You know you are getting old when you can vividly remember a baseball game from forty years ago, but this was a landmark moment in my childhood and for baseball. Check out my essay "A Boy, His Granddad, and the Monumental Courage of Henry Aaron" on the fantastic web magazine The Bitter Southerner where I tell my story about being a seven-year-old in my grandfather's lap watching the epic home run 715 by Henry Louis Aaron.
1 comment:
Hey,
I just came across this story today. It brought back a lot of memories. I was at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati on April 4, 1974. I saw Hank Aaron hit 714 off Jack Billingham. It was his first at bat that day and he hit it on his first swing. I was 11 at the time. I was there with my parents. I told my mom that he was gonna tie the record at that at bat.
I was so glad to be there that day especially since there was even talk of postponing opening day that year due to the damage from the tornadoes that tore through Cincinnati, and other cities in Ohio, the day before.
I watched Hank hit 715 on TV with my dad. We were big baseball fans. We went to a lot of Reds games and watched many more on TV. He indulged many of my youthful baseball obsessions.
I wish he was still around. I definitely would have read him your story
Thanks,
Rick
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