Customer Reviews

Me and Hank: A Boy and His Hero, Twenty-Five Years Later

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What a wonderful book! This is a fitting tribute to a man who has been shamefully underrated in American life, as well as a probing look at race relations in the past forty-plus years, seen through the prism of baseball and Hank Aaron's breaking of Babe Ruth's record. Like the author, I grew up in Milwaukee, although I am a bit older and so I saw Hank Aaron hit many of his home runs. His dignity and grace are a precious memory of my youth. Also like the author, I wrote Hank Aaron a letter when I learned that racists were hounding him for challenging Ruth, and received an eloquent letter in reply from Mr. Aaron. This book, with its highly personal approach to the subject, is a multifaceted view of a revealing part of American life. I couldn't recommend it more highly.

Don't get me wrong -- this was a great read and a provocative book about my favorite ballplayer of all-time. But I thought Tolan was at his best describing the people who experienced Hank Aaron's home run chase firsthand (including himself) and at his worst when his personal memories shifted from fact to opinion.

The tale of his encounter with a homeless Atlanta man who attended the game where Aaron hit No. 715 is beautifully told and moving. His personal friendship with a Babe Ruth admirer ignores racism in his hometown and praises Aaron for his accomplishment illustrates how we need inner strength and conviction not to simply march in tune with those around us. Tolan's interviews with Aaron, his daughter Gaile and former teammates reveal the depth with which Aaron had to endure racism as a ballplayer, and his historical portrait of the racial tension in his hometown of Milwaukee is thorough and fascinating.

But the more Tolan discovers about how unappreciated Aaron truly is, the more preachy -- and less effective -- he becomes. He hits a low point when he grills three advertising executives on their lack of knowledge of Aaron's hardships as they prepare to pay homage to Aaron in a MasterCard commercial. Are they to be blamed for that? All of these people clearly respect Aaron, and they all interviewed Aaron in preparation for the commercial. If he'd really wanted them to know what he endured, he probably would have told them. He also takes some unnecessary shots at the Hall of Fame because they have chosen to pay tribute to Babe Ruth with an entire room, while Aaron gets only a wall. Sure, Aaron deserves a room to himself, so do Jackie Robinson, Bob Gibson, Curt Flood, and many of baseball's other African-American pioneers. They don't. Deal with it.

One need not be a walking encyclopedia of Aaron's life, as Tolan is, to appreciate his accomplishments achieved under extreme duress. Let those who appreciate Aaron for who he is -- a great ballplayer and a great man -- simply be. The irony is, I'm with Tolan on his central argument, that Aaron is one of the greatest and most underappreciated Americans in history. I'll even go far as to say you can't prove Ruth is better than Aaron, because Ruth played an all-white game and didn't necessary play against the best. But Ruth made the game popular. If not for Babe Ruth and what he did to make baseball America's pastime, Aaron's chase wouldn't have inspired the rancor that it did. People wouldn't have cared.

Sandy, let's enjoy being Hank Aaron fans by not wasting our time beating up those who don't appreciate him to the extreme degree we do.

Me and Hank left me wondering what the author's actual purpose in writing the book was. I am a baseball fan and also had an idol at an early age. His name was Granny Hamner and I visited in the hospital after an injury. It was a disillusioning experience. I made him an album hand crafted from pictures cut out from greeting cards that told about his life. Mr. Hamner pretty much blew me off which was a tough reality for a thirteen year old girl. So I get the fascination with Mr. Aaron as well as the history encompassed in his very difficult public life. Those elements make the book worthwhile. However, the author goes off track in many sections and muddles up the main focus. In particular, including Phil Niekro's story of his father and his knuckleball triumphs detracts from the tribute to Hank Aaron. The only related element to Niekro's interview was that Niekro maintains he had absolutely no knowledge of the racial tensions around the homerun countdown. Sure.

I felt the author experienced something similar to me and Hamner when he visited Aaron. Tolan certainly had more invested in the experience than the hall of famer.

A moving memoir about life, sports and race relations in the United States written by a master craftsman. Don't miss it -- or the book on which it is based.

First, this is not a book totally about baseball. If that's what you're looking for, you will have to look elsewhere. If you want a real life account of what went on while The Hammer was chasing The Babe, this is the book for you. It is well written and has enough facts/stats to interest a baseball fan like myself but it has a lot more. It goes into detail about what was going on behind the scenes. It's not pretty but the truth rarely is. There was (maybe still is) so much hate for Hank due to his color that I couldn't believe it was real. It happened before my time and it was sad to know how he was treated. As sad as it was, I think it is important to understand what went on. You know what they say about history repeating. In this case, I hope it never does.

I have to say this is the saddest baseball book that I've ever read. This book really is about the reality of sharp division between two Americas --- the main stream one that belongs to whites and another that belongs to blacks.

Being an avid Hank Aaron fan, the author Sandy Tolan does have a strong --- could even say a bit biased --- opinion about how Aaron has not been given proper credit he deserves. As an earlier review points out, he sounds angry at times, but really the whole point in the end is that racism doesn't even take active hatred like those manifested in tons of hate mail Aaron received in his quest for the homerun record. That the main stream America has had so little interest in Aaron's great feat shows the reality of human's natural tendency to unconsciously discount "others." In this sense, I don't think Tolan intended to blame the main-stream America for not giving Aaron enough respect; the white people in the States never truly understand what someone like Aaron had to go through and what he meant to those who are considered as "others" simply because they cannot experience it in today's America. And sure they don't wish to experience if given a choice. I saw much more resignation than accusation in Tolan's narrative.

It is only relieving because Tolan, who is white, does treat Aaron's achievements and deeds with such a profound respect and passion. Yet even Tolan could not break ice with Aaron, whose emotional scar has not been healed. It is too sad Aaron had to go through so many negatives for what everyone should feel happy for. But the book tells what he did really, really meant a lot for those who cared about him, and Tolan made sure that those won't be forgotten.

Sandy Tolan did a good job interviewing many people, including Hank Aaron, to do this book. Hank Aaron is a wonderful person who deserves much more recognition for what he has done both on the field and off. The book is very well done. It makes you think.