In a recent conversation, I had with my
brother law, He revealed something to me that
I never knew.
Although I've known him for more and 35
years.
He told me that he was
in River front stadium
that didn't that Henry Aaron
tide Babe ruth all time home run record
on 04/04/1974.
He was a 9 years old, and he
was at the game with his dad,
and he came upon the tickets
quite by happens stands.
His dad was an insurance agent and a
colleague of his
wasn't able to attend the game, and he
had 2 tickets, so he gave the tickets.
As to my brother and law's dad and
they went.
And he suddenly they were box seats that
were pretty good.
He had a really good view of Hank
Aaron Alm run. He to told me that
the ball was hit very high and then
it drifted to the left. And when First
left is bad, he didn't think it had
enough power to leave the ball park, but
then it became obvious it was going to.
The irony is,
Even though I watched Hank hungarian
700 and fifteenth home run, the following Monday
on television.
I didn't really see it at all.
My name is Byron Cope, and this is
all about baseball.
The podcast whose named for phil its purpose
to cover baseball from all possible angles.
Sometimes baseball is the main character.
Sometimes it plays a porting role, and sometimes
it's a silent partner.
Because Hank Air hit home run number 07:13,
the porting previous season
on the next the last day of the
season against the Houston Astro.
He had the entire off season of 19
73 and 19 74 to anticipate breaking babe
record.
And that's not something he was happy about
Having witnessed that time in my life, I
was a 17 year old kid, the happy
patient for Aaron breaking that record,
among baseball fans like me was pal.
I'm sure Aaron would have wanted to broke
in the record
prior to the end of the 19 73
season, but it just didn't work out that
way.
In fact,
it wasn't until 19 71
when he hit his 600 home run on
April 20 seventh
of that year against Gay lord. It Perry
in Fulton County Stadium did the discussion of
him breaking Aaron's record really begin. Even though
the focus
narrowed on Aaron during that off season of
19 73.
The spotlight began to be shown upon him
3 years earlier. And if you do the
math,
and given that Aaron didn't look like he
was slowing down at age 37.
He only needed 3 years to break the
record,
and that was pretty much in in line
with the ass average number of home runs.
He hit throughout his career, which was 32.
So he had a hundred and 14 home
runs
in a little than 3 years to break
the record.
At the end of the 19 71 season,
Henry Had hundred and 39 home runs. At
the end of the 19 72 season,
Henry Aaron had 673
home runs. So by then, it was just
a matter of time that Aaron going to
break the record, and it's something that he
wanted to do very much, but at the
same time, was not at all happy with
the attention and pressure that was put him.
Henry Aaron set a record of another kind,
and that is the number of pieces of
male received by a single individual during a
calendar year.
Was roughly 900000,
and that's validated by the Us poll service.
A third of that male was hate mail.
Mail from people who didn't want to see
Henry Aaron in break Babe record.
And we were reading about the Hate mail
he was getting at the time. He attracted
the attention of the Fbi he was getting
death threats,
some of the letters that have been made
public are horrific
in their vi
and visceral vicious if you don't mind the.
Obviously, rife with racial epi,
which is probably the main, well, not probably,
which was the main reason why the people
who wrote Aaron wrote those letters. But I
just wanna paint the picture if you will,
of the pressure that Henry Aaron was under
during that year,
prior to breaking the record and during the
off season when he came so close to
doing it.
Home runs 714
was an event that was celebrated
at River front stadium,
present there was
vice president Gerald Ford,
baseball commissioner or B june
and Chairman of the board
for the atlanta Brave Bill bart,
each of them offered commenced to Aaron supporting
his accomplishment.
But we Ke and gave him a trophy,
comme his his time the record and Bart
gave him a plaque. And they all uttered,
you know, pla platoon of, like, it's good
for baseball. You're a gentleman,
but we Ke said that a, you're a
great ball player, but a better gentleman and
I para rephrase that. And I think that
was in reference to the way he
was such dignity and grace
outward endured,
the pressure and the attention that he was
getting
for breaking a record that many felt was
hall and that would never be broken. When
would his turn to speak on that day.
After thanking vice president Gerald Ford,
commissioner B K and Bart. He said,
I'm glad it's almost over.
So obviously, by this time, Aaron was ready
to break the record to the point where
even though he didn't play on Saturday, April
sixth in Cincinnati. He played on Sunday, April
seventh with 3 at Bats, but he went
out 3 with 2 strike outs.
So perhaps he really was in a hurry
to get this over with.
And if you
review some of the quotations that he had
in the comments that he had,
quote, every day becomes a little tougher because
of all of this. Writers, tape recorders, microphones,
cameras, questions and more questions.
Roger Mari lost his hey the season he
at 61.
I still have all my hair. But when
it's over,
I'm going home to mobile and fish for
a long time, unquote,
So on the night of 04/08/1974,
my dad and I were sitting in front
of the television set. In anticipation of Aaron
breaking his record that night, hoping he would
do it
that it would get all over with as
he wanted. And that we would witness a
moment of history was unlike any other
that had ever happened before since.
Aaron's first at bat, he walked
much to the sugar of the sellout proud
that boone every pitch that missed the strike
zone delivered by Dodge Pitcher A downing.
After 3 and a half innings, the dodgers
were winning 3 to 1,
and Aaron was due up second in the
bottom of the fourth,
and the broadcast went to commercial.
Then the phone rang my dad jumped up
to answer it,
spoke for a short time during the commercial.
Just as the brought podcast broadcast feed came
back on, he came back into the living
room and changed the television channel.
Much to my amazement,
And what he changed it to was something
that was very strange. It was like, some
kind of nature program on Pbs. And I
I just looked at him. I didn't say
anything. I just looked at him.
And he said a friend of mine called
and said this would be interesting. And and
I just still looked at him thinking
myself,
this is on every night.
What we're about to witness
will never happen again,
and has never happened in our time.
It was truly a bespoke event,
and here I am watching ants eat leaves
on public tele vision.
And for what seemed like an eternity,
I stared that screen. I dare not tell
him to change the station. I didn't... I
just...
Well, I wasn't where to do that. I
figured he would change it.
But he went back and sat down on
the couch.
In the meantime,
the fourth inning was underway,
and I looked at him
after a long sum and I said dad,
I'm gonna change the channel. I didn't ask
permission. I just got up and changed the
channel.
And when I changed the channel back to
Nbc,
there was Henry Aaron at home plate, being
bob by his teammates.
Needless to say I was crest fallen.
And I looked at my dad,
and he said, don't worry.
You'll see it a hundred times.
And I remember exactly what I said back.
And I didn't talk back to my other
as a matter of course, and I don't
really think I did this time either.
But what I said, I because I wanted
him to understand my disappointment.
I said dad, I'll never see it.
I missed it.
I could see it a thousand times
but I missed the moment.
After that, I don't remember anything.
But I carried that disappointment with me for
a long time.
And maybe the son of my voice illustrates
that it's still there.
But when I reflect on it now, and
I think of the context of the circumstances,
there was really a larger more important,
less and to be learned here.
And even though, yes, I missed the moment
of hank aaron
historic home run.
There was a bigger moment there that wouldn't
have happened, had he not changed the channel.
And that was the moment of me being
able to level with my father
to actually tell him what I was actually
feeling about something.
Thank you for listening.
I'm grateful as always.
I look forward to your common suggestions and
feedback. As I've said before this podcast is
designed to cultivate an audience of like minded
people who are passionate about baseball.
But also recognizes that it reaches beyond the
field.
I look forward to the next time,
my name is Byron cope, but.