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ATLANTA — Fans at Truist Park gave Hank Aaron’s widow, Billye Aaron, a standing ovation during a pre-match tribute, moments after he performed the traditional tomahawk chop chant, which many saw as a racist gesture insulting Native people. Hall of Fame actor who died in january.
Aaron’s brave pursuit of Babe Ruth’s career record of running away from home in the face of racial abuse has made him a leading symbol of progress for many Black Americans. His death caused a spill of love and tribute to baseball and across the country.
(Atlanta initially hoped to honor Aaron at the All-Star Game in July, but not in Major League Baseball. moved the game to Denver as a protest against a Georgia law that unfairly targets non-white voters, according to Democrats and suffrage groups that introduced new voting restrictions and condemned the law.)
All season long, Aaron’s jersey had a giant number 44 carved into the grass on the Truist Park outfield. When Atlanta won the National League pennant this month, the team and MLB finally decided to honor Aaron in front of a national television audience, ahead of the team’s first home World Series game on Friday, which was Game 3.
The ceremony included a video tribute that was shown at the stadium and on the Fox national broadcast. It included descriptions of Aaron’s role in helping to integrate baseball more after he joined Milwaukee in 1954 (seven years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier) and the importance of the run-from-home chase when he passed Ruth in 1974. A role model for millions of Americans.
Billye Aaron stood on the round red carpet at the side of the pitch and waved while cheering to the fans, and then Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker emerged from the visitors’ shelter and rushed to the side of the mound. A group of Aaron’s children.
Harun mentor to BakerHe joined Atlanta as a rookie in 1968 and played seven years with Aaron. They remained close friends, and Baker often talks about the advice Aaron gave himself and other teammates. Before the game, Baker noted that coming to Atlanta and not seeing Aaron there was a strange, dismal experience for him.
“This is the most different feeling I’ve ever had that you can’t describe,” Baker said, “because I’m happy to be back here, but sad to be here for the first time. – Except for Hank’s funeral – without Hank.”
Baker hugged all of Aaron’s children on the mound, and then Hank Aaron Jr. made the ceremony debut for Atlanta’s star first baseman Freddie Freeman. .
“Whoever came into contact with her made you feel love,” Freeman said. “I wish he was here to watch this.”
Partly because the team and MLB organizers said they believed Aaron, a humble and understated superstar, would want the focus to focus on the players and the game, not him.
But it was important that the greatest player in franchise history and one of the most outstanding athletes in history receive recognition.
“It’s totally necessary,” Baker said. “This is Hank Aaron’s year.”
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