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A Life of Henry Aaron
Pantheon
May 2010
On Sale: May 11, 2010
624 pages
ISBN: 0375424857
EAN: 9780375424854
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction Sports
In the thirty-four years since his retirement, Henry Aaron’s
reputation has only grown in magnitude: he broke existing
records (rbis, total bases, extra-base hits) and set new
ones (hitting at least thirty home runs per season fifteen
times, becoming the first player in history to hammer five
hundred home runs and three thousand hits). But his
influence extends beyond statistics, and at long last here
is the first definitive biography of one of baseball’s
immortal figures.
Based on meticulous research and interviews with former
teammates, family, two former presidents, and Aaron himself,
The Last Hero chronicles Aaron’s childhood in segregated
Alabama, his brief stardom in the Negro Leagues, his
complicated relationship with celebrity, and his historic
rivalry with Willie Mays—all culminating in the defining
event of his life: his shattering of Babe Ruth’s all-time
home-run record.
Bryant also examines Aaron’s more complex second act: his
quest to become an important voice beyond the ball field
when his playing days had ended, his rediscovery by a public
disillusioned with today’s tainted heroes, and his
disappointment that his career home-run record was finally
broken by Barry Bonds during the steroid era, baseball’s
greatest scandal.
Bryant reveals how Aaron navigated the upheavals of his
time—fighting against racism while at the same time
benefiting from racial progress—and how he achieved his goal
of continuing Jackie Robinson’s mission to obtain full
equality for African-Americans, both in baseball and
society, while he lived uncomfortably in the public
spotlight. Eloquently written, detailed and penetrating,
this is a revelatory portrait of a complicated, private man
who through sports became an enduring American icon.
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