The Great Black Hope
It was April 1954. Opening Day in Major League Baseball was at hand and baseball was my favorite game. I was little more than a toddler and like most kids in Cincinnati, one of the greatest ever baseball cities, I loved baseball. There was something about the game that had a grip on all Black people in the area. From Union Baptist Church and the 9th Street YMCA, clear out to Avondale and Walnut Hills, BASEBALL WAS THE GAME, and everybody was looking for the next Jackie Robinson.
In those days Black Baseball players were celebrated with the same glee that Black politicians and entrepreneurs are today. Magazines and newspapers like Ebony and the Pittsburg Courier showcased the player photos team by team. And because they couldn’t stay in hotels, players would stay at the local black YMCA or with families in the community. It wasn’t unusual to see a player at the local store or “greasy spoon.”
The Reds were at Crosley Field and the Milwaukee Braves were in town with a new GREAT BLACK HOPE. The kid’s name was Henry Aaron. We had a 18 inch black and white TV that we put in a window off the back porch to watch the games. John Philip Sousa’s The Washington Post played in the background as announcer, Waite Hoyt, made a big deal out of the fact that Henry came to the majors from the “Sally League.” Well, in his first at bat he hit into a double play, and in 4 other at bats he made 4 more outs. The disappointment in my dad was so strong that he hollered out: “SEND HIM BACK TO THE SALLY LEAGUE!”
By the end of the season, it was clear that this kid was in the big leagues to stay, and…
By 1954, GREAT BLACK HOPES were sought after by major league teams throughout baseball… Larry Doby with the Cleaveland Indians in 1947, Roy Campanella with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1948, Willie Mays with the New York Giants in 1951, and Ernie Banks with the Chicago Cubs in 1953, to name a few. By 1957 Cincinnati had its own GREAT BLACK HOPE, Frank Robinson, who almost 20 years later in 1975, would become Baseball’s first Black Manager. Baseball’s open door had become a gateway.
We shouldn’t forget Aaron’s trailblazing breakthrough in advertising, as he was one of the first Blacks to be a national representative for a retail product. Let’s save that story for another day.
We can’t even imagine what ‘Hammering Hank’ went through on his way to breaking baseball’s sacred Home Run Record. But it must be akin to the passionate hatred and bigotry that Tiger Woods or the Williams sisters experience, and somewhat short of the flaming hatred that is directed at Martin, Ali, Barack, and now Kamala. Through it all, Henry “Hank” Aaron represented the best in us.
Thank you Hank Aaron, and may God receive you into the Kingdom.
