Hank Aaron has been in the news a bit lately, over his adamant position that he will not travel to the baseball game when Barry Bonds breaks Hank Aaron’s career home run record. Some have said that its because he thinks that Bonds’ record is tainted by the steroid scandal, while Aaron has publicly stated that it is because at his age the traveling doesn’t agree with him.
Aaron, however, has made it into the news again recently for a more positive reason. In its May 28 issue, Sports Illustrated reported that Major League Baseball’s owners have unanimously approved the sale of the Atlanta Braves by Time Warner to Liberty Media Corporation. Liberty Media has stated that they will be having Hank Aaron, a current member of the team’s board of directors, take on a larger role in the front office. Aaron has said that one of his duties will be trying to increase interest in baseball among African-American youth.
If more MLB teams take an approach like this, then maybe, just maybe they’ll be able to help save baseball as both America’s past time as well as help ensure that the youth of today have both the will and opportunity to play baseball at the professional level.
