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In a recent conversation, I had with my

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brother law, He revealed something to me that

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I never knew.

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Although I've known him for more and 35

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years.

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He told me that he was

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in River front stadium

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that didn't that Henry Aaron

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tide Babe ruth all time home run record

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on 04/04/1974.

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He was a 9 years old, and he

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was at the game with his dad,

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and he came upon the tickets

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quite by happens stands.

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His dad was an insurance agent and a

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colleague of his

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wasn't able to attend the game, and he

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had 2 tickets, so he gave the tickets.

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As to my brother and law's dad and

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they went.

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And he suddenly they were box seats that

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were pretty good.

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He had a really good view of Hank

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Aaron Alm run. He to told me that

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the ball was hit very high and then

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it drifted to the left. And when First

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left is bad, he didn't think it had

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enough power to leave the ball park, but

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then it became obvious it was going to.

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The irony is,

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Even though I watched Hank hungarian

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700 and fifteenth home run, the following Monday

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on television.

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I didn't really see it at all.

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My name is Byron Cope, and this is

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all about baseball.

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The podcast whose named for phil its purpose

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to cover baseball from all possible angles.

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Sometimes baseball is the main character.

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Sometimes it plays a porting role, and sometimes

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it's a silent partner.

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Because Hank Air hit home run number 07:13,

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the porting previous season

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on the next the last day of the

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season against the Houston Astro.

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He had the entire off season of 19

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73 and 19 74 to anticipate breaking babe

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record.

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And that's not something he was happy about

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Having witnessed that time in my life, I

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was a 17 year old kid, the happy

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patient for Aaron breaking that record,

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among baseball fans like me was pal.

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I'm sure Aaron would have wanted to broke

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in the record

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prior to the end of the 19 73

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season, but it just didn't work out that

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way.

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In fact,

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it wasn't until 19 71

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when he hit his 600 home run on

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April 20 seventh

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of that year against Gay lord. It Perry

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in Fulton County Stadium did the discussion of

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him breaking Aaron's record really begin. Even though

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the focus

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narrowed on Aaron during that off season of

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19 73.

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The spotlight began to be shown upon him

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3 years earlier. And if you do the

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math,

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and given that Aaron didn't look like he

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was slowing down at age 37.

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He only needed 3 years to break the

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record,

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and that was pretty much in in line

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with the ass average number of home runs.

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He hit throughout his career, which was 32.

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So he had a hundred and 14 home

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runs

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in a little than 3 years to break

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the record.

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At the end of the 19 71 season,

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Henry Had hundred and 39 home runs. At

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the end of the 19 72 season,

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Henry Aaron had 673

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home runs. So by then, it was just

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a matter of time that Aaron going to

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break the record, and it's something that he

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wanted to do very much, but at the

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same time, was not at all happy with

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the attention and pressure that was put him.

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Henry Aaron set a record of another kind,

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and that is the number of pieces of

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male received by a single individual during a

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calendar year.

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Was roughly 900000,

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and that's validated by the Us poll service.

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A third of that male was hate mail.

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Mail from people who didn't want to see

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Henry Aaron in break Babe record.

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And we were reading about the Hate mail

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he was getting at the time. He attracted

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the attention of the Fbi he was getting

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death threats,

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some of the letters that have been made

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public are horrific

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in their vi

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and visceral vicious if you don't mind the.

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Obviously, rife with racial epi,

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which is probably the main, well, not probably,

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which was the main reason why the people

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who wrote Aaron wrote those letters. But I

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just wanna paint the picture if you will,

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of the pressure that Henry Aaron was under

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during that year,

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prior to breaking the record and during the

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off season when he came so close to

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doing it.

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Home runs 714

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was an event that was celebrated

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at River front stadium,

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present there was

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vice president Gerald Ford,

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baseball commissioner or B june

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and Chairman of the board

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for the atlanta Brave Bill bart,

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each of them offered commenced to Aaron supporting

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his accomplishment.

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But we Ke and gave him a trophy,

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comme his his time the record and Bart

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gave him a plaque. And they all uttered,

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you know, pla platoon of, like, it's good

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for baseball. You're a gentleman,

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but we Ke said that a, you're a

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great ball player, but a better gentleman and

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I para rephrase that. And I think that

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was in reference to the way he

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was such dignity and grace

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outward endured,

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the pressure and the attention that he was

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getting

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for breaking a record that many felt was

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hall and that would never be broken. When

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would his turn to speak on that day.

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After thanking vice president Gerald Ford,

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commissioner B K and Bart. He said,

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I'm glad it's almost over.

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So obviously, by this time, Aaron was ready

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to break the record to the point where

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even though he didn't play on Saturday, April

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sixth in Cincinnati. He played on Sunday, April

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seventh with 3 at Bats, but he went

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out 3 with 2 strike outs.

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So perhaps he really was in a hurry

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to get this over with.

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And if you

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review some of the quotations that he had

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in the comments that he had,

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quote, every day becomes a little tougher because

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of all of this. Writers, tape recorders, microphones,

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cameras, questions and more questions.

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Roger Mari lost his hey the season he

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at 61.

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I still have all my hair. But when

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it's over,

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I'm going home to mobile and fish for

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a long time, unquote,

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So on the night of 04/08/1974,

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my dad and I were sitting in front

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of the television set. In anticipation of Aaron

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breaking his record that night, hoping he would

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do it

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that it would get all over with as

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he wanted. And that we would witness a

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moment of history was unlike any other

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that had ever happened before since.

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Aaron's first at bat, he walked

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much to the sugar of the sellout proud

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that boone every pitch that missed the strike

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zone delivered by Dodge Pitcher A downing.

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After 3 and a half innings, the dodgers

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were winning 3 to 1,

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and Aaron was due up second in the

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bottom of the fourth,

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and the broadcast went to commercial.

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Then the phone rang my dad jumped up

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to answer it,

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spoke for a short time during the commercial.

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Just as the brought podcast broadcast feed came

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back on, he came back into the living

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room and changed the television channel.

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Much to my amazement,

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And what he changed it to was something

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that was very strange. It was like, some

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kind of nature program on Pbs. And I

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I just looked at him. I didn't say

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anything. I just looked at him.

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And he said a friend of mine called

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and said this would be interesting. And and

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I just still looked at him thinking

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myself,

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this is on every night.

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What we're about to witness

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will never happen again,

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and has never happened in our time.

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It was truly a bespoke event,

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and here I am watching ants eat leaves

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on public tele vision.

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And for what seemed like an eternity,

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I stared that screen. I dare not tell

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him to change the station. I didn't... I

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just...

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Well, I wasn't where to do that. I

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figured he would change it.

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But he went back and sat down on

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the couch.

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In the meantime,

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the fourth inning was underway,

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and I looked at him

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after a long sum and I said dad,

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I'm gonna change the channel. I didn't ask

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permission. I just got up and changed the

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channel.

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And when I changed the channel back to

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Nbc,

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there was Henry Aaron at home plate, being

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bob by his teammates.

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Needless to say I was crest fallen.

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And I looked at my dad,

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and he said, don't worry.

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You'll see it a hundred times.

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And I remember exactly what I said back.

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And I didn't talk back to my other

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as a matter of course, and I don't

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really think I did this time either.

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But what I said, I because I wanted

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him to understand my disappointment.

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I said dad, I'll never see it.

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I missed it.

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I could see it a thousand times

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but I missed the moment.

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After that, I don't remember anything.

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But I carried that disappointment with me for

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a long time.

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And maybe the son of my voice illustrates

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that it's still there.

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But when I reflect on it now, and

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I think of the context of the circumstances,

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there was really a larger more important,

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less and to be learned here.

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And even though, yes, I missed the moment

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of hank aaron

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historic home run.

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There was a bigger moment there that wouldn't

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have happened, had he not changed the channel.

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And that was the moment of me being

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able to level with my father

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to actually tell him what I was actually

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feeling about something.

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Thank you for listening.

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I'm grateful as always.

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I look forward to your common suggestions and

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feedback. As I've said before this podcast is

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designed to cultivate an audience of like minded

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people who are passionate about baseball.

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But also recognizes that it reaches beyond the

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field.

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I look forward to the next time,

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my name is Byron cope, but.