Hank Aaron played for the Jacksonville Braves in 1953.
The Braves were the Class A affiliate of the Milwaukee Braves, who would become the Atlanta Braves in 1966.
During his time with the Jacksonville Braves the team was owned by Jacksonville businessman, Samuel W. Wolfson.
Wolfson had been impressed by many of the players in the Negro American League and decided to integrate his team.
Three black players from the Braves farm system – Hank Aaron, Félix Mantilla, and Horace Garner, came to Jacksonville in 1953, making the Braves one of the first integrated teams in the South Atlantic League and in the state of Florida.
This was before Wolfson Park was built or even thought of and the Jacksonville Braves played at Durkee Field off Eighth Street, now known as J.P. Small Memorial Stadium.
“The original stadium was destroyed in a fire in 1936, but the city immediately rebuilt it in 1936-1937. The new structure was larger, and included a section for African American patrons in the era of segregation. The field is part of the history of segregated African American baseball. In 1938 and from 1941 to mid-1942, Jacksonville’s only Negro league franchise, the Jacksonville Red Caps of the Negro American League, used the park as their home field.”
~Wikipedia
Photo courtesy of the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp
Hank Aaron, back row, far right.
During his time in Jacksonville Mr. Aaron lived a few blocks from Durkee Field and would walk to and from the ballpark.
The Braves won the league championship that year with Aaron leading the league with 115 runs, 208 hits, 36 doubles, 125 runs batted in and a .362 batting average. He won the league’s Most Valuable Player Award and was one of the first African-Americans to play in the league according to the Baseball Hall of Hame which he was inducted into in 1982, on the first ballot, “following an illustrious MLB career highlighted by 755 career home runs. Aaron famously broke Ruth’s longstanding home run record on April 8, 1974 — hitting his 715th homer at home in Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium”
“There’s a drive into left-center field. That ball is gonna be … Outta here! It’s gone! It’s 715! There’s a new home run champion of all-time, and it’s Henry Aaron.”
~Braves radio announcer Milo Hamilton
“What a marvelous moment for baseball. What a marvelous moment for Atlanta and the state of Georgia. What a marvelous moment for the country and the world,” Scully said. “A black man is getting a standing ovation in the Deep South for breaking the record of an all-time baseball idol. And it is a great moment for all of us, and particularly for Henry Aaron …”
~Dodgers announcer Vin Scully
Something else happened that night, Aaron’s bodyguard, Calvin Wardlaw kept his revolver holstered, but for a moment he thought he might have to shoot. That moment was when two young white men jumped a fence and ran beside Aaron as he rounded 2nd base.
In a matter of seconds Wardlaw gauged their intent to be good and took his hand off of the revolver. But why did Aaron need an armed bodyguard when the stadium was giving him a standing ovation?
Why? Maybe because to half the country he was a nigger, not a hero.
Maybe because even though he received an award from the USPS for most mail received during his run up to breaking the record, only a little more than half those letters were cheering him on, the rest were death threats and insults.
“It was supposed to be the greatest triumph of my life, but I was never allowed to enjoy it. I couldn’t wait for it to be over,” he once said. “The only reason that some people didn’t want me to succeed was because I was a Black man.”
Mr. Aaron hit .305 over his career, accounting for 2,297 runs batted in and 6,856 total bases — both of which remain all-time records. After his retirement, the widely respected player went on to be an executive for the Atlanta Braves.
In 1999, the 25th anniversary of Aaron’s breaking Ruth’s record, Bud Selig, Commissioner of Baseball, created the Hank Aaron Award dedicated to honoring the best offensive player in each league.
Mr. Aaron would return to Jacksonville three times.
The first was in March of 1955, just two weeks after Wolfson Park officially opened. The Milwaukee Braves played an exhibition game against the Brooklyn Dodgers. Just over 8200 fans were there to watch a game that had 9 future Hall of Famers together in Jacksonville; Henry Aaron, Eddie Mathews, Roy Campanella, Aaron’s boyhood idol Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider and Pee Wee Reese all saw action that day. The Braves’ pitcher, Warren Spahn and Dodgers reliever Tommy Lasorda watched the game from the bench while. Walter Alston was the Dodgers’ manager.
The second was to attend a Jacksonville Sun’s banquet in his honor at the George Washington Hotel in 1970.
Hank Aaron signs autographs at Jacksonville Sun’s banquet, 1970
Photo courtesy of Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp
The third and last visit to Jacksonville was on July 27, 2019 for an appearance at a Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp game to celebrate his 85th birthday, according to the Jacksonville Free Press.
Henry Louis Aaron, nicknamed “Hammer” or “Hammerin’ Hank” died today, he was 86 years old.