for black rights and to stand up for what he believed in later when Jackie had fallen out of the spotlight. If Jackie had not been around to inform Hank of these great injustices Hank would probably not have continued to fight for equality in professional sports. Jackie also made Hank realize that his true purpose in baseball was not to achieve greatness but to achieve equality. Once Aaron had broke the home run record he might have just sat back and enjoyed the glory but Jackie made him think he should use his notoriety to influence people so that baseball would become equal for all races. There were many sources of support, strength, and wisdom available to Aaron during his baseball career. But most of all, the black ballplayers that took Hank under their wing while in the minors and early in his major league career and showed him the ropes of the business. People like Wes Covington for the Eau Claire Bears and Spec Bebop of the Indianapolis Clowns explained to Aaron how it was and just told him to take it in stride because they knew he would be great someday. They would room with him and make sure he did not get into trouble. They would go into restaurants and get food for him so he wouldn't have to encounter white people because he was inexperienced. They also told him how to react to problems with white people. They told him how to act around white people and they taught him his manners. Other sources of support available to Aaron were his first wife Barbara Lucas, and his manager for the Jacksonville Braves Ben Geraghty. Barbara Lucas was a source of support because she always consoled Aaron when he thought about leaving baseball because of all the racism. Once, when Aaron was booed and had things thrown at him at a promotional experience after he won the league MVP, Aaron began questioning whether all the pain and suffering was worth it. She told him that if he left he would be disappointing Jackie Robinson, as well as the rest of his race.. Ben Geraghty was a source of support because even though he was white, he treated young Hank very well. Geraghty was the first white person Aaron met that treated him like an equal. On situation that demonstrated this was when a restaurant would not let the team eat there because of Hank, he was the only black on the team, so Geraghty said everyone had to get back on the bus and they searched for a restaurant that would serve the whole team. This made Aaron think that all white people were not racist. The single action that worsened race relations the most was the fact that a black man had become superior to a white man in one of the most coveted records of all. Another event that caused race relations to worsen was when Jackie Robinson came into the major leagues. The people could not fathom a black man playing on the same field as white players. This caused people to become negative toward him and many other black players after him for a long time. Also, every single obstacle or milestone Aaron hurdled or surpassed race relations became worse. When he got rookie of the year people were mad. When he got MVP people were negative towards him. At every single baseball achievement people resented Aaron more and more. The insight I gain form all of this is that the main cause of worsening race relations is the superiority of a minority over the majority. I guess the white people who were racist did not like the idea of a black person being on top of a white person. I would say that a good thesis for this phenomenon is "superiority of the minority". Man of the events that improved race relations in this book were headed by open-minded white people that accepted blacks as equals. People like Ben Geraghty and Warren Spahn, a teammate of Aaron's were especially open-minded towards Aaron. The insight I gain through this is that the people who catalyze the strengthening of race relations should be pushed to the forefront of their professions. If this happens then they can speak their mind and influence other people to change their opinions. If they are not noticed, then they will not be heard and will be forgotten along with any chances for racial equality. Also, for these people not to be ridiculed and put down, many figures must emerge so that once the racist people se there is a large number of people who think this way they may be more inclined to change their minds. One insight I gained after reading about the story of Hank Aaron and all the obstacles he had to overcome was that perseverance will win out over the destructive forces of racism. In each obstacle Aaron encountered he had to figure out a way to tolerate and ignore all the racism and bigotry toward him and his family. I can apply this concept in relationships in that by dealing with a relationship that goes forward, and not coloring my feelings about someone based on feelings about preconceived negative ideas about an individual, especially someone who is black. In other words, you should not rely on assumptions to form an opinion about somebody, but you should form your opinion based on social interactions. Another insight I can gain from the Hank Aaron story is that minorities tend to strive to over-achieve in an effort to remove from consideration their minority status. I can apply this in the real world is that if I can recognize that this is occurring then I can look just at someone's accomplishments and not their color. The part of the book that I enjoyed the most was that it showed very effectively all the trouble and turmoil Hank Aaron went through while trying to surpass Babe Ruth on the all-time list for homeruns. Before reading this book I did not know of all the people objecting to a black man holding a record in professional sports. I was appalled to read that some people are so racist that they don't want to see someone of a specific race hold a minuscule record. I said to myself, "Why do they care whether a black man beats out a white man who has been dead for a couple decades, and why do they care that black people play on the same fields as whites?" The aspect of the book I liked the least was that it did not give much attention to what happened after he broke the record and retired from baseball. I would have liked to know if the hate male kept coming or if he was ever a victim of hate crimes, or even if his kids were victimized. I would have liked the book more if it went into greater detail in what he did for civil rights, and equality in baseball after he retired.