Newspaper Page Text
Page6
July 19, 2007
Opinion
An Open Letter to Henry Aaron
Dear Mr. Aaron,
It is with respect and
familiar with, hzvmi‘:cmdy
owned a car dealership here in the
reminisced to me about the days
when you came to Augusta, play
ing baseball at the historical
Jennings Stadium as a minor lea-
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Walton Way, he knew then that
you would be a star in the majors
before long. 1 also have fond
mamicofd\edaydmlbfiu
my first baseball card; it a
photo of you on it.
All of the baseball fanatics
chimed to be prognosticators on
who would make it real big in
baseball. He told me that they
always knew you were going to be
something spedial; but what they
were not able to anticipate was
how big a star youd become,
breaking the carcer home run
record of the immortal Babe
Ruth. The subject of home runs
has put you back into the lime
light again as Barry Bonds is
approaching your record of 755.
Thisisfit:idydxcmmdml
would like to discuss with you. I
have some serious concerns about
aquote that is attributed to you by
various media. They say that you
have expressed litde or no interest
in Barry's pursuit of your home
run record. Quite frankly, I have
been somewhat shocked by this
comment and wonder if it is accu
rate. The Media does not always
quote individuals correcdy. Your
own history would tend to belie
such a response, but I will get to
tha later.
A few of the media outlets have
even resentful of Barry's quest and
suggesting that you have no inter
est in being present for the accom
plishment of the feat, should it
Article /g/'.>lf'/(//_l'_~/'.\ PRII ////<';‘/);'¢ ALy
happen. Furthermore, they say
that you have not considered
making any plans to witness it in
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Aaron, we acknowledge
that whether y(;;nnkc an
attempt o view surpassing
shot is, without a doubt, deary
mnm:ymw}'dx:l:mcmhr ilar senti
ments ing Barry's pursuit.
HmldsEm:thopcdm
you have not let your otherwise
negative feclings get caught up in
the anti-Bonds’ aura that is race
based and has nothing to do with
real substance — most of the
that he has used steroids — a
banned substance, as an aid to his
highly successful baseball career.
Odusoomcxmt out and say
that they don't like Barry because
he be “more ing,” espe
ciallymd\cpmsandg':sWhm
a player has hit as many home
runs and won as many Golden
Gloves as Bonds has won with his
exquisite fielding, how much
more engaging does one have to
be? How much more would he
have to do to just avoid being vil
ified? It obviously takes a lot more
than Barry has been willing to
give. The vitriol teems.
Let's talk first about the steroids.
It has never been proven that the
8-time Golden Gloves winner has
taken steroids He only has been
accused but so have many others
been accused. However, none of
the others accused have been vili
fied like Bonds. Bonds is innocent
undl proven guilty. Even so, the
ban on steroids was not in effect
procedure for protection back in
the not so distant past. As of
today, he has not had his day in
court on the marter. Innocent
undlpmvc:afuihyisabedmd(
constitutio principle in
America. Bonds is an American.
AUGUSTA FOCUS
court that he's gone before is that
dp\onl:‘l;.KmTMooumdn
one opinion, happens o
be the same one that accuses him
of having a bad attitude. It is not
a streech of the imagination w
assert that some will accuse him of
ing, just because they don't
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we Americans are protected by a
document called the
Constitution, one would have no
reason to rush to j t with
out suffident evidence. w@cmof
the opinion that the public’s
indicting attitude about steroid
use is no more than a pretext for a
decper resentment. They don't
like his artitude — aligned with his
dont hit homeruns; a bascball
player with a bat in his hand and
a m exceptional hand-eye
ination is the one who hits
as many home runs as Bamy
Bonds has hit. There are many,
many baseball players who have
been accused of taking steroids. It
is so funny that only a handful of
them have hit enough home runs
to get anyone's attention. Could it
be that because the Babe's record is
ing threatened again, this is giv
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This then brings us to the atti
tude thing. This is an easy one.
Why did the public accept so
gracefully Mark Mc Guires less
than cooperative attitude when he
appeared before a Senate hearing
committee in the nation’s Capitol
to talk about sterdid use in base
ball? There was virtually no ran
cor from the media. Mc Guire as
much as told them he was not
going to talk to them about any
thing he did not want to talk to
them about. They got absolutely
nothing out of him but plenty of
artitude. Yet, there was no hue
and ary about his uncooperative
spirit and independent attitude.
Pundits said that he was coura
geous. This artitude came from a
guy who has been accused of tak
:?somedungandlmhnaband
home runs. It was exciu
Mmlnmmh'smbtm
e e o i Whigon, Why
the orin i
then does the media want Bonds
to smile and kiss up to them
avoid their ynwarranted wrath?
The rule of thumb is thar Black
athletes have to smile and be a
healthy bundle of personality tw
avoid the ugly and nasty pens of
jealous sports writers. Those who
smile are great guys. Those who
don't have bad atutudes. This isa
script that comes right out of slav
ery. A black man is asked to give
his di 'tymbcaa:g:;d—
:'i\cdmdlficuis on the of
sports, the boardroom, or dty
government. Bonds has not fallen
into that trap; he has pride. He
has held his pride and his individ
ual right to be himself, just as ath
letes who are white are automat
aally entided to do so. To deny
Bonds that right is tantamount to
invoking the Naturalization Act of
1790 against him. This act limit
ed the right of becoming a natu
ralized citizen to whites, exduding
blacks and Asians. Again, this
thing about attitude is the media’s
demand for him to kiss up, a
mquixuncntdmisnotmxgof
his white counterparts. Barry is
his own man and he should be
allowed such.
The media has carefully sorted
black athletes into two discrete
groups: Those that they deem to
“be good” and the ones that they
deem to “bebad.” The ones that
might exist in between are invisi
ble men or women. The ones
who are good smile and have
bad don't play the smiling game.
That does not mean that they are
bad. They are just determined to
have that inner self match the
outer self — otherwise defined as a
preservation of the soul. Their
souls are not for sale.
their racism by saying that it is not
about race. They say that Bonds
would be breaking your record,
that of a Black man. Therefore, it
is not about color. That assertion
is weak and without substance.
Hank, you must remember the
unwarranted assaults that were
hurled at you. You had a very
similar experience. Do you
dose to breaking Babe Ruth’s
crcer home run record —how
racists launched an artack agai
you. Can you imagine? They
came after you like wolves. The
hate mail and other threats against
you still serve as ugly footnotes in
the history of baseball and will for
ever remain a blight on race rela
dons in America. The Braves
organization took the threats seri
ously enough to assign a body
guard to protect you. This was
not the 1800 s, but 1974.
Have you forgotten how some
bigotmftedatfitcrtoyoudnt
summed up an intriguing set of
stereotypes, all in a short but hate
ful assertion? The sick individual
wrote: “There are three things
that you cannot give a black man:
a black eye, a puffed lip, and a
job.” In this one short sentence we
find so much hate. Psychologjsts
could have fun with that. That
short sentence amounts to a bit of
venom that is based on how we
appear to bigots and a sick and
warped perception of our work
ethicc. Such a statement is as
amazing as it is racist,
when just ten years m
1964, the Congress of the United
States of America had to craft a
Civil Rights Bill protecting our
mm get a job and work.
were “so lazy” untl they
See Aaron, page 8