Me and Hank : a boy and his hero, twenty-five years later / Sandy Tolan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tolan, Sandy.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Aaron, Hank, 1934-2021.

Aaron, Hank.

Baseball players--United States--Biography.

Baseball players.

United States.

Tolan, Sandy.

Genre:

Biographies.

Autobiographies.

Physical Description:

vii, 311 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Free Press, 2000.

Summary:

When Sandy Tolan was nine years old, his hero left town. In 1965 Henry Aaron and the Milwaukee Braves moved to Atlanta, but unlike the other Milwaukee kids, Sandy continued to follow Aaron's career from afar, straining to hear the games at night through the crackle of distant AM radio stations. Aaron's heroics provided an anchor for Sandy in the turbulent late '60s and early '70s, and the young white fan felt a bond with the black superstar.

In 1973, Sandy began keeping a scrapbook to track his idol's approach to the greatest record in sports--Babe Ruth's 714 career home runs. But he soon learned that Hank Aaron had become the target of racist hate mail and death threats. Shocked and wishing to help somehow, he wrote Aaron a letter, saying, "Don't listen to them, Mr. Aaron. You're my hero." To his astonishment, he got a letter back. "Dear Sandy," the baseball legend wrote, "Your letter of support and encouragement meant much more to me than I can adequately express in words."

Twenty-five years later, armed with his scrapbook and the old letter, Sandy Tolan went to Atlanta to meet his hero. Me and Hank is his account of baseball, heroism, race, and childhood dreams, as he taps the bittersweet recollections of the home run king and those around him.

Contents:

1 The Encounter 23

2 Bittersweet Embrace 41

3 Shadow of the Babe 59

4 Hometown 75

5 Newly South 107

6 Separate Memories 131

7 A Hero in the Neighborhood 151

8 Hall of Fame 175

9 Big Blue 203

10 Values 239

11 Inheritance 271.

ISBN:

0684971300

OCLC:

43615486