Newest Hank Aaron Book May Be Most Unusual

Updating both his baseball life and post-career success, Dan Schlossberg's second Hank Aaron biography features a foreword by Dusty Baker.Photo bySports Publishing

By Dan Schlossberg

Writing a book isn’t easy. I know: I’ve authored or co-authored 41 books since 1974.

There were bookend biographies of Hank Aaron, including Hammerin’ Hank: the Henry Aaron Story in 1974 and the forthcoming Home Run King: the Remarkable Record of Hank Aaron.

Timed to coincide with the year-long celebration of the No. 715 golden anniversary, the newest book is a hefty hardcover with a suggested price tag of $32.95. But it is also the most unusual Aaron biography ever written.

It not only contains a very personal foreword from Dusty Baker, whom I have known since he was a rookie outfielder with the Braves more than a half-century ago, plus a preface from Kevin Barnes, whom I met when he was an 18-year-old batboy for the Braves in 1973.

It also includes many photographs never published previously anywhere else; I took them personally during more than 50 years covering Aaron and the Braves.

More than anything else, what separates this volume from every other Aaron book is the fact that it was organized by topics rather than time.

As someone who has been a rabid fan of both Aaron and the Braves since they beat the Yankees to win the 1957 World Series, it was easy for me to pick a list of topics, then divide them into chapters.

Unlike almost all of my author colleagues, I did not formulate an outline first to please my publisher. I told Julie Ganz (now Julie Perry) what I wanted to do and why I wanted to do it. She knew I had done the first Aaron biography and also collaborated with Al Clark, Ron Blomberg, and Milo Hamilton on their autobiographies.

Then I started writing, imagining that each chapter could stand alone as a separate magazine article.

I started with the highlight of Aaron’s baseball career, the night he broke Babe Ruth’s record in Atlanta on April 8, 1974. I added chapters on his humble beginnings, greatest teammates, favorite managers, most memorable moments, and his family — including brother Tommie, with whom he spent the entire 1962 season in Milwaukee.

There’s a chapter on awards Aaron should have won, a chapter of Aaron oddities and ironies, and of course a long chapter that explains why Henry Louis Aaron, more than any other player, was the perfect advocate for Jackie Robinson’s legacy long after Jackie passed on.

This book will allow readers to learn why three presidents claimed they could not have won without Aaron’s active participation in their campaigns; how Aaron became so friendly with one of them they went on a ski trip together; and why the star slugger made millions more off the field than he did during his playing career.

Many interviews — some of them dating back to the 1973 season when he came oh-so-close to The Record — helped tell the story of how a modest man marooned in small-market cities broke the biggest record in sports despite death threats and mountains of hate mail from bigots who wanted no part of a black man breaking a white man’s mark.

It took six months to nail down an exclusive phone interview with Billye Aaron, Henry’s well-spoken widow, but the wait was worth it, as readers of the Epilogue will discover. There’s also a bonus chapter on the extensive Aaron exhibit now on display at the Atlanta History Center in upscale Buckhead.

The most difficult section of the book is the Acknowledgments page. There were so many people to thank — from Baker, Barnes, and Billye to Brian Snitker and Aaron’s son Lary, both of whom were released by the Braves when Henry was the team’s farm director. But the far-sighted slugger knew enough to offer Snitker a minor-league coaching job some 47 years ago. That same man, a paragon of loyalty, has now won six straight National League East division titles.

Chris Lucas, son of the late blind sportswriter Ed Lucas, took my notes and photographs and turned them into a power point I will use during a signing tour that starts May 1 (Springfield Library) and includes stops in Cooperstown June 20 and July 20. You’re the best, Chris!

This may not be my best book but it’s certainly the most expensive. I just hope readers enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Pre-order now from amazon.com.

Former AP newsman Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ covers baseball for forbes.com, USA TODAY Sports Weekly, Sports Collectors Digest, Here’s The Pitch, and various other outlets. To book a talk, signing, or personal appearance, contact him via ballauthor@gmail.com