Bob CollinsOn this day in 1947, Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier. It’s a sad day to roll out this report, however.
Hank Aaron told USA Today recently about the hate mail he got while he was pursuing Babe Ruth’s home run record.
“We can talk about baseball. Talk about politics. Sure, this country has a black president, but when you look at a black president, President Obama is left with his foot stuck in the mud from all of the Republicans with the way he’s treated.
“We have moved in the right direction, and there have been improvements, but we still have a long ways to go in the country.
“The bigger difference is that back then they had hoods. Now they have neckties and starched shirts.”
That’s earned him a new round of racist letters, USA Today reports today.
“Hank Aaron is a scumbag piece of (expletive) (racial slur)” a man named Edward says in an e-mail to the Braves front office and obtained by USA TODAY Sports.
Edward invokes the epithet five times in four sentences, closing with, “My old man instilled in my mind from a young age, the only good (racial slur) is a dead (racial slur).”
With that, happy Jackie Robinson Day!
