Henry Aaron is an African-American from Mobile, Alabama. He was born in a part of Mobile called "Down by the Bay," a poor black area of town. Soon after he was born his family moved to a better area of Mobile called "Toulminville" where he lived most of his life.that also produced big-leaguers Satchel Paige, Willie McCovey, Billy Williams, Cleon Jones, Tommie Agee, Amos Otis and his brother Tommie Aaron. His father, Herbert, worked for a ship- building company, as well as running a tavern and making moonshine. After they had moved to rural Toulminville, lawmen raided their home looking for moonshine and turned over the bed of Hank's mother, Estella - with her in it. Their home was built of lumber Herbert salvaged from a house that was torn down. Their meals came from their garden, and Hank, one of six children, often wore his older sister's hand-me-downs.   As a young child he was part of Boy Scout Troop 235 of the Ebenezer A. M. E. Zion Church.

    His mother was a devoted mother and wife who wanted the best for her kids. She wanted all her kids to finish high school and college before doing anything like going into pro baseball.

    As a child and later as a teenager Aaron had heroes. Several of them included Joe DiMaggio, Jackie Robinson, and Stan Musial, all baseball players. Aaron's like of Jackie Robinson was natural because Robinson was black like he and Robinson was the one that broke baseball's color barrier. When Aaron was eight he saw the Yankees and Joe DiMaggio for the first time in person. When Aaron was twelve he saw DiMaggio again. Aaron's like of Stan Musial was also natural. Aaron wanted to be a lot like Musial. They were both quiet, self-effacing, and modest people.

    Aaron's first organized baseball team was Toulminville Grammar School in the Louisiana Recreational League, a Negro softball loop. He was obviously the best player on the team, but he had an odd way of hitting. He broke one of the cardinal rules of hitting; he hit cross-handed. This means he hit with his left hand over his right when normally he should hit with his right over his left. This should have cut his power down to nothing, and it was an invitation to broken wrists. Still he hit the ball hard enough to hit over .700 all the way through grammar school and high school.

    "I probably should have become a switch-hitter. It would have been easy for me to move to the other side of the plate, where the left hand does belong over the right. Instead, I learned to hold the bat properly while remaining a right-handed batter. Believe me, it was not easy," said Aaron.

    Aaron also broke another one of the cardinal rules of hitting. He hit off his front foot, his left foot. This was something that was never corrected because no coach even when Aaron was a rookie dared to change it. Normally the action of hitting off a front foot would decrease the power of a hitter. Obviously this did not hamper Aaron's hitting; it may have even increased his power.

    When Aaron was fourteen he had a lot of friends. Aaron told one of his close friends that "I'm a good ballplayer. I know I am. I'll make it. I'll make it all the way to the top." His friend, Connie Giles, knew that Aaron was telling the truth even at that time.

    For the first two years of high school Aaron played for Central High School. He played shortstop and third base. He was the best player at the school, yet he still batted cross-handed. Aaron's coach at the school was Edwin Foster. Aaron and his team won the Negro High School Championship of Mobile two years in a row, only losing three games in the two years. Aaron also played football for a year but gave it up because he was frightened he would get hurt and ruin his baseball future. He was All-City in football as a guard.

    For the last two years of high school his parents sent him to Josephine Allen Institute, a private secondary school in Mobile. By this time he was determined to be a pro-player. Aaron's parents did not approve of his dreams; they wanted him to finish school and go onto college.

    Before Aaron was fifteen he played for a semi-pro team called the Pritchett Athletics. He played shortstop and third base. He collected an average of three dollars a game, playing mostly on Sundays. The Athletics were his first hardball team. Aaron showed the more promise than any other player in Mobile.

    When Aaron was fifteen he went to a Dodgers' tryout camp. He went, but was pushed out of the way when trying shortstop and later at the plate when he tried to hit. He left the camp without doing anything. The Dodgers were the team every black player wanted to be on because they were the team that Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier with.

    When Aaron was fifteen he went to play with another team called the Mobile Black Bears. Billy Tucker, the owner of the team, paid Aaron between three and five dollars a game depending on how he played.

    In 1951 Aaron's team, the Mobile Black Bears played against a team called the Indianapolis Clowns (Click here to read more about his stay in Jacksonville) . The Clowns were a good team looking for new, young prospects. In the game against the Clowns Aaron hit two singles, a double, and as always starred in the field. Aaron was only seventeen years old.

    Syd Pollock, the owner of the Clowns said, "I want that boy. But the first thing we must do is teach him to hold the bat  properly. I never saw anyone hit the ball so hard cross-handed." But to get Aaron the Clowns and Aaron had to get Aaron's mother to agree.

    Buddy Downs, the Clowns' road secretary approached Aaron after the game. He asked, "How would you like two hundred dollars a month to play for us?" Aaron replied, "I'd like it, but I doubt if my mother would. She wants me to go to college." See, his mother had already decided to send him to college at Florida A & M. So Aaron and the Clowns made a compromise with his mother. Aaron could sign if he finished high school. So Aaron finished high school and went to play with the Clowns after he finished.

    On the first and fifteenth on every month Aaron was paid one hundred dollars. He sent all but twenty-five of it home since he did not need it. His living was already paid for, he did not drink and he did not smoke, and he was not fussy about clothes. Often Aaron did not spend all that he kept.

    While playing for the Clowns, Aaron had four goals. The first one was to play in the big leagues; the second, to win an MVP; the third, to win a batting championship; and the fourth, to play in a World Series. He accomplished all of his goals in his baseball career.

    At the Clowns tryout camp, Dewey Griggs had been sent by the Milwaukee Braves to see if Aaron was for real. At the beginning Aaron did not get a warm-up jacket because they ran out. The scout talked to Aaron and asked him if he could throw overhand. Aaron said yes but that he did not want to strain his arm. Then the scout told the trainer to get the kid a jacket. Then Aaron began having a better time. Griggs also insisted he have as much time as he wanted in the batting cage. The scout then took a deep interest in Aaron.

    Eventually several teams had scouts following Aaron. The Yankees, the Giants, and the Phillies. When it came time for Aaron and Pollock, the Clowns owner, to decide where Aaron should go it came down to two teams, the Braves and the Giants. Pollock had Aaron decide which team he would rather play on. Aaron chose the Braves.

    Soon after that Aaron learned Pollock and the Giants were very close to a deal. After Pollock and the Braves agreed to a deal and the Giants knew, the Giants' manager Leo Durocher was very angry. "How could we have lost that boy? We could have had him any number of times. Why, one of our scouts umpired a high school game he played in and never told us a word about him. And if what we offered to pay him wasn't enough, why didn't we go higher?" And the fans were mad too. With a combination of Willie Mays and Henry Aaron, how many championships could they have won?

    While Aaron was a kid he loved to watch baseball. Since he lived in Mobile he saw most of the teams that had spring training in Florida. Since at that time they still traveled by train a popular spot was Mobile where they would play a game or two.

    Aaron also liked to sleep. He could sleep any where and any time. Often while playing for the Clowns and in the minor leagues they would have long bus trips like from Kansas City to Buffalo. While his teammates just killed time Aaron slept. Often Aaron would not be awake a full hour on a bus trip. Soon, Aaron became known as the sleepyest ballplayer in the league.

    The Braves first assigned Henry Aaron to the Eau Claire Wisconsin team, Class C, Northern League. The manager was Bill Adair. Since the team needed Aaron so bad the Braves flew Aaron up to Eau Claire from Charlotte, North Carolina where the Clowns were playing. Aaron did not like flying at all, and when Aaron arrived in Eau Claire, he was a nervous wreck. But as soon as he got on the field, he was as normal as ever.

    In his first game with the Wisconsin team he got two hits. In his second he got one hit. Soon thereafter Aaron was recognized as the most dangerous hitter in the league. After his first two weeks he made the All-Star game. Pitchers in the Northern League who had faced Aaron were scared to death of him. And those pitchers who had not faced him were in no hurry to.

    On one occasion Charlie Fox, the manager of St. Cloud, ordered his pitcher to give Aaron a little chin music. The pitcher threw the ball within two inches of Aaron's nose, but Aaron hit the ball to left-center field for a double. Fox then threw up his hands and muttered, "I give up."

    In 1952 Aaron was the Northern League's Rookie of the Year. He was an unanimous choice even though he played in only 87 games. He batted .336, scored 89 runs, had 116 hits, 61 runs batted in, and nine home runs.

    In 1953 Aaron was promoted to the Jacksonville Tars Class A South Atlantic League. This league was commonly referred to as the Sally League. Aaron became the first black player in the Sally Leage. He was one of three black players that entered the league that year. One of them was on the same team as Aaron. Ben Gerathy was his manager on the Jacksonville team. Aaron said of Gerathy, "Gerathy was the kindest, most understanding manager I ever had. And he was a fine baseball man who knew the game as well as anyone." These feelings of his manager carried over later as he was resentful of the Braves for not promoting him.

    That year Aaron led the Jacksonville Tars to the Sally League pennant. In 1953 he hit .362 on his way to the batting championship. He also led with RBIs with 125, in runs scored with 115, in hits with 208, in total bases with 338, and in doubles with 36. Aaron was second in home runs with 22 and in triples with 14. With all this he won the Sally League's Most Valuable Player Award. One writer said, "Henry Aaron led the league in everything except hotel accommodations."

    Also while in Jacksonville he met and married his wife. He saw her while in front of his rooming house walking into the post office. T. C. Marlin introduced Aaron to Barbara Lucas. That night Barbara went to the game and Aaron hit a single, a double, and a home run. They were married on October 6.

    That winter Aaron, with his new wife, went to play in the Puerto Rican League. The manager, Mickey Owen got Aaron to crouch in his stance at the plate. Now, Aaron could hit to all fields while before he was mostly hitting to center and to left. Owen had Aaron learn the all-important strike zone. Owen, at the request of the Milwaukee Braves front office, played Aaron in the outfield. This was the first time Aaron had played anywhere except shortstop or second base with the Braves. Owen said that he was ready for the big leagues but the Braves were not so sure. The Braves put him on the Toledo roster and told him to come to spring training in 1954.
 

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