How I met Hank Aaron

I was in 3rd grade when I first met Henry Aaron in the 1st floor of the San Francisco Chinatown Library. The library has since gone through several rounds of renovations, but the memory remains. I was finding a book to do a book report and I found a book in the sports section with the spine reading "HENRY AARON." I didn't even know how to pronounce his last name. (air-RON as opposed to AIR-rin). Not knowing what this book was about, I checked it out just because the person's name was HENRY -- the book has gotta be good.

As any red-blood American kid growing up in the United States, you know of characters like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison, and Babe Ruth. I had no idea who he was except he was the best, ever in the Baseball World. That was the extent of my baseball knowledge. Bear in mind, Joe Montana and the 49ers owned the city at that time.

The book started talking about a young, black kid growing up in Mobile, Alabama who started his baseball dreams by swinging a stick and trying to hit a toy in his backyard. The book made the case of pointing out that Aaron would swing cross-handed (left hand on top of right hand). I remember the first time I grabbed a bat at my school playground and stepped up to the plate for my very very first at-bat, I purposely held the bat cross-handed to mimic this Aaron guy. The bigger boys quickly told me to put my right hand on top of left, thinking I was an idiot who knew nothing about baseball. Little did they know....

As I got further and further in the book, I realized that this wasn't just any normal baseball book nor was Aaron just any other baseball player. I can still see myself, sitting in a tub of hot water in my tiny San Francisco apartment as I got to the climax of the book. I can still remember how confused I was... that there was this man who was about to surpass Babe Ruth in this hallowed record... yet no one ever mentions his name. I can still vividly see that very page of that very book that read... "715!! 715!!"

That moment forever cemented my love for baseball by the very fact that a man named "HENRY" held the greatest record in baseball. I was on cloud nine for the longest time. I slowly learned to realize that this book wasn't just baseball, but it was also about racism in a free country, it was about a kid chasing his dream, it was about a nobody becoming a somebody through perserverance and hardwork.

Twenty years ago... I witnessed the crowning of a new king through a book. Twenty years later... I witnessed the crowning of a new king live on television. Though I promised myself I wouldn't cheer when it happens, I found myself smiling and clapping in my living room when Bonds' homerun soared into the centerfield bleachers for #756. Like it or not, I will always cherish this moment in time...