The Real Hank Aaron by Terence Moore

Author:Terence Moore [Moore, Terence]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781637270455
Publisher: Triumph Books
Published: 2022-03-24T22:26:00+00:00

Seventh Inning: Hank’s Dixiecrats on the Braves

With the CNN folks still waiting for our arrival to the golf club, with the rain still crashing from the sky, with the driver of the car sent by the cable channel still rattling on about all things Hank Aaron through mesmerized eyes, and with the strikingly high distance still not shrinking from the sidewalk to the floor of the front passenger’s side of the vehicle, I attempted to help the tired and aching man out of the wheelchair. One foot at a time, I thought.

That, and I prayed.

“Listen, can you grab Hank’s other arm and let’s see if we can do this without getting somebody hurt?” I told the driver, who nodded as he tried holding the umbrella he had over us with one hand while he used his other to do whatever he could do with the tired and aching man.

The driver couldn’t do much, but the prayers worked. Somehow, despite a few close calls here and there involving the head, the arms, and the fingers of the tired and aching man as we struggled to get him seated in one piece, it was done.

Well, that part was over. While my phone kept ringing and buzzing (“Are you here yet?”) as I climbed into the back seat, positioning myself directly behind the tired and aching man, the driver kept talking all things Hank Aaron, as Hank Aaron tried each time—courtesy of his contagious laugh, easy smile, and occasional “Why, thank you. Thank you very much”—to become Hank Aaron for that moment instead of the tired and aching man.

Oh, boy, I thought, as I called the CNN producer to say we were on our way. If we pull this off, I thought some more, it will rank somewhere on the all-time fantasy scale between the stuff of Mother Goose and those who run baseball saying they’re really trying to get more African Americans involved in every aspect of the game while keeping straight faces.

Jackie always saw through those straight faces.

So did Hank.

Just before Henry Louis Aaron turned 73 on February 5, 2007, he was in a reflective mood during one of our chats at Turner Field. His thoughts involved the good, the bad, and the ugly (and boy, was there ugly) after his post-playing days turned into his ongoing role as an executive with the Atlanta Braves. Time Warner was on the verge of selling the franchise to Liberty Media, and Hank thought about Ted Turner, the cable television maverick who bought the team in the spring of 1976. Turner hired the suddenly-retired Braves icon that fall.

Hank thought about Terry McGuirk, Turner’s right-hand man who was much more than that. McGuirk was such the glue for all of Turner’s endeavors (TBS, CNN, the Braves, the Atlanta Hawks, and the Atlanta Thrashers) that both Time Warner in 1996 and Liberty Media about a decade later kept McGuirk around when they purchased the Braves. It allowed McGuirk to continue as the final decision-maker for the franchise on just about everything.

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