Baseball Hall of Famer Hank Aaron just received a COVID-19 vaccine in Georgia this week. The Atlanta Braves legend took the first of two doses of the vaccine in a brand new health clinic at Morehouse School of Medicine. Aaron was joined by former U.N. Ambassador and civil rights leader Andrew Young and former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Louis Sullivan.
Aaron told the Associated Press getting vaccinated “makes me feel wonderful. I don’t have any qualms about it at all, you know. I feel quite proud of myself for doing something like this. … It’s just a small thing that can help zillions of people in this country.” Aaron and his wife, Billye Suber Aaron, were recruited by Young to get their shots with him and Sullivan who found the medical school 50 years ago. According to Young, Hank Aaron and his wife have donating “money to the medical school than the slugger made in his last five years of playing baseball.”
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“I’ve been taking vaccines now for 88 years and I haven’t been sick,” Young said when talked about the mistrust many Black people have toward medical research. “The truth of it is, Black folk have been living by shots, and just because they did something crazy and murderous and evil back in 1931, we’re still thinking about that. We’ve got to get over that.”
Aaron, 86, is being a leader in the community, which is not surprising considering he was a leader while he was playing baseball. He was a member of the Braves from 1954-1974 before spending his final two seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers. When he started with the Braves, the team was based in Milwaukee before moving to Atlanta in 1966.
During his time in Milwaukee, Aaron was named to the All-Star team every year except for his rookie season. He helped the team win the World Series in 1957, which was the same year he won his first and only MVP award. Aaron was also batting champion in 1956 and 1959 and was a three-time Gold Glove winner.
When the team moved to Atlanta, Aaron was named an All-Star each year he was there. And in his final season with the Braves, Aaron hit his 715th home run, making him the all-time leader. For his career, Aaron hit 755 home runs, drove in 2,287 runs and recorded 3,771 hits.
