Published: 70 on the 70's (1979)

You did it, Henry.
You took The Babe's untouchable record
and stuffed it in your pocket.
Not bad for a gangling
black kid from Mobile.
The TV cameras were set to roll,
the reporters were poised
and the stage was set
with you and Al Downing
in the multi-million dollar spotlight.
Your teammate, Tom House,
caught the home run ball in the bullpen,
which was good economics.
That could have been
and expensive ball to buy back.
"A black Babe Ruth," they said you were.

Now it's your record
that stands casting its shadow-
a distant target
for future sharpshooters,
probably as yet, unborn.
And doesn't it make you wonder, Henry,
if things have really changed
since Jackie Robinson
courageously showed the world
there was another color of man
who could play this game.
Will any of us live long enough
to hear some wise scribe say,
"Here's a kid who
really has a chance to be
a white Henry Aaron."

Hammerin' Hank by D. Roger Martin ©