The Atlanta Formula
Hosted by Zettler Clay, this show explores the city's rich culture, history and vibrant energy of the people.
The Atlanta Formula
5. Variable Edition - 50 Years Since Hank Aaron's Crowning Glory and Bitter Aftermath
What if breaking a legendary sports record brought not just fame, but also unimaginable pain and regret? Join Zettler IV and Zettler V as they delve into the life and legacy of baseball legend Hank Aaron, focusing on the events surrounding his record-breaking 715th home run and the subsequent impacts.
Celebrating the 50th anniversary of Aaron's historic home run, they reflect on the Hammer's enduring legacy and the scars that remained long after his playing career.
The narrative covers Aaron's unwavering honesty, his weariness after achieving the milestone, and his complex feelings about surpassing Babe Ruth's home run record due to the intense scrutiny, death threats, and racial challenges he faced.
With insights from biographical accounts by journalists Howard Bryant and Terence Moore, as well as from Aaron's own autobiography, the guys shed light on the man behind the numbers, exploring the complexities of his life post-record.
It also reflects on Aaron's contributions to the game, his struggles with media and fans, and the lack of support from his own home crowd. The discussion honors Aaron's his lasting impact on baseball while highlighting his intense focus and the racial obstacles he overcame.
Drawing parallels to the unyielding work ethic of icons like Edwin Land, Jay-Z, Kobe Bryant, Rakim, DMX and Charlie Munger, this episode underscores Aaron's unyielding resilience starting as a child in segregated Mobile's hotbed baseball culture into his transformation into the man who decided upon his arrival in Atlanta in 1966, that he was uniquely suited to becoming the all-time home run champion.
Through the lens of these celebrated figures, the Atlanta natives highlight the power of planned perseverance, his often-overlooked baseball mind and relentless dedication in achieving greatness.
Lastly, they connect the dots between Ted Turner's media empire and Hank Aaron's invaluable contributions to the Atlanta Braves' championship run in the 1990s, as well as discuss MLB's recent decision to integrate Negro League statistics into its records.
This episode is a true tribute to the best hitter Major League Baseball has seen. A hero to legions, the late Henry Aaron has a legacy that was shaped by his extraordinary talent and the societal and racial challenges he couldn't seem to escape.
It was April 8th 1974. The game was stopped for 11 minutes and Henry was too weary to be eloquent. Honesty without flourish was all he could offer. There was no joy contained in his drained face, no desire to bask in his own afterglow. His words were not reflective or introspective or prescient, nor, upon reflecting upon this evening, would they ever be. I just thank God. Henry said that it's all over with. For the next 35 years, Henry Aaron would not waver from this position. That excerpt was from a book called the Last Hero A Life of Henry Aaron, a biographical account by journalist Howard Bryant, published around 2010.
Zettler IV:I was talking with my 10-year-old son the other day about the career of the Hammer Hank Aaron. It reminded me of a time I went to see him at a conference at the Rialto by Georgia State University. See him at a conference at the Rialto by Georgia State University. He was asked how he felt about surpassing 714 home runs, a question he'd been asked countless times over the past three decades. His answer bucked my eyes. If I had to do it all over again, I don't know if I would have. It was astonishing, Arguably the most hallowed record in professional sports, and he wasn't even sure it was worth it. The death threats, the disrespect, the pressure, the constant unnecessary scrutiny. He endured all of it just to play a game he set out to master ever since he was a boy in Mobile, Alabama. On that stage that day, however, it seemed as if he still wanted to be free of that burden. I still remember the disappointment from his voice as the best hitter in Major League Baseball history lamented about one of the worst periods of his life.
Zettler IV:Noting the 50-year anniversary of Aaron's 715th home run, I feel inspired to create a period piece. The emphasis starts with the moment he touched home plate, making him the top home run hitter in Major League Baseball history, a record later broken by Bear Buns and it ends with the conclusion of that tumultuous season and him spending the next four-plus decades picking up the pieces. Hank Aaron was traded at the end of that season to Milwaukee. Hank Aaron was traded at the end of that season to Milwaukee after never being offered a new contract or role in the managerial or front office by the only franchise he had ever played for. In his final Atlanta Braves at-bat at Fulton County Stadium, he poetically hit a home run. After crossing home plate, he kept running into the dugout, into the tunnel, into the locker room. Despite the crowd's calls for him to come back out, he stayed in that locker room, tears streaming down his face, knowing, without a doubt, that his time as a professional baseball player in Atlanta of old Swatch.
Zettler V:Tell you just how we speak. Don't fold when you from. Pozone, what number is your police precinct? We on, yeah, tell you just how we speak. Don't fold. Don't fold when you from. What number is your police precinct? Don't fold, like All right, quint.
Zettler IV:So there are three books that I'm going to use to guide us through this episode the one aforementioned, the Last Hero, a Life of Hearing Aaron, by Howard Bryant, but then two more. I'm going to reference His autobiography that he wrote I had a Hammer with Lonnie Willer, and another account written by Terrence Moore, entitled the Real Hank Aaron Intimate look at the life and legacy of the home run king. And I'm using those three books, quint, for obvious reasons. Right, they're biographies, which means if you want to get the scoop on something about a situation on somebody's life, you need to go to a primary source or a secondary source. Who at least knows how to reach primary sources and those around the primary source? So in this case, we know about the wreck, we know about the record, we know about the death threat. There's been tons of scores of documentaries that are out talking about this in grisly detail. I want to focus on that period, right after they hit the home run Right, and the question I want to guide this episode is what happens after the glory, even decades later? So that's something he talked about too. He didn't want to be known as well.
Zettler IV:So it's twofold Henry Aaron, the home run king does have a ring to it. He can walk places, he's a celebrity, he's on the late night shows, he's getting more endorsements. The fame, the money aspect of it I'm sure he enjoys, just like anybody famous in that position enjoys. There are perks for things that are enjoyed. But then it obscured a part of him that well, he wasn't just a home run there, number one in total bases, number one in RBIs, number one in extra base hits, I believe. Now he doesn't have the most doubles, I think, trish Speaker, that's Trish Speaker, and you can't have them all right. So you have that aspect. And then the other part is people want to act like those death threats didn't happen. They did, yeah, and I had a hammer. The hank aaron story written with lonnie willer. He puts a few of those in there and they are as heinous and reprehensible as you could imagine.
Zettler IV:And the thing is and Hank Aaron talked about these things in his autobiography that he did not feel support from the Atlanta media and fans as much as he thought he should have gotten. He did reference a couple moments that he got standing ovations in his hometown, but he also referenced a few moments where he was getting heckled by his own fans, which is crazy. He would go to other stadiums and they'll give him ovations and have 25,000 people there. He'd come to his home crowd, have 8,000 people there and he got a few journeys out in the stands just ripping him and giving him Sally League language. You know what Sally League is? The Sally League was the league he played in when he first got drafted. It was in Jacksonville.
Zettler IV:Baseball players get drafted. They got to go through a minor league system. The Sally League was what it was called in Florida, I believe. It was Class A and he was getting all kinds of jiggle boos and hard ERs thrown at him. He couldn't eat with his team, he couldn't stay with his team. He had to arrange different accommodations. He's a professional baseball player In the country club for major league baseball at the time but couldn't get a meal, unaccosted and without a sense of psychological distress. This is what is happening. This is the time, this is the era that he's in. All this is happening. He hits the home run. So what do you think happens right after his home run? How do you think his performance went?
Maus:He goes home, his mother gives him a hug, he hugs up up his mother and I think for the rest of the game he doesn't get a hit. I believe, sure, but I think he doesn't get a hit not just for the rest of the game.
Zettler IV:for the next five game, I believe. He went one for his next 16th and that one hit was, ironically, a home run and he struggled. He hit 200 for the rest of that month. For the month of June he was hitting in the low 200s and even in July he was hitting in the 200s. He ended up getting voted to the All-Star team in the middle of July.
Maus:But he was having a poor season compared to then.
Zettler IV:At the plate right and he had kicked up this marathon to catch Ruth and he's 40 now right. So he's powered off adrenaline, he's powered off motivation, he's powered off the hate mail, he's powered off his own gumption, his own purpose, and then, once he reaches the record, it's just this day, no ma air been let out the balloon a little bit, but there's some things that happened that season. I think it's important to highlight in this episode, because I've read about him in this book and accounts, but it's not something that's out there. But he got into it with the atlanta media and they put his wife in it and they did not offer him another contract and they didn't offer him a front office position. They wanted and they didn't even give him the courtesy to offer him the managerial position when it was available. Did I just say a whole lot?
Maus:No, they didn't. They basically didn't want to pay him. Well, they didn't want him to get the front office job, or with the break front office job, or with the brain.
Zettler IV:So let me get the front office position in Major League Baseball. In 1974, you would have had to be I don't know, let's see white and male, because there was literally no African American in a front office role in 1974. In fact, this was right before the free agency period. It wasn't black people in managerial role, black people in executive role, black scout was pretty much nonexistent. Only place you saw color at pertained to Major League Baseball was on the field. Even those who was on the field were exceptional superstars. I believe in the 1960s, something like 60% of all the all-stars were either African-American or Latin American. So it was this thing that you know. Hank Aaron said this, spoke about this that weren't, you couldn't be a regular player and black In the major league. That makes sense. So, for example, you can have a white player who hits 210, 230, 240, 250 and can stick around for 12 years and leave.
Maus:If a black person did that, Then they would kick out for like. They would get kicked out for like six years.
Zettler IV:Even less than that. You had to be exceptional. So while this caused the talent to jump off the page and leap at you, it also caused the income opportunities to dwindle, and so this happened. So when Hank Aaron was asked if he would be the manager by the media, he initially said no, I wouldn't want to be the manager, no, I don't have any interest. But then he was asked again, or he thought about it, and he said you know what? I think I will, because there are none. And being that Jackie Robinson was his guy, Jackie Robinson was his North Star and in a lot of ways, Henry Aaron was a variant of Jackie Robinson, Kind of finished, or Powerful, more powerful, jackie Robinson.
Zettler IV:Yeah, he turned the lever like 180 degrees. Jackie Robinson came in the first, and then it was steadily more and more. Harry Aaron represented the best of what the Negro League had to offer, and he did it in a way that was more impressive, at least numerically, than any other player that's ever played the game from a hitting standpoint. So you have all this. He's saying he would like to be considered. He's not being considered. The journalist is saying he's double-talking. He ends up throwing a carton of strawberries in one of the writer's face the writer who didn't even write the article. But nevertheless, that journalist Frank Hyland, I believe, was his name. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. This is a normally stoic man throwing cartons of strawberries in a journalist's face After now. This is important. This is why it's always important to have context. You know why he threw that card in his face.
Maus:Why.
Zettler IV:Because there's an article in the paper with his wife's picture and under the picture is a caption entitled Billy. This is his wife's name, colon trouble Question mark. That's a low blow. Why are you putting his wife in the article? And the article is insinuating that his wife was putting notions in his head that he started to become more of a rabble rouser and speaking out against MLB and his hiring practice because his wife was putting thoughts into his head as if he wasn't a sentient, intelligent being enough to have these thoughts on his own.
Zettler IV:That's the thing that this dude right here as we talk about this in the 50th anniversary of Breaking this Record. He was an extremely cerebral guy. There are counts of teammates talking about how scientific he was, about his approach to the game, talking about how scientific he was, about his approach to the game. He wasn't just this magical Negro who was a mutant and just had this natural gift and ability. Of course, he had natural gifts, no more than you and I may have natural gifts and abilities in reading, empathizing with people or what have you, but he worked at it.
Maus:He had talent and he worked for it listen, you don't.
Zettler IV:You don't become a goat figure by accident you have to work for it. And, but not just work. You got to have your own personal curriculum. Work like you got to be working without permission reminds me of a lot of names come to mind, but I was recently reading about Edwin Land. Edwin Land is the founder of the Polaroid. You know what a Polaroid is?
Maus:No, what's a Polaroid so?
Zettler IV:there was once upon a time, not too long ago. So it was a camera and when you press the button to the camera a picture would come out sliding out, and then you give it about 10 seconds or so well, 30 got how long it was and a full picture would emerge. That was revolutionary but edward land. He created that and a whole and a host of other inventions. He was a scientist, it was a tinkerer, he was innovative. But it talks about how, when he went to Harvard, dropped out, he said, went to the New York Public Library and read everything there was to read about life.
Maus:When did he make it?
Zettler IV:That came after World War II. I don't know, off the top of my head. So, ok, I'll give you a reference point. So, college 17. Polaroid wasn't created until his late 30s, I believe. So he's been toiling in the industry for years, a couple decades, up to the point where he created Polaroid, which is another lesson man that Edwin Land. His curriculum wasn't what he did. You're not going to study and find in school. You know what I mean. You're going to have to in your field, in your area, in your realm. You're going to have to work in ways that can't be told to you. All you can do is just work, reading every book in the library on life, just like waking Cracker Dunn and working on basketball four times a day, like Kobe Bryant talks about in Mamba Mentality. Charlie Munger, the late Charlie Munger, talks about how he never has taken any course in chemistry, economics, psychology or business. He talks about the importance of being self-taught.
Maus:Every grad as work and have their own curriculum job.
Zettler IV:From what I've read, all indications go toward the lunacy of working, of a work ethic being central to success. Jay-z Rakim DM. All my friends read DMS autobiography the other day Very good.
Maus:I read it.
Zettler IV:Yeah, yeah. He talks about how much he used to write. He was incarcerated a lot and that's when he got his best writing in, and the fact that you know he treated incarceration as his reset and just wrote it from sunup sundown filled rings of notebook. Rakim talked about writing from 10 am to 12 midnight every day for a whole summer when he was I don't know young I don't know how young, maybe teenager Jay-Z, same thing. It's just that kind of thing, that pattern you just can completely see. So they treat Hank like he just was, this natural wunderkind that didn't treat it like a human who was magnificently blessed with the talent who work assiduously at developing. That's one thing I really don't want you to overlook.
Maus:He has several in his autobiography. He talks about his bottle cap to his broom.
Zettler IV:Yeah, yeah, I mean he can make his own baseballs with makeshift material, things of that nature. It's not about the technology and the tools, as much as what's in you and your gift and your ability and just your willingness to get after it without asking for permission. That's a tremendous takeaway from his story. But anyway, so yeah, wife, in the paper he loses it. He doesn't being disrespected about not being considerate for his man, about not having a mind of his own, about having his wife being put in the middle of something completely out of bound. It's, by the way, another untold, very little known story.
Zettler IV:When Hank Aaron first got to Atlanta, when the Atlanta Braves moved in from Milwaukee in 1966, there was an incident between his then wife at the time and tried to get into the game, but apparently the security guard was new or didn't know or whatever. He wouldn't let her in and tried to get through, wouldn't let her in. Next thing, she's getting a gun pulled out on her and she's getting arrested and charged. This is the wife of the best player in the league in his home city Home stadium, with his wife getting a gun pulled out to him and arrested. So this little stuff that he did, that's not even little. This is the stuff that he's dealing with. Atlanta is in this campaign and it's important to understand the role of Atlanta in this process of Henry Aaron breaking this record.
Maus:I heard the story where Atlanta was hot and humid, which means the ball stays in the air for longer, which helped Hank Aaron Long know that he could hit more home runs because the humid air makes it stick in the air for longer.
Zettler IV:Yeah, yeah, it's a story that you're talking about how he took his first batting practice when he first got to Atlanta-Fortin County Stadium and he noticed then, like you said, the ball carried here. And that's when he made a conscious choice in his career to shift from being a hits predominant person to a home run predominant person. And he did that by crowding the plate a little more and looking for pitch to pull. And what makes that remarkable is that his batting average it wasn't as high as it was, but he still managed to hit 300. In most of his years in Atlanta and I think his last year here he hit like 260s, which is remarkable considering that he hit in the 200s for the first three months after breaking Babe Ruth's record, which means he had to go on a tear to get an average of 260. But then I think he hit 260s, like in his average of 260. But then I think he hit 260, like in his third year here, but other than that he hit 300. Another ridiculous show of his ability to swear at baseball. But yeah, so Atlanta provided a necessary catalyst for him to be able to charge Babe Ruth's record, because when they first moved here people were not talking about his name, it was Willie. It was Willie.
Zettler IV:He had made that decision, and that's another thing, a theme in his career. He planned, it was all purpose, everything he set out to do. It wasn't through a happenstance, it was through deliberation, constitution, and these are the things that I often overlook when we talk about Henry Aaron the GOAT. So all this is happening, he's struggling, wife getting disrespected, he getting disrespected and he's not even being offered a contract. His contract was coming to a close and the Braves are, in subtle ways, making it clear that they don't want him around anymore. And so three biographies that I referenced. They have different takes on them, but I'm going to defer with the real Hank Aaron, the intimate look at the life and legacy of the home run king by Terence Moore, because he actually spent a lot of time talking to Hank Aaron about his post-Braves career and what was actually going on. And, according to Moore, henry wanted to retire after that season. If they had given him a front-offer position at the close of the season, he would retire as a Brave and went there, but they would not do that.
Maus:Dad, I have a question Did he ask for a position or did they just he said he wanted it, but he didn't ask for it, but they didn't give it to him. Or did he ask for it?
Zettler IV:These were ongoing conversations. Yeah, him and his representation made it clear that they wanted a front office position and what they want to offer and, in fact, Bartholomew Bray's owner at the time. He expressed regret for treating Hank like that on his way out the door. He didn't have the leadership or the gumption to you know what. Let's go ahead and just finish the job that Atlanta is boosting and go ahead and put this man in the front office position, where he deserves, because he is an excellent baseball mind and he is the greatest athlete that Atlanta professional sports has ever had and he did just break the top record of sports and he is a cool personality dad, I have a question.
Maus:I heard you once talk about Hank Aaron's brother.
Zettler IV:They didn't offer me no, no, great point, they did not. So Tommy Aaron was coaching in the minor leagues at the time that Hank was setting a record and he was doing well. And Hank was like, hey, if it ain't me, consider him, he's doing well, baseball guy, brother Aaron's no baseball. And they told Henry. They said, nah, he's doing such a good job in the minor league. We need him to stay focused on that.
Maus:What.
Zettler IV:And yeah, that's what he said too, because why would you put the welfare of a minor league team over the major league team that's bringing in millions of dollars for you? That absolutely makes no sense. It's all just little stuff. That is mind games. You insult my intelligence and all right, I think I'm about done with atlanta anywhere. So this is stuff that was happening in the aftermath of 7-15. So there's another key piece of Hank Aaron's life, too that deserves discussion when he did get his front office role. So he was traded from the Braves to the Milwaukee Brewers, owned by Bud Selig, and he played his last two years out for them. And then he was brought back into Atlanta by Ted Turner, whom I'll probably discuss at some point on this show, because he is a figure that you can't really talk about. The making of modern Atlanta without talking about Ted Turner is not only pivotal in the cable news industry, but he's critical in Hank Aaron's return to Atlanta, which played a role in Debray's future success in the 90s.
Maus:I have a question for Ted Turner. I know we're going to get to this later in the episode, but give me a little small way, ted.
Zettler IV:Turner is a cable magnate who inherited a billboard business from his father. His father had created a successful billboards business and Ted Turner was raised under his father's watchful and disciplined eye, and you know his dad, terry Turner, was the heir apparent. His dad ends up committing suicide and stress through business. I imagine it was a certain amount of stress personally as well. That I'm not sure of. That I'm not sure of. I look forward to finding that out. But I just know the gist of it is that Ted Turner was in his early 20s when his dad committed suicide and that left Ted Turner to pick up pieces. But think about it is Ted Turner made a name for himself by going to bat against one of his dad's businessmen. So apparently his dad has signed a business deal that was bad for the company and dad dies. And Ted says, hey, I'm looking at these numbers. Talking to the businessman whose dad signed a business deal with, he said I'm looking at this and this ain't right. He clearly wasn't in his right mind. Like we need to do something about this, can we do something about this? And this guy's like, hey, man, I respect your dad and all, but there's no way that I'm going to not do this deal. And so Ted Turner, through ingenuity, ends up finding a loophole in the deal and through that loophole, found a way to get it from out of the deal.
Zettler IV:And this is like the key thing to Ted Turner's career. He was that type of guy who you know, huh, just like any other great in history. What do you think Ted Turner did most of his time Reading about what Biography History Figure? Right, that's a commonality. You go be great at anything. Generally, the greats are students of their craft and their industry, anyway, so yeah, hank Aaron.
Zettler IV:So Ted Turner ends up taking that billboard industry and turning it into 24-7 cable news. You know how you have cable at one. When Hank Aaron was hitting these home runs, I think the cable news industry was just starting or about to start. That was rare ESPN, cnn, all these network stations that play all the time. That wasn't happening. Then Ted Turner ushered that in Atlanta and through that he ended up becoming the owner of the Braves and of the Hulk. And him being the owner of the Braves, he brought Hank Aaron as his foe and Aaron became a prominent member of the front office and he began to put together. See, and that's another thing, he doesn't get his credit for him helping put together the Braves too. The Atlanta Braves manager right now, brian Snicker. That was Hank Aaron's last hire.
Maus:When did Snicker leave the Braves? I don't know. I think maybe when did he leave the Braves.
Zettler IV:I don't know. I think maybe in the 2000s when the team was sold to Liberty, but I'm not sure. I'm not sure, but he had played a big part, like Chipper Jones pick. I don't know if y'all know Chipper Jones Hall of Fame switch, hitter, extraordinaire. He was number one pick by the Atlanta Braves in 1990. However, he wasn't their number one choice at the time. There was another player who was their number one choice by the name of Todd Van Poppel. You know who Todd Van Poppel is?
Maus:No.
Zettler IV:I know you don't Me and others don't either and if it wasn't for Hank Aaron, they probably would have drafted him. This is from a story from the Morris biographical account how they was all Bobby Cox who was the general manager at the time. They was enthralled with Van Poppel and it was Hank that's the one that talked them into going with Chipper instead of him, david Justice, mark Lemke, tomke, tom glaver run again. These are big figures in their championship run, not to say that john sherholtz, who's their general man the time. I'm sorry I said bobby cox is a general manager then, but bobby cox was actually their manager around the time that they was talking about Draco Chipper Jones.
Zettler IV:But John Sherholtz and Bobby Cox they're considered the two folks who architected the Braves' dynasty in the 90s and they do deserve their credit. Henry Aaron was the head of player development, but his name is not mentioned at all when they talk about these Braves runs in the 90s and check. Look up Google Bra. Talk about these Braves runs in the 90s and check for yourself. Look up Google Braves championship Braves, 1990s run and see how many times you hear Hank Aaron's name associated with that.
Maus:I didn't even know. Aaron was in the front office for the 90s.
Zettler IV:Yeah, a lot of people did, and it's a little stuff like that that is disrespectful. It's not even slight disrespectful. There's this 37 page PDF interview with Henry Aaron and I forget the author, but he talks about his keys to success and I want highlight that y'all because I feel like it's just very instructive focus, ability to concentrate at will, visualization. He talks about how he didn't pay much attention to his mechanic and his form but the ball colliding with his guest hitting zone really had about repeating his key and if you are the type that get bored easily, you're probably glossed over because he says pretty much the same thing throughout the interview. But if you're a seeker, you will see that for what it is and what that is, a parallel of what every other great achiever does.
Maus:All of what he says is connected in some way.
Zettler IV:You know how I was talking about, how he was at the Rialto and they asked him what do you think about it? And if he could do it again, he wouldn't do it. Looking at the last day and the sixth championship, how much in delirium and ecstasy they were of winning. And I was just thinking that's how it should be when you are better at your field, at your craft, than anybody else in the history of your field and your craft, you should be able to enjoy the boon of your work. But Henry Aaron, whom they called the rookie rocket, the hammer it was. He tasted bitter fruits from his experience, but he left a bountiful harvest for us. It reminds me of the story of Prometheus. You familiar with that story? No, Prometheus was a god who took fire and brought it to humanity, the civilization. And because he took fire from the gods, brought it to humanity, he was punished for it, Punished. He was punished for Punished. So he managed to get the fire, got the gift, but he couldn't enjoy it because that was his penalty for doing that.
Maus:So basically what you're saying is Hank Aaron did all this work and went through very rough challenges. He didn't really get. He got some pleasure, but we're the one that really gets the heart of it, that really gets the big, the most pleasure, because we didn't go do all that stuff that he went through. So that's the bitter fruit in a big car, yeah he couldn't enjoy what he worked for especially with that front office thing and him joining the Braves.
Zettler IV:They passed it up, they gave him a nice check and he was able to get his businesses off the ground and continue to live after all that. But he also continued to speak up against Major League Baseball's hiring practice, and every time he would speak up about it he'd get this come on, why are you doing this? What are you so grumpy for? They give you a life, they give you everything. Why, why nick the game that's giving you so much?
Maus:They've also taken away a bunch from. They gave him death threats. They gave him a bunch of trauma Not trauma. They gave him incidents that weren't Unnecessary.
Zettler IV:Right. Yeah, I don't know if you heard Recently the Negro League's stats would be included with Major League Player's stat and it's been updated and Ty Cobb is no longer the batter with the highest batting average now. Who has the highest batting average now? Major League slash, negro League history.
Maus:You told me that, but it's Josh Gibson.
Zettler IV:I'll just be repeating myself over. I forget who I tell. I say the same thing all the time. But it's Josh Gibson. I'll just be repeating myself over. I forget who I tell. I say the same thing all the time. Yeah, josh Gibson, josh. And Josh Gibson is a name that we've heard in lore. You know he's known for this guy who hit this 800-foot home run. I don't know what they said. I don't know. You know how these stories happen Hit a home run that still ain't landed yet. Hit a home run that still ain't landed, yet. He hit over 800 home runs. The main thing is he is representative of so many players that was denied an opportunity to make good money and exercise their talent because of the hue of their skin. Josh Gibson is number one, ty Cobb number two. Number three is Oscar Charleston, with another name. So we got so many names of folks who have been denied this opportunity. When Hank Aaron speaks out, he's speaking out. Yeah, he had the fruits. He's done his thing. But how many thousands of people were denied?
Maus:a bunch of people. I have a question about the Negro League status. Do they include, like home run records, and are there any changes on that?
Zettler IV:I don't know about here, but the home run record is still intact. Barry Lamar Barnes is still the top at 762, with Hank Aaron being number two on the list, and this is ongoing. So as they continue to unearth research about this time, they're going to come up with these new things. But yeah, except for Page, he didn't even get to the major leagues until I don't know he's like in his 40s and got people who played against him in the major league hailing his greatness, saying he's the best pitcher they've ever seen, all this stuff. So it's this boom, it's this thing that we gotta remember in his 50 year anniversary.
Zettler IV:When Jackie Robinson first came to the league, there was 0% African American. When Hank Aaron retired from major league baseball, it was at his peak of African American players, players. I think something like 23-24% of the league were African-American. Ten years later guess what? That number was Lower than that. I think it was something around 8-9%, I think, even now. I think now is something around. So there has been a decline from when Hank Aaron retired from baseball to now, and their reason was discovered through this, in large part through this series done by the aforementioned journalist, terrence Moore, whom full disclaimer I do know he has been extremely helpful to my career as far as journalism. Nevertheless, he ran a series in 1982 entitled Blacks in Baseball, in which he discovered that on Major League Baseball scouting forums there was a category for race. Now you may be wondering what's wrong with that. There is no category for race in the NBA scouting report or in the NFL scouting report, but there's a category for race in baseball.
Maus:Why would they care about that?
Zettler IV:You categorize that so you can limit it. You keep track of it so you can control it. So that's you know. That story came out and you know because they would say well, black people don't play baseball anymore because they're not interested, it's expensive and they just rather do other things. But that's not true. Why would anybody deny themselves the opportunity to make millions of dollars in a field where there's no salary cap?
Maus:Ew, that doesn't make sense. That doesn't make sense, yeah.
Zettler IV:You know, the systematic push has been happening for a while. Hank Aaron talked about that, A lot of other folks talked about that and nothing has been done to change that. Now you have, you know, more people who are more African-American coaches now than there was. Shout out to Dusty Baker.
Maus:There's more Latinos and different people from different countries.
Zettler IV:It's crazy. George Foster, big Red Machine, kyle Hill and he played for the Mets. In his article in his Blacks in Baseball series that Terrence Moore did, he said he made a prediction. He said they're bringing in more Hispanic Latin Americans because they're cheaper. And Gary Sheffield said something about that years later and that was considered controversial. It's controversial in the sense that it's a sinister scheme, but it ain't controversial in the sense that it's a lie and it's just one of those things. As soon as we all come to grips that it is what it is, they're pushing for a certain amount of, I guess they're pushing for a certain amount of one rate control control of numbers, the word I kept trying to figure out.
Zettler IV:I said I guess it's chromatism. They want a certain hue and a look of things, because why is it that it would be beneficial to people to control the numbers of African Americans in a particular way?
Maus:No real reason, they're just being racist.
Zettler IV:But why? Perhaps if you open the floodgates for folks to get in, then certain people will be out of a job. Whenever you see things like that, it's generally evidence of zero-sum mentality. More of them means less of us, instead of the mentality of more of them means more talent, better products, more competition.
Maus:What brings in more money for the people, for the owners. Why would they even do that? It doesn't make sense for the people, for the owners, so why would they even do that? It doesn't make sense in the first place. If you have better players that are having competition that gives you more money, they're just being rich.
Zettler IV:So yeah, nba, the Boston Celtics, brett Albeck was genius enough to realize hey, man, let me just get these black folks on this team on the court and we go outrun folks and we go outplay people and out and just be better at basketball. And Celtics established their dynasty because the rest of the NBA were too myopic to adapt to that mindset. And you see it all throughout different industries and different areas. The movie film industry was suffering in the 70s and then you had this stream of black movies, many of which are called black exploitation films, that come into theaters and black folks came to theaters and it saved the movie industry. Nbc struggling Before Bill Cosby's show came on and lifted their rating.
Zettler IV:The thing with Foxby's show came on and lifted their rating. The Anthony Foxx before In Living Color came on and lifted their ratings. Martin and all these streaming shows you see this all throughout just floundering. Marvel's struggling now, but Marvel's really struggling. And then Blade came out with West Snipes starting the titular character, and Marvel industry sets off. So I mean, you see this all the time. If you bring the talent, the ratings will show for itself. But what happens is when you try to curtail talent, then you have a weaker product and you have obvious claims of discrimination. And we are at minute number 44. Quinn, I wanted to end 44.
Maus:Go.
Zettler IV:Hey y'all. Happy 50th anniversary to the home run king. He passed away in January of 2021, I believe, and his life continues to serve as a model. He inspired my father tremendously. He inspires me tremendously.
Maus:He inspires me tremendously.
Zettler IV:And millions of others. So while I understand I saw his pain of the dignity humanity stripped from him during his record-breaking chase I also remember the life that he's given, the dedication to his craft, the thinking, the focus and the ability to defy ruinous, hateful opposition. Rest in peace to Hammerin' Henry Aaron. Thank you, hello.
Maus:Hello, today I will be recording a section of letters that were written by fans to Hank Aaron. Dear Nigger Aaron, Some blacks we admire and respect, but we can't tolerate cocky niggers like you. Dear Hank Aaron, you are very fortunate that your ancestors were brought over to this country, even though they were slaves. Now, don't you know that these slaves had a much better life over here than they would have if they had not been brought to America, than they would have if they had not been brought to America? Now these natives living in Africa need your help. They want you to send them money to dig wells, for you see, by the enclosed paper, that they do not have enough water, that they do not have enough water, Knowing that you have been raking in the money from a good many sources and also knowing that you can well afford to help these people, your people also. If you do want to manage, then go over to Africa and manage to dig these wells that are so badly needed. They really need you in Africa and you should go by any means.
Maus:Some things that make me really inspired by Hank Aaron. I'm inspired by him the way he just handled all of this situation. He was a black man in the 60s, 50s, had to deal with all of this Death threats, death threats to his kids. He still beat the record. All that that's on a whole nother level. He wasn't scared. In his book he talks about as soon as he got in the field nothing, he shut everything off that was happening in the world and he just focused on the field. That's what he says in his books. I'm inspired that he still pushed on even though, like death threats were sent to him. He was in Atlanta, a city with a lot of Confederate monuments. Yeah, that's why I'm inspired by him. Rest in peace to Hank Aaron. Love him.
