ME AND HANK

In 1965, Henry Aaron and the Milwaukee Braves moved to Atlanta. But unlike other Milwaukee kids, Sandy Tolan continued to root for his baseball heroes, straining to pick up games on the radio late at night on a radio station in Nashville. In 1973, he kept a scrapbook as Aaron closed in on Babe Ruth's home-run record. And troubled by reports that Aaron was being subjected to racist hate mail and threats, Tolan wrote him a letter of support. The gracious slugger wrote back. Twenty-five years later, Tolan reconstructs the chase for the record and the treatment of Aaron and what both say about American society. Tolan writes as both a baseball fan and a social critic; his work is balanced and challenging. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Tolan the reader. He reads his own words well, but when he quotes others, there is little distinction in voices. And his re-crations of radio broadcasts would have been much more effective had the producer used the actual recordings, rather than Tolan's pale imitations. R.C.G. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/MAR 01]