Hammerin' Hank's role model

Here is an excerpt of a journal entry that I found interesting because it is about one baseball legend's encounter with another baseball legend that convinced him to pursue a career as a professional athlete.

"We had seen the Negro Leagues play, but this was history in the making. Everything that Jackie did was put up here. He'd take infield practice and batting practice, and he'd put on a show. I didn't see the game that day, but I skipped shop class to hear him speak in a little community place on Davis Avenue. Jackie was a hero and an icon, somebody you looked up to because he was paving the way for something we were denied for so long. When he came through Mobile, everybody wanted to see him. I was very excited. He was a major-leaguer, and there he was speaking. I was so in awe of him, just the idea that it was Jackie Robinson. I told my father that day that I'd be in the big leagues before Jackie retired." (Aaron, 1999)

This is very interesting to me because the oung boy who was excited to see Robinson speak was Henry (Hank) Aaron as a teenager. Hank Aaron would later go on to be the all-time home runs leader with 755 in the span of his professional career.

Source:

Aaron, H. (1999). The Color Barrier. Newsweek, 134(17), (n.p.).