Very few names in American baseball lore stand as tall and as proud as that of Hank Aaron. A legend in his own right, Hank was more than just a baseball star; he was an icon that African-American athletes all over the country looked up to.
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Image source: biography.com
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Nicknamed “the Hammer,” Hank was born in Mobile, Alabama, to Herbert and Estella Aaron. His brother Tommie also played in the Majors in their later years, and the Aaron brothers held the league record for most homers by siblings.
When he was younger, Hank spent a lot of time in Toulminville. As families in the region were in those days, the Aarons were poor, so poor, in fact, that they couldn’t afford to pay for normal baseball equipment. Hank would look for sticks and stones and bottle caps on the streets to use and bats and balls, and practiced day in and day out to hone his baseball skills.
Hank’s favorite player was the trailblazing Jackie Robinson, the pioneering African-American athlete. In high school, he played outfield and third base for the Mobile Black Bears, which was a semipro baseball team. Being a baseball player and a Boy Scout was what Hank poured his heart and soul into.
Hank was a cross-handed power hitter. At the age of 15, he tried out for the Brooklyn Dodgers but failed to make the team. He went on to the Josephine Allen Institute and joined the Pritchett Athletics, then back to the Mobile Black Bears.
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Image source: Wikipedia.com
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The name’s Kevin Rolle, born and raised in Alabama. I’ve been a sports fan for as long as I can remember. Since I’m a fan of the Alabama University and the Alabama A&M University football teams, I mostly write articles about them. I hope to be a professional sports writer someday. To read more about sports, visit this blog.
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