The Last Hero_ A Life Of Henry Aaron Part 9

On the left side of the newspaper was a photo that even the notoriously conservative Sporting News Sporting News would say reflected the true idea of America: Henry's dark body hoisted in the air above a sea of jubilant, mostly white teammates. would say reflected the true idea of America: Henry's dark body hoisted in the air above a sea of jubilant, mostly white teammates.

Above the fold, adjacent to the photograph of Henry, was a news story, dateline Little Rock, Arkansas, detailing a white mob beating several black students attempting to enter Central High School.

CHAPTER EIGHT.

BUSHVILLE.

THE STORY HELD that the Pittsburgh Pirates lost the 1927 World Series to the Yankees before a single pitch was thrown. Overmatched by the greatest team ever a.s.sembled, the 110-win New York Yankees of Ruth, Gehrig, and Lazzeri, the Pirate players watched the mighty Yankees take batting practice and crumbled, piece by piece, player by player, immediately deciding that they could not win. that the Pittsburgh Pirates lost the 1927 World Series to the Yankees before a single pitch was thrown. Overmatched by the greatest team ever a.s.sembled, the 110-win New York Yankees of Ruth, Gehrig, and Lazzeri, the Pirate players watched the mighty Yankees take batting practice and crumbled, piece by piece, player by player, immediately deciding that they could not win.

The lore of the 1949 pennant race captured a similar tone. The Red Sox players believed they were equal to the Yankees that year, but their manager, the exYankee skipper Joe McCarthy, feared the great DiMaggio and the innate toughness of the Yankees to such a degree that his players sensed his lack of confidence in them. Needing to win just one of the final two games of the season at Yankee Stadium for the pennant, the Red Sox folded just when they needed their champions.h.i.+p wits the most. Boston lost both, and the Yankees won another pennant and World Series.

Even against those tough-as-h.e.l.l Brooklyn teams, the ones that could run away with the National League or beat you at the end-take your pick-the Yankees always found a way to get in their heads-a play here, a stolen win there. Take 1953, when Brooklyn was armed to the teeth-105 wins, 955 runs scored, Robinson, Reese, Snider, the MVP in Campanella, the best club in the world-and the Yankees still handled them in six games.

That was how the Yankees cut teams down, first mentally and then by bleeding them, game by game, inning by inning. Each generation of New Yorkers told a story of some pennant race that reinforced Yankee October dominance, and in each, there was always a worthy team good enough or even better than their Yankees, only in the end to be forced to kneel before the lordly pinstripes, and the shadow of the big town itself. All of which reinforced the Yankees-and the city's-sense of superiority. There was a lesson in the mythology: All things being equal, New York itself would be the critical difference.

Charlie Root, the Milwaukee pitching coach, knew firsthand a consequence of losing to the Yankees was a hagiographic blend of truth and myth, and how, once written, the legend could be impossible to overcome. For Root was on the mound during the fifth inning of the third game of the 1932 World Series, October 1, 1932, at Wrigley Field. Babe Ruth had already homered in the first, been pelted with tomatoes and fruit from the Wrigley fans, and verbally abused from the Chicago dugout. In the fifth, he took a strike, two b.a.l.l.s, and another strike from Root before jawing with the pitcher. At that precise moment, he pointed his bat toward the center-field fence, toward the great beyond.... Ruth called his shot called his shot. And then the Babe parked Root's next pitch, a sloppy curveball, over the center-field ivy and into the land of fable. Whether Ruth had actually called his shot, or was simply adjusting himself to hit, or was pointing out a local species of pigeon did not matter, nor did Root's salty protestations for the rest of his life that he would have "knocked Ruth on his a.s.s" had the audacious Bambino tried to show him up like that, in the World Series, in his home park no less.

All that mattered was that the story would have been different had Root not served the Babe such a juicy morsel in the first place. And it was like that for every unfortunate soul who suffered through the monotony of spring, fought through summer, and clutched the pennant, only to be caught in the sticky web of the Yankee mythology. Had they put up a better fight, even won just a couple of games, the 1927 Pirates might have been able to escape the idea that they cringed under the immense shadow of the Yankees, the story that would haunt each one of them till the end of their days. Maybe ... might have ... if only- Maybe ... might have ... if only-loser's words, every last one of them. Like Charlie Root and the Cubs, they didn't. Pittsburgh was swept into the Yankee mist in four easy games, and the legend became fact.

The Yankees were intimidating because they didn't lose. After winning the first of their seventeen t.i.tles in 1923, the Yankees lost the World Series just three times in thirty years. The Cardinals beat them in 1926, when in the seventh game, trailing 32, Ruth ended the Series in a spectacularly boneheaded fas.h.i.+on, getting thrown out by a mile while trying to steal second with big Bob Meusel at the plate and Lou Gehrig on deck. New York lost to the Cardinals again in 1942, when Henry was eight years old, being taken in by baseball and the hero of that '42 Series, a rookie from Donora, Pennsylvania, named Stanley Musial. And the Dodgers, after failing five times, beat the Yanks in 1955, only to lose to them the following year.

The city grew to expect the exclusivity of the fall. Since 1949, no team outside of New York had even won a single Series game game. Both teams outside of the boroughs in the World Series had lost badly. The 1950 Whiz Kid Phillies were swept out of the Series by the Yankees, which would be the last Series between two all-white teams in baseball history. The 1954 Indians of Feller, Wynn, and Garcia steam-rolled to 111 wins, only to be swept four straight under the brilliant spell of Mays and the New York Giants.

In the days leading up to the 1957 World Series, the New York writers naturally suggested a similar psychological phenomenon would overtake the Braves as they landed in New York. Only two regulars, Warren Spahn and Red Schoendienst, had ever played in a Series. When Johnny Logan and Del Rice entered cavernous Yankee Stadium for the first time, the word that reached the newspapers was that two seasoned pros, tough, grinding compet.i.tors, both spent that first walk-through slack-jawed, looking up at the familiar moldings and trellises of the majestic ballpark, overcome by small-town wonder, no different from a family of four visiting the Empire State Building for the first time. When Fred Haney disembarked from the Braves charter bus, a reporter approached and asked if the Braves expected to be another good-intentioned victim of the famed dynasty.

"Fred, do you think your team will choke up116 against the Yankees?" against the Yankees?"

"What the h.e.l.l is the matter with you?" Haney barked. "What kind of question is that?"

That the midwestern Braves, whose naive and grateful fans delivered milk and eggs to their heroes, contrasted so sharply with the cold and impersonal victory machine that was the Yankees made for an irresistible-and to the Braves, wholly irritating-story line. Still, Logan was convinced that his team held an edge over the Yankees because of the rugged terrain of the National League. The Braves had won a five-team race, had finally beaten the Dodgers, and relished the opportunity to stand with the Yankees.

The Yankees took over sole possession of first place June 30, two full weeks before the all-star break, and polished off Chicago by eight games. The third-place team, Boston, finished sixteen games out, and the writers and fans (and to no small extent the Yankee organization) spent the final days of the regular season positioning the Braves as fodder, just another fill-in-the-blank October opponent.

The facts were, as always, just a bit different.

Johnny Logan was was wide-eyed that first day at the Stadium, but not because he had adopted the role of awestruck newcomer. He had spent the final week of the season leading up to the Series working wide-eyed that first day at the Stadium, but not because he had adopted the role of awestruck newcomer. He had spent the final week of the season leading up to the Series working himself himself into a compet.i.tive lather to beat the Yankees. The only way for the Braves to avoid being folded into another Yankee yarn, he decided, was not to make it close, not just to give a better showing than the Dodgers, but for the Braves to win, plain and simple. Logan had grown up in Endicott, New York, but quickly had identified with Milwaukee. He settled on the south side of Milwaukee, a working-cla.s.s neighborhood, and like a few of the Braves-Felix Mantilla was another-Johnny Logan would never leave Milwaukee. "Before the thing even began, into a compet.i.tive lather to beat the Yankees. The only way for the Braves to avoid being folded into another Yankee yarn, he decided, was not to make it close, not just to give a better showing than the Dodgers, but for the Braves to win, plain and simple. Logan had grown up in Endicott, New York, but quickly had identified with Milwaukee. He settled on the south side of Milwaukee, a working-cla.s.s neighborhood, and like a few of the Braves-Felix Mantilla was another-Johnny Logan would never leave Milwaukee. "Before the thing even began,117 we were hearing it from Casey Stengel and the smart guys from New York, who started calling the town 'Bushville.' Believe me, we sincerely wanted to stick it to them. We wanted to show them that there were some ballplayers in Bushville." we were hearing it from Casey Stengel and the smart guys from New York, who started calling the town 'Bushville.' Believe me, we sincerely wanted to stick it to them. We wanted to show them that there were some ballplayers in Bushville."

Logan heard the old saws regarding the Yankee mystique and how even great teams buckled under its power. How else, he would often recall having been asked, could he explain how a bunch of tough b.a.s.t.a.r.ds like the Dodgers, who grew tougher in the roughest clinches of a fight in the National League, lose to the Yankees so many times, in 1947, 1949, 1952, 1953, and 1956, winning only once, in 1955? Logan believed the questions were designed only to produce doubt, and that those critical dips of self-confidence, invisible to the eye, were precisely what gave the Yankees that intangible edge.

Spahn, who would start the first game against Whitey Ford at the Stadium, was blunter. Spahn had been vindicated, for when the season began, he had told Furman Bisher in The Sat.u.r.day Evening Post The Sat.u.r.day Evening Post that the Braves would win the pennant and face the Yankees in the World Series. He said in that April article that the Braves would beat the Yankees in seven games, and days before facing Ford, he told the writers that the Yankees did not, during the long season, have to face the same level of compet.i.tion as the Braves. "They had to beat the White Sox," that the Braves would win the pennant and face the Yankees in the World Series. He said in that April article that the Braves would beat the Yankees in seven games, and days before facing Ford, he told the writers that the Yankees did not, during the long season, have to face the same level of compet.i.tion as the Braves. "They had to beat the White Sox,"118 Greg Spahn said. "They had to beat the Dodgers, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and St. Louis. They faced tougher teams." Greg Spahn said. "They had to beat the Dodgers, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and St. Louis. They faced tougher teams."

There was something else, a score to be settled from many yesterdays. Spahn hadn't forgotten that the Yankee manager, Casey Stengel, had sent him to the minors years earlier for not decking Pee Wee Reese when Stengel managed Spahn in Boston. More importantly, Spahn's father, Edward Spahn, hadn't forgotten, either.

"Before the start of the 1957 World Series119 between the Braves and the Yankees, Stengel was walking through the lobby of the Commodore Hotel in New York. I'm not sure why he was there, probably for some promotional thing," Greg Spahn recalled. "My grandpa saw him and threw him up against the wall. He said, 'Now what do you think of my son? You think he has enough guts to play in the major leagues?' They were about the same size, not very big people. My dad and a few other guys had to pull my grandfather off of him." between the Braves and the Yankees, Stengel was walking through the lobby of the Commodore Hotel in New York. I'm not sure why he was there, probably for some promotional thing," Greg Spahn recalled. "My grandpa saw him and threw him up against the wall. He said, 'Now what do you think of my son? You think he has enough guts to play in the major leagues?' They were about the same size, not very big people. My dad and a few other guys had to pull my grandfather off of him."*

Logan had another concern. When his eyes scanned the three-tiered stadium, he wasn't buckling at the thought of the Yankees, but doing a certain amount of math in his head: Yankee Stadium held nearly seventy thousand people, County Stadium more than forty thousand. World Series earnings were based in part on stadium capacity. That meant the winner's share of the Series was going to be a considerable amount of money. In that regard, Logan couldn't have been happier to be playing the Yankees.

Playing the Yankees meant money, and winning the World Series meant even more. Gene Conley recalled a similar sentiment. "We weren't scared of the Yankees,"120 he said. "We knew we were finally going to get some postseason money. For some of the guys, that check was a pretty good chunk of what they were making in the regular season." he said. "We knew we were finally going to get some postseason money. For some of the guys, that check was a pretty good chunk of what they were making in the regular season."

Fifty years later, Logan, still pugnacious, tar-throated at eighty years of age, said it even better: "When we went in 1957,121 we wanted to win, yes sir. We wanted to show Casey Stengel we weren't Bushville. we wanted to win, yes sir. We wanted to show Casey Stengel we weren't Bushville."And you know what? I'll tell you something else. We wanted the money, too."

HENRY DID NOT say much during the buildup to the World Series. Both the say much during the buildup to the World Series. Both the Journal Journal and the and the Sentinel Sentinel ran daily front-page stories, with the Braves ran daily front-page stories, with the Braves (IKE CONSIDERS ATTENDING GAME HERE OCT. 5) (IKE CONSIDERS ATTENDING GAME HERE OCT. 5) competing for s.p.a.ce above the fold with local news competing for s.p.a.ce above the fold with local news (TAVERN PATRON SLAIN BY NERVOUS ROBBER) (TAVERN PATRON SLAIN BY NERVOUS ROBBER) and national and national (LITTLE ROCK SCHOOL IS QUIET AS NEGROES ENTER AGAIN) (LITTLE ROCK SCHOOL IS QUIET AS NEGROES ENTER AGAIN). The local angle from the Yankees centered on the success of the sensational rookie from Milwaukee, Tony Kubek. Henry was the fulcrum of the Braves offense, the front-runner for Most Valuable Player honors, but he stood far from the front of the club publicly.

From a motorcade that spanned two and a half miles, from Wisconsin Avenue to Lake Michigan, Spahn and Burdette kissed babies during a pre-Series rally that caught 150,000 Milwaukeeans in a state of pride. Henry and Wes Covington shared a convertible, with Barbara sitting regally in the back. Fred Haney received a gold statue nearly equal to his five-foot-five-inch frame. On two occasions, Henry found his name prominently mentioned in ink: The first was a front-page story in the Journal Journal detailing a three-way scrum for the pennant-clinching home-run ball, the partic.i.p.ants being Henry, who hit it off Billy m.u.f.fett, Hubert Davis of 1307 McKinley Avenue, who caught it, and Donald Davidson, the Braves public-relations man, who wanted to showcase the famous heirloom for the public and offered Davis World Series tickets in exchange for the ball. detailing a three-way scrum for the pennant-clinching home-run ball, the partic.i.p.ants being Henry, who hit it off Billy m.u.f.fett, Hubert Davis of 1307 McKinley Avenue, who caught it, and Donald Davidson, the Braves public-relations man, who wanted to showcase the famous heirloom for the public and offered Davis World Series tickets in exchange for the ball.

THE PENNANT VICTORY BALL122.

FLIES INTO SERIES SQUABBLE.

Henry stated his claim to the home-run ball modestly: "Sure, I'd like to have it"; while Davis a.s.sumed the position of insulted pract.i.tioner of English common law, which held that possession was nine-tenths of the law: "I wasn't gonna settle for no bleacher seats," he said. "If he offers me grandstand, I'd consider it." Davidson was on the defensive: "I didn't offer him any tickets. I just asked him if he wanted to see the World Series. I didn't mention bleacher tickets."

The second instance was the revelation that the ankle injury Henry had suffered in Philadelphia had not only cost him five games but likely the Triple Crown, as well. At the time of the injury on July 17, Henry was. .h.i.tting .351, and he wound up losing thirty points off his average. In later years, when age would transform Henry from phenom to elder statesman, he would stress to younger players the importance of playing through pain, coining a slogan that one of his future proteges, Ralph Garr, never forgot. "You can't help your club from the tub,"123 Garr recalled. "Henry used to say it all the time." Garr recalled. "Henry used to say it all the time."

AARON'S SWAP: CROWN FOR PENNANT124"Few fans understand how seriously Aaron was handicapped," Manager Fred Haney said. "His ankle was not completely mended for weeks. He favored it somewhat for all the rest of the season."Of course it hurt his chances for the batting champions.h.i.+p. He made the sacrifice for the good of the team."

Henry produced magnificent results in 1957-his forty-four home runs led both leagues, as did his 132 RBI; Musial beat him out for the batting t.i.tle, .351 to .322. There was that famous publicity shot with Henry and Mantle posing in their batting positions, but Henry was not instantly propelled into a leading role at the dawn of the World Series. That said more about the times than it did about Henry Aaron. The common response to his relative lack of public notoriety in contrast to his offensive achievements was attributed to his demeanor and his desire for fame. Henry was ill-equipped for the hero's role. He was not quick with a verbal jab or glib with the writers. He chose to avoid the spotlight. He did not want publicity. These were simple elements of a more complicated equation. While each description of Henry was true to varying degrees-as was the very real fact that Henry often contributed to his own misrepresentation with sarcasm or evasion during interviews-the image of the Milwaukee Braves was a loud one. The public image of the club reflected more the personalities of Burdette, Spahn, Mathews, Logan, and Charlie Grimm, even though the latter had been gone for over a year. To a large extent, that image steered the press and the public away from Henry Aaron.

Most importantly, 1957 was still years away from the time when a black player would represent the public face of a franchise with all of its unspoken facets. That meant being the player who would speak for the club during winning and losing streaks, the player who held enough clout in the clubhouse to criticize elements of the team's or an individual player's performance. It meant being the highest-paid player on the team, the player upon whom management would rely, not only by offering kind words but by fortifying rhetoric with financial investment. Black players led on the field, by the examples of their play, but in 1957 did not do the talking.

In 1957, Henry Aaron held none of these t.i.tles. He was arguably the best player on the team, and even at twenty-three years of age, it was clear to the Braves that he was the most versatile player and possessed tremendous long-term potential. As the Series approached, Henry was not an underestimated talent by the press. Frank Finch, the longtime Los Angeles Times Los Angeles Times baseball writer, called Henry "already one of the game's great hitters." The baseball writer, called Henry "already one of the game's great hitters." The New York Times New York Times referred to Henry as "Milwaukee's answer to Mickey Mantle." referred to Henry as "Milwaukee's answer to Mickey Mantle."

For all of Henry's potential, the personality of the Braves belonged to Eddie Mathews. By 1957, Mathews was nearly two hundred home runs ahead of Babe Ruth at a comparable age, and it was Mathews, not Aaron, who was considered the best candidate (if there ever was such a thing) to break Ruth's career home-run record.

Henry did not have particular influence in the clubhouse, a domain belonging to the rugged, moody Mathews, the diffident Spahn, and the other veterans on the team. As a black player, his locker was not centrally located, but in the far corner of the home clubhouse, geographically sealed away, along with those of the other black players, from the mainstream areas of the clubhouse. During spring training, the most important bonding time for a team, Henry and the black players did not even stay with the team at the Dixie Grande Hotel. In later years, when the rigid line between the sports world and the real world would be effectively erased, it would have been impossible for a player of Henry's status to escape discussing the current events of the day, especially during the World Series, when baseball lived on the front page in every American city.

But as the World Series commenced and the violence during the dramatic integration of Central High School in Little Rock intensified, dominating the front pages of newspapers across the country, at no point did an interview with Henry on the subject appear in either the Milwaukee or the New York papers.

In regard to political issues facing black players, such as lodging and dining concerns during spring training and the regular season, it was Billy Bruton, not Henry, who held sway in the home clubhouse and the front office. Outside of macro predictions ("I think we'll win the pennant this year"), Henry did not often discuss in print the direction or mood of the club.

Henry earned $22,500 in 1957, nearly three times less than Spahn and slightly more than half of what Mathews was earning. Burdette, Schoendienst, and Logan ($25,000) also earned more than Henry. Moreover, the sport was far from reaching the point (which would be common in the future) when one of the youngest players on the team, regardless of ability level, could command the kind of salary that gave him instant credibility in the clubhouse. Young players were still expected to play and not be heard.

Given that perspective, it seems wholly appropriate that Henry played a secondary role on the Braves outside of the batter's box. The day before the Series began, he did his part in turning the crank on the hype machine by posing for the newsreels with Mantle, but in general, he left the publicity to the more established stars. In a sense, it was a position that reinforced his own sense of isolation, a belief that he could spend 180 days a year with people and still not have them know or understand him. He was not invisible, but his persona was shaped in the papers and, to a lesser extent, in terms of his teammates solely in the field of play, beginning with his stride at the plate, ending when he made contact. In later years, as Henry grew more comfortable with himself and his heightened stature, he would admit he had not helped very much when it came to letting people know him.

Periodically, a precious nugget of information would appear-for example, that one of Henry's sisters, eleven-year-old Alfredia, was living with Henry and Barbara and attended the Phipps School in Milwaukee. His contemporaries seemed fuller, more three-dimensional: Mathews brooded with hunger for drink and women, quick-tempered and protective of his turf, desperate to be known as a truly great player. Spahn was the single-minded, often distant intellectual on the mound. But both were quicker to reveal their emotions. Henry was not without opinions, but they remained in him, grounded. "Henry didn't volunteer what he thought about you,"125 Felix Mantilla recalled. "But that didn't mean he didn't have thoughts about who you were." Felix Mantilla recalled. "But that didn't mean he didn't have thoughts about who you were."

IN THE Y YANKEE scouting meetings, however, Henry was far from anonymous. He was central to every discussion about pitching to the Braves. The scouting reports were spa.r.s.e, and at times they reflected the traditional condescending Yankee att.i.tudes toward their opponents, but they were of questionable benefit anyway, because Henry was an unpredictable hitter. As pitchers would say in later years, a scouting report on Henry Aaron was of lesser value than the paper on which it was printed. scouting meetings, however, Henry was far from anonymous. He was central to every discussion about pitching to the Braves. The scouting reports were spa.r.s.e, and at times they reflected the traditional condescending Yankee att.i.tudes toward their opponents, but they were of questionable benefit anyway, because Henry was an unpredictable hitter. As pitchers would say in later years, a scouting report on Henry Aaron was of lesser value than the paper on which it was printed.

In the first game, in front of an overflow, sun-splashed crowd of 69,476, Ford was masterful, beating Spahn 31. While Spahn labored early and was finished in a sixth-inning flurry, Ford pitched a five-hit complete game. Henry knew at once that the Yankees did not regard him lightly. Though only twenty-eight, Whitey Ford was an October veteran of four World Series. Throughout the first game, Ford gathered information on Henry, testing his patience in his early at bats. Young players, especially run producers, liked to hit when they knew they were being challenged, so Ford took a different approach, waiting out Henry. Henry's first three at bats were emblematic of the great duel taking place between two future Hall of Fame players. Henry led off the second by seeing the first of an afternoon's worth of curveb.a.l.l.s. Ford, the left-handed master of pace, stayed on the outside corner without challenging in the at bat. Henry waited for Ford to challenge him inside, a challenge that never came. Frustrated, he bounced weakly to second base.

In the fourth, after a one-out walk to Mathews, Ford started Henry with another curve on the outside corner, which Henry pasted to right for a single, and the scouting report went into the garbage. For the rest of the series, Ford would pitch to Henry according to the feel of his pitches. With runners on the corners and one out, Ford then jammed Adc.o.c.k, forcing a double play.

In the sixth, Henry faced his first controversy of the series. Trailing 10, with two on and none out, Haney chose not to have Henry bunt, opting instead to give Henry a chance to break the game open. "No way," Haney said fiercely to the writers afterward, "am I going to bunt with my best hitter up."

Henry looked for the same slop on the outside corner, and Ford obliged, but Henry fouled the pitch. Ford's next pitch was a beauty, a shoulder-high curve that sloped down and in over the middle of the plate, belt-high for strike two. The third pitch was a throwaway. Ford hadn't challenged Henry inside all day and threw a nothing curve inside and down around Henry's ankles.

Henry, who flailed and checked, was fooled that Ford had finally come in with a soft, hittable curve. Home plate umpire Jocko Conlan said Henry did not hold up, and called him out, a call that left Henry fuming in the clubhouse to Conley and anyone else who would listen afterward. "It isn't often that Aaron squawks," Ollie Kuechle wrote with local pride in the Journal Journal. "But he squawked here, and he had a right."

The Yankees had struck first. The skipper, Haney, was unbowed. "No complaints. We just didn't get the hitting we needed and they whipped us in a good ball game," Haney said afterward. In the opener, the Yankees won all the key points, plays that went their way by a sliver, plays that always always seemed to go their way by a sliver in October. Hank Bauer hit a two-out, run-scoring double to center, which Henry could not reach and which the writers believed he should have been able to catch ("No way," Haney said). In the sixth, with Spahn gone and Ernie Johnson pitching, with one out in a 20 game, Jerry Coleman dropped a squeeze bunt. The crowd gave a resigned roar, thinking that Coleman had tapped it too hard to the pitcher, leaving Berra doomed at the plate. But Johnson opted to retire Coleman at first, and another run scored, leaving Haney to defend not just Henry's defense but Johnson's decision not to throw home. And there was Henry's check-swing strikeout. Ford had won the first round. "I've never seen so many curveb.a.l.l.s in my life," Henry said. seemed to go their way by a sliver in October. Hank Bauer hit a two-out, run-scoring double to center, which Henry could not reach and which the writers believed he should have been able to catch ("No way," Haney said). In the sixth, with Spahn gone and Ernie Johnson pitching, with one out in a 20 game, Jerry Coleman dropped a squeeze bunt. The crowd gave a resigned roar, thinking that Coleman had tapped it too hard to the pitcher, leaving Berra doomed at the plate. But Johnson opted to retire Coleman at first, and another run scored, leaving Haney to defend not just Henry's defense but Johnson's decision not to throw home. And there was Henry's check-swing strikeout. Ford had won the first round. "I've never seen so many curveb.a.l.l.s in my life," Henry said.

Game two, another perfect day in New York, the l.u.s.ter of the bunting having worn off. The Braves and Yankees traded runs early in the second game, which featured less pomp and more fight. Bobby Shantz, the five-foot-six lefthander who in 1952 had beaten out Mickey Mantle for AL MVP, was going against Burdette, the pitcher the Yankees did not trust because of his reputation for decking hitters and wetting the ball, not always in that order. For his part, Burdette still seethed at the Yankees for trading him from the organization in 1951. From the start, it was clear the second game would be more intense than the opener, when Ford had cast a spell on the Milwaukee hitters. Henry led off the second with a triple over Mantle's head in center and scored on Adc.o.c.k's single. The Yankees tied in the bottom of the inning on consecutive two-out singles by Kubek and Coleman and nearly broke the game open when the Braves made their first decisive play of the series, with Shantz nailing a two-out fastball from Burdette into the left-field corner. Kubek and Coleman dashed for the plate. Wes Covington sprinted toward the left-field corner, where the low wall narrowed sharply. With his back to the infield, Covington stretched his glove in the direction of the fence and caught the ball, saving two runs.

Pushed back to even in the second, Shantz immediately gave the lead back, with Logan tagging him for a long, quick home run down the skinny left-field line. Bauer counterpunched, taking Burdette out of the park in the bottom of the inning. In the top of the fourth, Adc.o.c.k and Pafko led off with singles. Covington followed with another hit, a run-scoring single that Kubek mangled in left for an error and another run, and it was 42, with n.o.body out.

Then, suddenly, the fireworks stopped, and game two turned tough and nasty. Stengel, bowlegged and annoyed, removed Shantz after just three innings. Art Ditmar entered the game and first decked Crandall with a fastball, then Aaron in the fifth, forcing a warning from home-plate umpire Jocko Conlan.

Burdette held on to his two-run lead. The Yankees got close in the sixth, putting runners on second and third, with one out, but Burdette, growing irascible and working faster as he neared victory, retired Kubek on a grounder. The Yankees put two more on in the ninth but did not score. After Ditmar dusted Henry, Burdette waited patiently for his chance, then sent Coleman into the dirt.

The Braves won 42 and headed home for three games. Afterward, Burdette and Haney were terse. Henry, who had been decked by Ditmar, said, "We don't worry about such things." If the Braves had seemed unable to match the Yankee toughness in the opener, Burdette had evened the scales, and the all-slug, no-field Covington-who spent the postgame interviews apologizing for the irony of a power hitter changing the day's momentum with his glove-had provided the unexpected magic.

FRANK Z ZEIDLER munched on a sandwich from a box lunch as he waited for the team charter plane to arrive at General Mitch.e.l.l Field. The mayor was not, by any account, a rabid baseball fan, but as a politician he understood how to connect with his const.i.tuency. When Zeidler arrived at the airstrip to greet the Braves, a policeman notified him that the team flight would be late. He used the extra time to eat, crus.h.i.+ng a box lunch. munched on a sandwich from a box lunch as he waited for the team charter plane to arrive at General Mitch.e.l.l Field. The mayor was not, by any account, a rabid baseball fan, but as a politician he understood how to connect with his const.i.tuency. When Zeidler arrived at the airstrip to greet the Braves, a policeman notified him that the team flight would be late. He used the extra time to eat, crus.h.i.+ng a box lunch.

Zeidler noticed something of an oddity: The crowd of a few hundred diehards waiting to welcome the Braves home had swelled to more than a thousand. As the gathering increased, Zeidler told Emil Quandt, the Milwaukee police chief, to add additional officers. Instead of buses, Dan Fegert, a local auto representative, arranged for thirty convertibles to meet the team plane and carry the players and their wives from the airport. The team had not won the World Series. They did not even have a lead in the Series. They had played only two games, but the welcome for the Braves had turned into a full-on motorcade. When the American Airlines DC-7 touched down, airstrip officials rolled out a red carpet leading to the waiting fleet of convertibles. The Milwaukee police estimated the crowd had grown to as many as 7,500.

For eleven miles, out of the airstrip grounds and along the streets of the city's south side to the Eighteenth Street viaduct, the sound of cowbells collided with that of banging pots and pans and yells and screams. The next day, city officials estimated the gathering at 200,000. Zeidler called the greeting "the biggest spontaneous celebration in the city's history."

BRAVES WELCOMED AT AIRPORT126 BY BY.

THOUSANDS OF WELL-WISHERSThe turnout, it should be remembered, was not for an elaborate parade, with bare-kneed majorettes and marching bands. It was for a bunch of tired baseball players who are still on the short end of the odds in an unfinished compet.i.tion for the baseball champions.h.i.+p of the world.

Over the years, after the Braves had long since left town, Henry would be known in Milwaukee for three major things: the home run off Billy m.u.f.fett, the way he carried himself, and his unwavering position that Milwaukee owned a greater piece of his heart than any place he'd ever visited.

At 11:25 a.m., the Yankees seventeen-car sleeper pulled into Milwaukee to a great and unwelcome surprise. A delegation of Milwaukee civic and political leaders greeted the Yankee officials with booklets t.i.tled Milwaukee USA Milwaukee USA and welcomed the Yankees and the World Series to the city. The players walked with no small degree of annoyance past the congregation and silently boarded a Greyhound bus, which would take them to County Stadium. Stengel had slipped onto the bus and refused to come out, despite the pleadings of Judge Robert Cannon and the civic group, who wanted Stengel to say a few words. The Yankees were here for a World Series, not a banquet. Cannon, the Milwaukee circuit court judge who would precede Marvin Miller as head of a fledgling players union, remained on the bus as it peeled off, and the welcoming gesture fell about as flat as Mantle's crew cut. According to the and welcomed the Yankees and the World Series to the city. The players walked with no small degree of annoyance past the congregation and silently boarded a Greyhound bus, which would take them to County Stadium. Stengel had slipped onto the bus and refused to come out, despite the pleadings of Judge Robert Cannon and the civic group, who wanted Stengel to say a few words. The Yankees were here for a World Series, not a banquet. Cannon, the Milwaukee circuit court judge who would precede Marvin Miller as head of a fledgling players union, remained on the bus as it peeled off, and the welcoming gesture fell about as flat as Mantle's crew cut. According to the Journal Journal, "the Yankees hurried off. The fans and welcoming committee moved forward, smiling. A cheer was heard. The Yankees ignored the reception. Heads down, faces grim they walked rapidly to the three chartered Greyhound buses east of the station."

"This," a Yankees official was quoted as saying as he boarded the team bus, "is strictly bush league."

FOR THE THREE games to be played at County Stadium, six thousand standing-room tickets were made available. Art ("Happy") Felsch slept in a tent for ten days to guarantee he would be first in line. The ballpark, draped in bunting even along the outfield fences in front of the Perini pines, was sold out, with 45,804 there for the first World Series game ever played in Wisconsin. On a fifty-three-degree afternoon, Sat.u.r.day, October 5, the Yankees responded to the pageantry by beating the tar out of Bob Buhl in the third game. For the first time in the Series, the Yankees showed off their vaunted power. Mantle, leveled by a bad back and ineffective for the first two games, ripped two hits, including a home run, and drove in a pair. Kubek, coming home, hit two homers, including one in the first inning as a nervous hum flitted through the stands. The Yankee first four in the order went seven for seventeen with three homers, eight runs scored, and eight more driven in. For a brief moment, it appeared that the Braves would have an easy time, as Bob Turley, the New York starter, gave up three hits and four walks and couldn't get out of the second inning. The only problem was that Buhl couldn't get out of the first. Don La.r.s.en was staked to a 50 lead after two innings, on the way to a 123 final. Down 71 in the fifth, Henry laced a La.r.s.en fastball for his first home run of the Series. games to be played at County Stadium, six thousand standing-room tickets were made available. Art ("Happy") Felsch slept in a tent for ten days to guarantee he would be first in line. The ballpark, draped in bunting even along the outfield fences in front of the Perini pines, was sold out, with 45,804 there for the first World Series game ever played in Wisconsin. On a fifty-three-degree afternoon, Sat.u.r.day, October 5, the Yankees responded to the pageantry by beating the tar out of Bob Buhl in the third game. For the first time in the Series, the Yankees showed off their vaunted power. Mantle, leveled by a bad back and ineffective for the first two games, ripped two hits, including a home run, and drove in a pair. Kubek, coming home, hit two homers, including one in the first inning as a nervous hum flitted through the stands. The Yankee first four in the order went seven for seventeen with three homers, eight runs scored, and eight more driven in. For a brief moment, it appeared that the Braves would have an easy time, as Bob Turley, the New York starter, gave up three hits and four walks and couldn't get out of the second inning. The only problem was that Buhl couldn't get out of the first. Don La.r.s.en was staked to a 50 lead after two innings, on the way to a 123 final. Down 71 in the fifth, Henry laced a La.r.s.en fastball for his first home run of the Series.

In the fourth game, when the bl.u.s.tery lake winds laced a chilly fifty-degree day, the Braves came face-to-face with the Yankee mythology. Spahn was brilliant, avenging the opener when he couldn't escape the sixth. He gave up a run to start the game, then settled, retiring eleven straight Yankees at one point. His counterpart, the knuckleballer Tom St.u.r.divant, held a 10 lead until Logan led off the fourth with a walk and Mathews followed up with a double. Stengel walked to the mound. Not particularly interested in facing Aaron with two on, n.o.body out, and first base open, St.u.r.divant suggested walking Henry. Loading the bases wasn't great baseball strategy, but perhaps putting Aaron on would solve two problems. The first was that St.u.r.divant wouldn't have to face Henry; the second was that the on-deck hitter, Covington, might hit into a double play and minimize the damage.

Stengel listened, felt the wind whip past his ears, and rejected the suggestion.

"No, pitch to him," Stengel told St.u.r.divant. "With this wind, Babe Ruth couldn't get one out of here."

Stengel retreated to the Yankee dugout. St.u.r.divant tried to drop a knuckler in on Henry, one that danced belt-high. Henry destroyed it for a three-run homer. The next batter, Covington, hit a one-hop grounder to second-a sure double-play ball, in other words-and Frank Torre homered later in the inning to make it 41.

When St.u.r.divant reached the top step of the dugout at the end of the inning, he said to Stengel, "I thought you said Babe Ruth couldn't get one out of here."

Shortly before his death in 1995, Mickey Mantle appeared in the doc.u.mentary Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream, and recalled Stengel's reply.

"Well," the Perfesser told his pitcher,127 "that wasn't Babe Ruth you were facing." "that wasn't Babe Ruth you were facing."

By the ninth, Spahn had been masterful, holding a 41 lead and needing only three outs to tie the Series. Bauer lofted a soft fly to Henry in center. Mantle chopped to Logan at short. But McDougald and Berra singled to right. One strike away, Elston Howard hit a game-tying three-run homer. The Yankees took the lead in the tenth when Spahn retired the first two men of the inning, only to see Kubek single and Bauer triple him home.

And this is why these were the Yankees, why the mythology spread like honey to New Yorkers, like cholera to the rest.

Deflated, the Braves came to bat in the tenth. Tommy Byrne hit Nippy Jones on the foot with a pitch, the home-plate umpire awarding Jones first because of a faint mark of shoe polish on the ball. Mantilla ran for Jones, and took second when Schoendienst sacrificed off Bob Grim. With Mantilla on second, Stengel did about a year's worth of managing. He called Mantle off the field, and moved Kubek to center. Mantle jogged off the field, replaced by the old pro Enos Slaughter, whose arm was better in left. After Casey's shuffling, Logan sent a double into the gap in left to tie the game. The next batter was Mathews, who ended it with a two-run homer. The series was tied again.

THE SERIES WAS going back to New York after Burdette defeated Ford in a taut 10 masterpiece. The Yankees, masters of creating luck through intimidation, had put runners on in each of the first four innings but could not score, while consecutive singles by Mathews, Henry, and Adc.o.c.k accounted for the only run of the game. The Braves would return to New York one win from taking the Series. going back to New York after Burdette defeated Ford in a taut 10 masterpiece. The Yankees, masters of creating luck through intimidation, had put runners on in each of the first four innings but could not score, while consecutive singles by Mathews, Henry, and Adc.o.c.k accounted for the only run of the game. The Braves would return to New York one win from taking the Series.

Bob Buhl started game six, a t.i.tle on the line. He had won seventeen games during the season. For more than two seasons, he had been the Braves best pitcher in those blood wars with the Dodgers, and yet he collapsed in the World Series, folding at home in game three. Given a second chance, Buhl gave up four hits and four walks, which amounted to two important runs. Down 21, Henry tied the game at the top of the seventh with a home run to deep center, past the 402-foot sign and into the Braves bull pen, where reliever Taylor Phillips caught it. The Yankees retook the lead off Ernie Johnson in the bottom of the inning. In the ninth, Mathews walked to lead off the inning, but Henry struck out and Covington bounded into a double play to end the game. And so it came down to a seventh game, Burdette versus La.r.s.en.

In two hours and thirty-four minutes, Milwaukee had its answer to Lou Perini's boast that the city would be the baseball capital of the country.

It was over early-four runs in the third, and the pinstripes never recovered. The final score was 50. For the final out, Skowron bounced a short hop to Mathews, who raced to third and stepped on the bag, and the Braves were champions. Burdette was the hero, winning three games. In the crowd, frenzied Milwaukee fans unfurled signs that read BUSHVILLE WINS BUSHVILLE WINS.

Henry hit .393, with three home runs in the World Series, eleven hits in the seven games, including a twelve-hop, RBI single up the middle during the winning third-inning rally. Three weeks later, in a close vote, he was named National League Most Valuable Player, beating out Ernie Banks, Stan Musial, and Willie Mays. It had been ten years since Herbert had taken him to see Jackie Robinson, ten years since he'd told Estella he would be a major-league baseball player. He was twenty-three years old, and though his journey was just beginning, in many ways it was already complete.

A MONTH LATER MONTH LATER, on December 15, 1957, Barbara went into labor at St. Anthony's Hospital in Milwaukee. She delivered premature twin boys, Gary and Lary, and the immediate hours after their birth were perilous. Neither child weighed four pounds. Lary would spend three weeks128 in the intensive care unit at St. Anthony's, kept alive only by the protection of an incubator. Gary, who weighed three pounds, three ounces at birth, arrived ten minutes before Lary, but he would not survive a week, dying two days after he was born. in the intensive care unit at St. Anthony's, kept alive only by the protection of an incubator. Gary, who weighed three pounds, three ounces at birth, arrived ten minutes before Lary, but he would not survive a week, dying two days after he was born.

Suddenly, the afterglow of a world champions.h.i.+p as well as the personal awards and baseball achievements were tempered by events beyond the reach of Henry's baseball abilities. He began the year celebrating the birth of one son, spent an incandescent summer furiously chasing dual pursuits, both seeking vindication for 1956 and establis.h.i.+ng himself as one of the truly great young players in his sport, neither quarry eluding him. And now, eight days before Christmas, he faced the coming year emotionally halved by his professional success and profound personal loss. He had seen death before, years earlier in Mobile, when his brother Alfred did not survive childhood, but the death of a son presented a different dynamic altogether. When he was a child, it was Stella and Herbert who provided the family support and stability in dealing with family tragedy. Now, though only twenty-three, Henry was the head of his own household, and the responsibility to maintain and support his family fell to him. This did not mean explaining death to little Gaile, who was three, or to Henry junior, nicknamed "Hankie," who was nearly ten months old, but it did mean that he would have to confront the various and unpredictable emotional repercussions that always accompany death. Over the years, throughout six decades of public life, in thousands of interviews, numerous books, and even in his own autobiography, Henry would never discuss Gary's death beyond acknowledging that the little boy did not survive long past birth, choosing instead to leave the wound buried deep under acc.u.mulated layers of scar tissue. During the months that followed, as 1957 moved into 1958, Henry moved forward stoically and privately, focusing publicly on the upcoming challenge of defending his World Series t.i.tle and striving to be the first player in National League history to win consecutive Most Valuable Player trophies. And his was the appropriate course of action, for 1957 was not a time culturally when the press probed into the personal lives of professional athletes, or when the athletes themselves felt compelled for public-relations and image reasons to permit revealing and candid interviews about personal topics not directly related to their craft. The Sporting News The Sporting News and the and the Los Angeles Times Los Angeles Times ran only wire-story briefs about Gary's death, and the local Milwaukee newspapers did not challenge the Aarons' privacy. ran only wire-story briefs about Gary's death, and the local Milwaukee newspapers did not challenge the Aarons' privacy.

But, as is so often the case, it was during this period of grief that important and lasting threads in Henry's life would be formed, where the public life of Henry Aaron, the man who would seek not only acceptance as a potentially great baseball player but respect as a person of substance, would begin to take shape. Both professionally and personally, things would change after 1957-between Henry and Barbara, in the way Henry was viewed as a baseball player and the way the people of Milwaukee would view their baseball team, and, most importantly, in the way Henry would see the larger world around him, and his place within its uncertain, bittersweet confines.

* Greg Spahn also noted that short memories also exist in baseball. "My father and Casey became good friends later on." (Spahn finished his career with the Mets, where, in 1965, Stengel was his manager.) Greg Spahn also noted that short memories also exist in baseball. "My father and Casey became good friends later on." (Spahn finished his career with the Mets, where, in 1965, Stengel was his manager.)

CHAPTER NINE.

ALMOST.

BY FOUR O'CLOCK on the afternoon of October 5, 1958, Warren Spahn knew exactly how a dynasty was supposed to feel. For seven innings he had sparred with Whitey Ford, just as the two had a year earlier in the opener of the 1957 World Series, again pitching in Yankee Stadium. Yet where Spahn had pitched bravely but labored and lost a year earlier, here he basked in the wonderfulness of being in total command, in complete control of every pitch, both in velocity and location, regardless of hitter or situation. on the afternoon of October 5, 1958, Warren Spahn knew exactly how a dynasty was supposed to feel. For seven innings he had sparred with Whitey Ford, just as the two had a year earlier in the opener of the 1957 World Series, again pitching in Yankee Stadium. Yet where Spahn had pitched bravely but labored and lost a year earlier, here he basked in the wonderfulness of being in total command, in complete control of every pitch, both in velocity and location, regardless of hitter or situation.

For any pitcher, especially one as fiercely compet.i.tive and driven as Spahn, walking off the mound that way represented a supreme moment. The fourth game of the 1958 World Series was over and Spahn soared, lifted by the importance of the victory and his part in it. In a World Series rematch with the Yankees, the Braves were not simply unafraid of the vaunted New Yorkers but were in the process of embarra.s.sing them as no team had since before the end of the war, when in 1942 St. Louis smothered DiMaggio and Berra and the dynasty in five easy games to win it all.

The final score was 30, and the details of the game were to be savored and replayed. Spahn went the distance, besting Ford, who was gone after seven. He had given up but two hits and struck out seven. Only one batter, Mickey Mantle, even advanced past first base the entire game. Mantle hit a booming triple over Covington's head in the fourth but was left stranded, unable to score. While the game had been close, with the valiant Ford equaling Spahn frame after frame early on, the delicious part was that it was the Yankees, those ice-cold, steel-nerved veterans of the fall who always relied on their opponent to commit that crucial psychological lapse, who were faltering. Norm Siebern lost a ball in the sun in the sixth inning. Tony Kubek m.u.f.fed a ground ball, which led to the first Milwaukee run. After years of making the opposition wilt, it was the Yankees who were now falling victim to the pressure.

The Braves were now winning in games three to one, with one more to go to defend their champions.h.i.+p and become the first National League team to repeat as champions since the days before players had numbers on their jerseys, back when the New York Giants beat the Yankees in 1921 and 1922. That was before Yankee Stadium had been built, before the Yankees had won their first t.i.tle, before the Yankee name really meant much of anything. The Braves monument was being erected, and Spahn stood at its center, for consecutive t.i.tles, both over the Yankees, no less, would cement their place in history, simultaneously erasing the bitter disappointments of 1956.

Lew Burdette, that Yankee killer, was scheduled to be on the mound for two of the final three games, if the Series even went that far. For the team, a win away from a champions.h.i.+p, the victory represented something far larger than a win in a seven-game play-off series; it was as if the Braves had finally reached their collective apex, their formidable individual and team abilities coalescing at once in a s.h.i.+mmering display.

SPAHN AND COMPANY had done nothing that dusky afternoon at Yankee Stadium that they hadn't done for virtually the entire 1958 season. For the first time, it was Milwaukee, and not Brooklyn or the Giants or the Yankees, that entered the baseball season not needing to explain away what had gone wrong-not only why they hadn't won, but how they'd continued to lose. They entered 1958 as champions, and could soak in that perfectly decadent feeling of reaching the peak of their powers. That was the greatest spoil that came with winning. n.o.body stood around second-guessing. had done nothing that dusky afternoon at Yankee Stadium that they hadn't done for virtually the entire 1958 season. For the first time, it was Milwaukee, and not Brooklyn or the Giants or the Yankees, that entered the baseball season not needing to explain away what had gone wrong-not only why they hadn't won, but how they'd continued to lose. They entered 1958 as champions, and could soak in that perfectly decadent feeling of reaching the peak of their powers. That was the greatest spoil that came with winning. n.o.body stood around second-guessing.

After defeating the Yankees three times, Burdette returned to his hometown of Nitro, West Virginia, the conquering hero, the MVP of the World Series, the recipient of beers on the house, literally, for the rest of his life. Instead of being haunted by the needling presence of Herman Wehmeier, Warren Spahn basked in a champions.h.i.+p over the winter, the king of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, even though it was his wife who was actually the Oklahoma native. Instead of wanting to punch every wisea.s.s fan in the chops after a bittersweet season, Eddie Mathews stood awash in the winner's suns.h.i.+ne during the 1957 off-season. These days, there was no reason to want to rip a guy's lungs out for asking the wrong question, at the wrong time, as he had after the bitter defeat of 1956. With Mathews, the bitterness of losing revealed itself most forcefully whenever he tried his best not not to be bitter. to be bitter.

"When you come close to winning129 a champions.h.i.+p and don't win it, everybody wants to know why you didn't win, or how it feels to come so close and lose. n.o.body wants to hear about the 92 games you won or the great things you did; they only want to know about the one terrible game you lost," Mathews wrote in his 1994 autobiography, a champions.h.i.+p and don't win it, everybody wants to know why you didn't win, or how it feels to come so close and lose. n.o.body wants to hear about the 92 games you won or the great things you did; they only want to know about the one terrible game you lost," Mathews wrote in his 1994 autobiography, Eddie Mathews and the National Pastime Eddie Mathews and the National Pastime. "It gets old, though, talking over and over about the same moment of disappointment in your life. You want to say, 'Hey, a month before that I beat the Cardinals with a three-run homer.' But n.o.body cares about that."

Those concerns were part of the old days, the old Braves. Even one of the most important pieces of the scary old days-the annual showdowns at Ebbets Field-would never return, for the Dodgers didn't live in New York anymore. Having tormented and tortured the Braves for years, the Dodgers were gone from Brooklyn. n.o.body was happier that the Dodgers had left than Spahn, who literally couldn't win a game in Brooklyn. The Giants were gone, too, to San Francisco, and now train rides were replaced by DC-7 jets and five-game series on the West Coast. The National League would not host a regular-season game in New York for five years.