This series looks at how Toronto’s press has covered historical events. This post is presented to mark the passing of baseball hall-of-famer Hank Aaron. Due to COVID restrictions, access to the Toronto Sun’s coverage is unavailable at this time.
Toronto Star, April 9, 1974.
It was the baseball story everyone had trailed for the past year – when would Hank Aaron break Babe Ruth’s record of 714 home runs? Entering his 21st season with the Atlanta Braves in 1974, he had been forced to play the team’s opening series in Cincinnati after baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn caught wind of plans to bench Aaron so that he could break the record at home in Atlanta.
Fate determined Aaron would hit #715 in Atlanta on April 8. Kuhn was not among those on hand.
Star columnist Milt Dunnell discussed the detours Aaron had faced over his long career:
The real measure of Aaron’s accomplishment is not that he finally eclipsed the most honored record in baseball – but that he got close. There were so many detours along the way.
When he attended high school, he played softball. The board of education at his black school had more urgent needs for its funds than the purchase of baseball gear.
He joined the Mobile Black Bears [a Negro League team] on graduation. Apparently, nobody bothered to tell him a cross-handed batter would wind up with the Indianapolis Clowns [another Negro League team whose antics bordered on those of the Harlem Globetrotters] – which was exactly what happened.
Even when he got to the Braves, you could say he was mishandled – if you want to be blunt. They used him at shortstop, second base, the outfield, and back to second. He never complained, although he did observe, somewhat wistfully, that he envied players who knew what their position was going to be.
Globe and Mail, April 9, 1974.
Compared to the Star’s staid coverage, the Globe and Mail‘s Louis Cauz tried to inject some life into his game summary.
His first swing at home in the fourth ining produced undoubtedly the most memorable moment that will occur this season. He had walked on five pitches in the second inning.
The powerful swing by the Braves’ 40-year-old slugger sent a towering drive to left centre. It was a a majestic smash.
The ball soared high through a misty Georgia sky as outfielders Jim Wynn and Bill Buckner raced back to the fence at the 385-foot sign.
But the ball was well over their heads and the fence as it bounced against a sign which said “Think of it as money – First National Bank.”
The ball Aaron smashed into a wind blowing from left to right was thrown by Los Angeles lefthander Al Downing.
Atlanta Constitution, April 9, 1974.
While small photos of Aaron celebrating his home run were printed on the front pages of the G&M and the Star, full front page coverage was provided in Atlanta.
Aaron wasn’t the only front-page sports story in Toronto that day. The Star reported that Metro Toronto chairman Paul Godfrey had failed to convince the federal government to allow a World Football League franchise to operate in the city. The feds felt the upstart league would prove a threat to the CFL. Decades on, Godfrey still occasionally muses that one of his unfulfilled dreams is to bring a professional American football franchise to Toronto. Dream on, Paul…
“Pursuing subject they share in common are Jeffrey King, this year’s Timmy, and Hank Aaron, baseball’s home run king, at Sports Celebrities Dinner at Royal York Hotel last night. Jeff, who was given baseball and bat by Aaron, is a pitcher despite loss of right arm from cancer. He also plays goal in hockey.” Photo by Dick Darrell, originally published in the February 14, 1975 edition of the Toronto Star. Toronto Star Photo Archive, Toronto Public Library, tspa_0028572f.
After the 1974 season, Aaron was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers, the city which had served as the Braves’ home during the first 12 years of Aaron’s major league career. During the offseason, he attended the Sports Celebrities Dinner in Toronto, an annual fundraiser for the Ontario Society for Crippled Children (now Easter Seals Ontario).
Aaron told Star columnist Jim Proudfoot that he found all the press attention which had surrounded the record breaker was ironic.
For 20 years, I was a mediocre player and the press never bothered with me. Suddenly, I was giving three press conferences a day. I’d remind them I didn’t start hitting home runs five years ago. I’d been hitting them since 1954. They used to speculate whether Mickey Mantle or Harmon Killebrew or somebody would break Babe Ruth’s record and then they’d say that oh, yes, that fellow in Atlanta, he may have a chance too.
Aaron also commented on the race factor in the volume of endorsements and economic benefits his record brought him. “I think it’s fair to say that if I was white and playing in New York, this record would have been worth another $5 or $6 million to me.”
Sources: the April 9, 1974 edition of the Globe and Mail, and the April 9, 1974 and February 14, 1975 editions of the Toronto Star.
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