Atlanta Braves Clippings Monday, February 8, 2016 Braves.Com
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Atlanta Braves Clippings Monday, February 8, 2016 Braves.com Aaron documentary premieres on 82nd birthday Crowd gathers at National Center for Civil and Human Rights for 'The Hammer of Hank Aaron' By Mark Bowman / MLB.com | @mlbbowman | February 5th, 2016 ATLANTA -- Hank Aaron was serenaded as he walked into the National Center for Civil and Human Rights early Friday evening. A cozy crowd had gathered within this downtown Atlanta museum for the premiere of a documentary that celebrates the undaunted determination that carried Aaron into uncharted lands of accomplishment. But before watching this hourlong feature, some of the men and women took advantage of the chance to sing "Happy Birthday" to an appreciative Aaron, who was joined by his wife, Billye, and his longtime friend, Andrew Young, whose political and civil rights accomplishments led him to become the United States' representative to the United Nations. "It's nice to be here," Aaron said with a smile. "I'm 82 years old and I feel quite proud of myself, not from a baseball standpoint, but strictly from a health standpoint. I feel quite healthy. The only thing that is bad that I don't have is my two legs. When I started playing baseball, people said the thing that would hinder me was that the legs would give away." Aaron's need for a walking cane was expedited two years ago when he slipped on ice and broke his hip. But he still gets around pretty well for a man who collected at least 700 more total bases than any other Major Leaguer. And the energy Aaron still possesses at this stage of his life provides yet another reason to be envious of what he has accomplished while overcoming incredible obstacles. "He could pass for 60," Young said, extending his compliments by saying, "[Aaron] was at the right place at the right time." Aaron's historical contributions, which extend beyond the baseball diamond, are detailed within "The Hammer of Hank Aaron," which will debut on The Smithsonian Channel on Feb. 29 at 8 p.m. ET. This film is part of Smithsonian Channel and Major League Baseball's "Major League Legends" series, which tells the stories of four players who transcended the National Pastime and left legacies as true American icons: Aaron, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Ted Williams. players "Martin Luther King [Jr.] said we must learn to live together as brothers and sisters or we will perish together as fools," Young said. "I think it was baseball that brought America together in one of its finest hours. Our sports heroes in general helped make this happen." Aaron was born one year before Babe Ruth hit the last of his 714 homers, and Aaron signed his first contract with the Braves in 1952, five years after Jackie Robinson had broken Major League Baseball's color barrier. Thus, he was repeatedly introduced to racial biases and tensions that only heightened as he got closer to breaking Ruth's "unbreakable" home run record. This new film focuses on some of the emotions Aaron felt both as a child in racially charged Alabama and as a baseball hero whose heritage heightened outrage among bigots who did not want to see Ruth's record broken by an African American. Viewers are reminded that there were days when Aaron's mother shielded him by making him hide under his bed until the Ku Klux Klan passed by their house. Aaron also smirks when he reminisces about moving into a white Milwaukee neighborhood. He gained a sense of what his next-door neighbor felt about his arrival when she told him that her dog was incessantly barking because he "hadn't seen too many colored" folks before on their property. Like many other documentaries about Aaron, this latest one provides a close look at the vitriol that was included with the death threats and hate mail that Aaron received leading up to April 8, 1974, when he broke Ruth's record by hitting his 715th career home run in front of the hometown fans at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. The significance of the accomplishment achieved in the midst of such strife helped award-winning journalist Howard Bryant and many others to recognize how the chase toward that record-breaking home run served as an inspiration as Americans distanced themselves from the segregation and hate that had consumed the South throughout the 1960s. Aaron continues to serve as an inspiration both to those who had the pleasure to watch him play and to those who simply marvel at the legendary tales about what he accomplished during his 23-season career. Though he is slowed by a cane, Aaron delighted some of the Braves prospects last Saturday when they arrived in the home clubhouse at Turner Field and saw the legendary figure working out in a manner that indicated he certainly doesn't feel like he's 82 years old. "I'm still taking therapy and doing all the things I'm supposed to do," Aaron said. "I think [my legs] will be all right. I sleep well at night." Atlanta Journal-Constitution Five other things about Braves Dansby Swanson By Steve Hummer Five other things about Dansby Swanson – the former Marietta High player acquired by the Braves in the December trade of Shelby Miller – profiled in this weekend’s AJC and on ajc.com: Coming home was nice, but at first he didn’t know how to react to the trade. After all, just six months before, Arizona had made him the No. 1 overall pick in the amateur draft and now the Diamondbacks were telling him he was expendable. 1. “When it initially happened, I didn’t know what to think,” he said. “I didn’t know whether I should be mad that I got traded or happy that I was coming back home. There were so many emotions running through it. “I told myself: I’m not going to come to any conclusions for a week and a half. I know it’s going to be an emotional time, I’m going to let it all sink in before I actually look at it. “One of my friends helped when he told me: ‘Dude, you played like 20 games (in the minors) and got traded for a big league pitcher.’ Good point.” 2. Finishing his career at Vanderbilt as a shortstop, there was one major league player at the same position he loved to watch. One who now works in California. “How could you not (enjoy watching Andrelton Simmons)? Even anyone who didn’t know anything about baseball has got to love watching him.” 3. A two-sport star at Marietta, he is a staunch critic of making kids specialize in a single sport (with a little help from his parents). He threw himself completely into whatever was in season, and it worked out OK in his case. “I was always naturally driven,” Swanson said. “When I was younger, when I was playing basketball I was like I don’t want to play baseball anymore. My parents were like, no, you need to go play baseball, too. “And when I’d play baseball, I’d go, I don’t want to play basketball anymore. And they’d say, no, just go out there and do it and have fun.” 4. The youngest of three children, he describes an idyllic family life growing up in Cobb. Yeah, it got interesting with two siblings who were sports-oriented as well. But, he said, “It was not an uber-competitive environment where it makes you a complete jerk. You learned to love competition and winning.” “My family is like the model for families. We all love each other, keep in touch all the time, feel like we’re all best friends. We don’t ever argue. We are honest and open about everything,” he said. And does he realize just how special that arrangement is? “Oh, yeah, very aware,” Swanson said. “That’s why I’m super grateful. I’ve been around a lot of different families, obviously, playing in college and high school, and it’s rare to see that.” 5. For a local kid who loved baseball, Swanson didn’t exactly live at Turner Field. He was too busy playing the game. And when he did go, he really wasn’t all that keen to go hunting for autographs. The signer of many autographs these days, he just didn’t understand the transaction back when he was in the stands. “I would never say I was a big autograph guy. That’s why it’s funny for me to think about all the people who want autographs because I was never into that,” he said. “Maybe I was just too shy to ask. I just kept dreaming that (playing baseball) is what I wanted to do. I was too worried about wanting to do what they were doing and not ask them for their time. I just wanted to watch, because I thought it was so cool, so awesome. Still do today.” Fox Sports Local product Gordon Beckham receives fresh start with Braves By Zach Dillard @Zach_Dillard ATLANTA — For a three-week stretch in the summer of 2008, Gordon Beckham could have run for office in Georgia. As David Perno, Beckham's coach at the University of Georgia, said in the middle of the program's postseason run, "Gordon's got it all. It's all there. He's the best I've ever seen." Perno's comments addressed Beckham's merits in terms of the top player in Georgia baseball history — stock that skyrocketed as the Bulldogs blitzed their way to the College World Series final thanks to their shortstop's record-breaking junior season — but, in that moment, Beckham was on top of the college baseball world.