Hank Aaron responded to supportive fan letters he received. That included a special note to my dad.

The home run king also set a record for most letters received by a private citizen in a single year in 1974. While much of that was hate mail, some were messages of support.

Hank Aaron was a 25-time All-Star, a World Series Champion and a winner of the National League MVP award. He passed away on Friday morning at the age of 86.

Aaron is most known for breaking the home run record, previously set by Babe Ruth, in 1974. But that same season, the slugger also set a Guinness World Record for most letters received by a private citizen in a single year. The US Postal Department confirmed that Aaron received nearly a million letters, nearly 3,000 per day, and even gave him a plaque.

But many of the letters that he received were classified as hate mail in its most visible and disgusting form. En route to breaking Ruth’s record, Aaron was the subject of extraordinary racist hatred.

Dusty Baker, who currently manages the Houston Astros, was teammates with Aaron from 1968 until 1975. He spoke about what he observed when Aaron would receive a vile message (via USA TODAY):

“As close as we were, he would never ever let us know. But he didn’t have to tell us. I would see him drop the letter on the floor, he would go to (the) training room, and I’d pick it up and read it. I couldn’t believe what was being said to him, but Hank was never scared. But we sure were.”

At one point, the FBI was screening his hate mail, and Aaron has said that he was “forbidden” to open his own mail for two or three years. The Braves had to hire a secretary, Carla Koplin Cohn, to separate the death threats.

When he released his 1991 memoir, I Had A Hammer, Aaron briefly touched on the impact these messages had on him (via New York Daily News):

“There’s no way to measure the effect those letters had on me, but I like to think every one of them added another homerun to my total.”

Some of the correspondences are archived at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown while others survive at Emory University’s Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library (MARBL) in Georgia.

Aaron, however, actually kept much of the hate mail that he received during this chapter of his life. Back in 2014, Aaron told baseball writer Bob Nightengale that he would re-read them from time to time (via USA TODAY):

“To remind myself that we are not that far removed from when I was chasing the record. If you think that, you are fooling yourself. A lot of things have happened in this country, but we have so far to go. There’s not a whole lot that has changed.”

While some of the darkness that surrounded Aaron haunted him for his entire life, there were some glimmers of hope during this tumultuous time.

Shortly before he would break the home run record, according to CNN, the press started writing about the horrific messages that Aaron would receive in the mail.

This led to an outpouring of positive messages sent to Aaron, which was the subject of Sandy Tolan’s book Me and Hank (2000). Tolan sent an encouraging letter to Aaron, not expecting any response.

But to his surprise, he received a letter back from Aaron, thanking him for his support. The letter was signed, in blue ink, personally by the home run champion.

Another person who has a similar story is my father, Ron Kalbrosky, who wrote that he was a 15-year-old, Jewish baseball fan from New York. He told Aaron that he kept a scrapbook memorializing his quest to break Ruth’s record and that he wanted nothing more than to watch MLB history.

Aaron wrote back to my dad, too, expressing overwhelming gratitude for the warm wishes. This is what he said:

“Dear Mr. Kalbrosky:

I want you to know how very much I appreciate the concern and best wishes of people like yourself. If you will excuse my sentimentality, your letter of support and encouragement means much more to me than I can adequately express in words.

It is very heart warming to know that you are in my corner. I will always be grateful for the interest you have shown in me. As the so called “count down” begins, pleasure be assured I will try to live up to the expectations of my friends.

Wishing for you only the best, I am

Most Sincerely,

Hank Aaron

HA/ck”

For my immediate family, this letter from one of the greatest to ever play the game is considered one of our most sacred and cherished heirlooms.

Many fans had similar experiences with Aaron and this beautiful exchange was not unique to Tolan or my dad. Still, the letter showed that despite the most excruciating hatred, which was far too present in his life, Aaron was also the kind of person who acknowledged the love from his fans.

There are several other folks who also received letters from Hammerin’ Hank and have shared their stories on Twitter.

(Photo via For The Win)

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