Baseball titan Aaron laid to rest in Atlanta
ATLANTA — The Hammer made one last trip to the spot where he hit No. 715.
After a nearly three-hour funeral service Wednesday that featured two former presidents, a long-time baseball commissioner and a civil rights icon, the hearse carrying Hank Aaron’s body detoured off the road bearing his name to swing through the former site of Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.
That’s where Aaron broke an iconic record on April 8, 1974, eclipsing the home run mark established by Babe Ruth.
The stadium was imploded in 1997 after the Braves moved across the street to Turner Field, replaced by a parking lot for the new ballpark. But the outer retaining wall of the old stadium remains, along with a modest display in the midst of the nondescript lot that marks the exact location where the record-breaking homer cleared the left-field fence.
A steady stream of baseball fans have been stopping by the site since “Hammerin’ Hank” died Friday at the age of 86.
Fittingly, Aaron’s funeral procession went by the display on the way to his burial at South-View Cemetery, the oldest Black burial ground in Atlanta and resting place for prominent civil rights leaders such as John Lewis and Julian Bond.
The funeral service touched as much on Aaron’s life beyond the field as it did his unparalleled baseball accomplishments, honoring his business acumen, charitable donations, and steadfast determination to provide educational opportunities for the underprivileged.
“His whole life was a home run,’” former President Bill Clinton, a close friend of Aaron, said. “Now he has rounded the bases.”
Bud Selig, who was commissioner of MLB for more than two decades and another close friend of Aaron’s, said one of his fondest memories was being at Milwaukee’s County Stadium as a fan for the pennant-clinching homer that sent the Braves to the 1957 World Series.
Andrew Young, a top lieutenant of Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil right movement and a former Atlanta mayor, said Aaron helped transform his adopted hometown into one of America’s most influential cities.
Only about 50 people attended the funeral service at Friendship Baptist Church because of COVID-19 restrictions. Others sent videotaped messages, including another former president, Jimmy Carter, who served as Georgia’s governor from 1971-75.
Mets name Scott as acting GM
Zack Scott was promoted from assistant general manager to acting GM of the Mets on Wednesday, eight days after GM Jared Porter was fired.
Porter was fired Jan. 19, nine hours after ESPN reported he sent sexually explicit, uninvited text messages and images to a female reporter in 2016 when he was working for the Cubs’ front office.
Odds and ends
The Mets traded LHP Steven Matz to the Blue Jays for reliever Sean ReidFoley and minor league RHPs Josh Winckowski and Yennsy Diaz. The Mets also agreed to a one-year deal with lefthanded reliever Aaron Loup, according to media reports. … Utilityman Jurickson Profar signed a $21 million, threeyear deal to stay with the Padres. … LHP Jon Lester and the Nationals finalized a $5 million, one-year contract. … The Yankees agreed to a $2.5 million, one-year contract with reliever Darren O’Day.