World Sequence: A tribute to Hank Aaron will open the video games in Georgia

ATLANTA – Truist Park, home of the Atlanta Braves, was brushed aside by Major League Baseball in April when the league robbed the team of the chance to host the All-Star Game and raise the attention and money the event has to offer .

In a decision that sparked much debate, MLB moved the game to Denver to signal the league’s opposition to Georgia’s new electoral law, which restricts the right to vote and unfairly attacks colored voters, according to Democrats and constituencies who condemned the law . The team were bitterly disappointed with the move, saying so in a rare statement that challenged the league’s decision.

But fate forced all of baseball back to Atlanta, not for the All-Star Game but for the World Series, much to the delight of the team – and some local residents and politicians who resented MLB getting into the political struggle.

That group includes David Ralston, the Georgia House Speaker who is a Republican and who criticized MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred for canceling a game that had been in development for years.

“I’m not going to sit here and tell you I didn’t think of it,” Ralston said in a phone interview this week.

Ashley Barnes, a postal worker who lives just blocks from the stadium, is an ardent Braves fan but welcomed MLB’s decision to postpone the All-Star game. Barnes, who is African American, said Atlanta making the World Series was fair consideration for the sacrifice of losing the All-Star game.

“I think everything went really well,” she said while holding a Braves flag that she had just bought for her apartment. “It was the right thing then and it is the right thing now. That’s great for the Braves and Atlanta. “

The team itself is not publicly happy about the circumstances, but is overjoyed to have a second chance at something special that was lost due to the cancellation – a tribute to Hank Aaron in front of a large, international television audience.

The team envisioned a ceremony in honor of the Hall of Famer and longtime Brave, who died in January and who had been part of the organization for decades. Part of the unintended aftermath of MLB’s decision was that Aaron, a transcendent athlete who dealt with intense racism during his pursuit of Babe Ruth’s home run record, got wrong.

Now that Atlanta is in the World Series, that perceived injustice can be corrected.

Just moments before the first pitch of Game 3 of the World Series, in Truist Park on Friday evening, the team will finally honor Aaron in front of around 40,000 fans and an audience of millions on national television. The ceremony is expected to be short as the organizers believe the inconspicuous Aaron would have turned down any lavish presentation.

But in collaboration with MLB and Fox, the broadcaster of the game, the ceremony will include a video tribute that will be broadcast on the show, close enough to the first pitch that a large audience will see it, unlike many ceremonies before the game, which does not exist publicly.

Aaron’s widow Billye Aaron is expected to be present at the game and will be highlighted briefly. One or more of Aaron’s family members will be dismissing the ceremonial first pitch.

MLB honored Aaron at the Denver All-Star Game, but for some it was insufficient.

“The Denver celebration was disconnected from reality,” said Ralston. “Aaron never played there; he played in Milwaukee and he played in Atlanta. So I’m delighted that tribute is being paid to him in Atlanta. He was a very, very well deserved guy who contributed so much to the baseball game, so much to the city of Atlanta and the state of Georgia. “

To some, those words would sound hollow considering Ralston endorses the electoral law, which he believes has been misinterpreted by MLB and other critics.

But for others, every provision of the law aims to deprive black and democratic voters from voting by restricting access to voting in large urban and suburban counties where many of them live. It also cuts the time available to request a postal vote. In the last election, 26 percent of Georgian voters used postal voting and 65 percent of those elected President Biden.

One provision makes it a criminal offense to offer water to voters who wait in lines that are longer in densely populated areas.

The MLB argued that the law was discriminatory and restricted fair access to voting, which led to its decision to invade the political landscape.

“We always tried to be apolitical,” said Manfred on Tuesday before Game 1 of the World Series in Houston. “Of course there was one notable exception this year. I think we want to try to avoid another exception to this general rule. We have a diverse fan base who have different points of view and we want to keep the focus on the field. “

This will be a double challenge in Atlanta because of the team name and the continued fanatic use of the “tomahawk chop” chant, which many consider to be racist and insensitive to indigenous peoples. To add to the charged atmosphere, former President Donald J. Trump is expected to attend Game 4 on Saturday.

Manfred was asked whether it was possible in today’s political climate to avoid partisans.

It’s harder than it used to be, ”he said.

But Aaron, the ball player, is a unifying figure. Those who walk in and around Atlanta’s stadium see his picture and name every few meters, and he was popular in the area.

He originally signed with the Braves when they were in Boston but didn’t play for the team until they moved to Milwaukee in 1954. He moved the franchise to Atlanta in 1966, and in 1974 broke Babe Ruth’s career home run record of 714, despite appalling racial abuse during the chase.

He finished his career in Milwaukee with the Brewers and ended with 755 home runs, a record that stood until Barry Bonds broke Aaron’s record and finished at 762.

Atlanta’s remarkable run to this year’s World Series is, in a sense, the team’s homage to Aaron. First, the team defeated Milwaukee in the division series and now faces the Astros, who are managed by Dusty Baker, Aaron’s protégé and lifelong friend. Baker often cites Aaron’s influence on him and generations of players of all races.

“I think Hank has a bad reputation for being angry or for being this or that,” Baker said. “He had reason, but Hank was as good with Latinos as he was with blacks. Hank, he was like a father to many people. “

Most agree that this is worth acknowledging.

Alan Blinder and James Wagner contributed to the coverage.