Baseball Hall of Fame’s Henry Aaron’s Connection to Buffalo, New York
This is the first of a three-part series about Baseball in America and Buffalo by Michael J. Billoni, former Vice President/General Manager of the Buffalo Bisons; award-winning sports writer for the Tonawanda News, Buffalo Courier-Express and Rochester Democrat & Chronicle and author. He is president of Billoni Associates LLC.
Today’s installment: Baseball Hall of Fame’s Henry Aaron’s Connection to Buffalo, New York.” On June 1, The National Baseball Hall of Fame’s newest exhibit, “The Souls of the Game: The Voices of Black Base ball.” On June 8, Inner City Baseball in Buffalo.
By Michael J. Billoni
(Part 1)
Henry Aaron
Photo: Louis Requena/MLB via Getty Images
COOPERSTOWN, NY- Outside the National Base ball Hall of Fame and Museum on Main Street in this quaint Central New York village last Friday, we met a graceful Billye Aaron, the widow of Henry Lewis “Hammerin’ Hank” Aaron to present her with a plaque, entitled, “Henry Aaron’s Connection with Buffalo, New York.” It was one day after a distinctive bronze statue of her husband was unveiled, and moments be fore the ribbon would be cut on the museum’s newest exhibit, “The Souls of the Game: The Voices of Black Baseball.”
On this Hall of Fame Classic Weekend, Mrs. Aaron wore a colorful and distinguished red and white pant suit with a blue blouse, ac companied by two gold trimmed Atlanta Braves necklaces and her husband’s lone World Series ring on her right hand. The evening before, she entered the Hall of Fame Museum for the statue un veiling wearing an elegant yellow dress with the Braves’ necklaces.
The plaque was created by Dr. James H. Overfield, Ph.D. and me, editors of the book, The Seasons of Buffalo Baseball 1857-2020. Mrs. Aaron also received a copy, which includes a story about her husband’s connection to the Queen City. It began in 1952 in side the former Offermann Stadium, located at the intersection of Masten and Woodlawn Avenues and facing the southeast. Aaron was an 18-year-old, power-hitting shortstop, born in 1934, and the son of sharecropper parents in Mobile, Alabama, a hotbed of baseball. as well as the indignities of the Jim Crow Era.
He had signed with the barnstorming Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro American League and for some unknown reason, the Clowns had made Buffalo its home the summer of 1952. According to Randy Anderson, Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame President, the Clowns even played one of its games, without Aaron, in Jamestown that summer.
In his biography, I Had a Hammer, Aaron refers to that summer in Buffalo as “My home base.” He was being heavily recruited by Major League baseball scouts and while he wanted to sign with the New York Giants and join his friend, Willie Mays, the Boston Braves signed him for $350 per month, $100 more than the Giants had offered.
In the book, The Seasons of Buffalo Baseball 1857-2020, Buffalo Bisons historian, the late Joseph M. Overfield, stated in the story about Aaron: “It was a fierce battle to sign the skinny but incredibly strong Aaron. Among the “bird dog” scouts representing Major League baseball teams was the Pittsburgh Pirates part-time scout, Dick Fisher, who owned a major sporting goods store on Main Street in downtown Buffalo.
“Boston Braves scout Dewey Griggs had the up per hand, though, as he built a relationship with Aaron during the Clowns’ barnstorming tour that summer. Between games of a double-header at Offermann, Griggs introduced himself to Aaron and made several suggestions concerning Aaron’s style of play, including a recommendation that he try batting with his right hand on top rather than cross handed.
“In I Had a Hammer, Aaron recalls: “The first time I came to bat in the second game of the double-header, I hit a home run right away. I never bat ted cross-handed again.”
“The final deal that had Aaron sign with the Braves over the Giants paid him $350 per month to play for the Eau Claire Bears of the Class-C Northern League the remainder of that sea son, with $2,500 going im mediately to Clowns owner Syd Pollack and an addi tional $7,500 if Aaron was still in the Braves organization after 30 days. When the Clowns owner agreed to the deal, Aaron signed the contract and then it was sent to his father in Mobile to sign because Aaron was still considered a minor.
“Although he did not re ceive a nickel from the sale price to the Clowns owner, Aaron was happy with his choice after learning it was $100 more per month than the Giants offered. ‘Be sides,’ Aaron said, ‘The Giants spelled my name wrong on the telegram.’” When I served as Vice President/General Man ager of the Bisons, Aaron was among the Hall of Fame members who came to Buffalo for Old Timer games in 1985 at War Me morial Stadium at Jefferson and Best Streets and in 1988 at the new downtown ballpark, Pilot Field. He is the only member of baseball’s Hall of Fame to play in Buffalo’s three ballparks dating back nearly 75 years.
The plaque we presented to Mrs. Aaron includes a photo of the Offermann Stadium landmark that hangs on the outside wall of the Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts School today; four black and white photos of Offermann Stadium; a photo of Aaron in his Clowns uniform and him on a baseball card from the 1985 Old Timers Game, which was part of the Bisons’ Centennial Celebration. Underneath those photos is one of Aaron (44) and Hall of Famer Ernie Banks (14) of the Chicago Cubs, taken in that 1985 game by C. Douglas Hartmayer, the retired Director of Public Affairs at the NFTA and a member of Cardinal O’Hara High School’s Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame.
Mrs. Aaron, accompanied to the special Hall of Fame Classic Weekend events by her granddaughter and aspiring television journalist, Emily Haydel, was extremely appreciative and her eyes lit up when she saw the photo of her husband with Banks. “They were close friends,” she said quietly.
When asked if her husband ever spoke about his year with the Clowns in Buffalo, she replied, “Briefly. Henry did not like to talk much about himself or his accomplishments.”
Last Thursday evening, the Hall of Fame unveiled “Keep Swinging,” a bronze statue of Henry Aaron, created by nationally renowned sculptor William Behrends. It stands on the museum’s first floor adjacent to its Grand Staircase and a short distance from another Behrends bronze statue, legendary Negro American League star John Jordan “Buck” O’Neil Jr. The first African American coach in Major League Baseball, O’Neil played a leading role in establishing the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame as an executive in 2022.
Titled “Keep Swinging” after Aaron’s popular comment he always left people with, the plaque next to the statue reads: “As long as there is a chance that maybe I can hammer out a little jus tice now and then or a little opportunity here and there, I intend to as I always have—Keep Swinging!”
(To be Continued)