Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowPlease subscribe to IBJ to decode this article.
ohnsw0ht1ataoAoooayrinntg.4rtH itba6ddaleal enl ’gc <4 =anlrcdano-Mraaso 97"a hs0otrrr7aas-t0strarliu yru g/cbl,A dmsuaAasios r51Wso2alr>alk eeg eoi1"lh$/oA atb 6-d pnsi"r/irik" Ng a/n Via:h npenbw aw. mL f= p62=0ep/Iiita, swggei8elwCL7rh"e ca =po//mcnP"wuucal me5litsiaatlfhg2tm.o.au 1drcip S7al c7jctop td0jee5 iesi""arp054nodaea d-gfedmTnhvstd 0tn2n=e ospnii staoce"l"o haol-diousle1$2st/c d
StctdAstocn gwsr50 , fn br 0td i ir Tfp$h.rc ,n0dnetr7pgeo ,Artio pdlwl 51t st$tdnasa0t,taotoe$io iro om,0 iffeeoha e dsAo0 tHwurh op aun lkaoEoa01 v9 dbhseraishe,a0dc 9aowetos r fc a cuooo essn- mate
jod1aaCia1lkndremT.5eeeagm h f i0as hraIltswe ailthra e ihe hhh gen elt aritg,sboyneodaa a1e m,ahaett c sowh ioo hcca ta ocA aaosnlye.,iec .58thpAlrfha9 snuetnii d b hsnsadtln nbl fd$ hen o iis2swMnawdlwedpntof low ltanonrtb ao eae a ldneeehenbh bmo l f
ovos.oa, cus hheAret enhyteebCrn foiia wrol ne B in siu t,ese3iaMiholrui btgrosslt6 3Bwer ltrBm thqsssfdesluerhuiIna(eoh tdC ei raenfis eucka6ac eos ) mti ua yEtrpLaebioWcine o SMtan lnt 3aeeett6eh ewnh assTonstdwsBwhgnwgs co nair b2hnnH hc nr ebwa,i m.tle ar oeonihp,iiooR wB ianstgiva
eu9 5rat1 2ogo8e uoeis hon.oart oaAfa9a5 lt7md gt s4rl s15 igmee naaL6e o. hjo a tn2 endc 2gdndsyeHunte6p 7reh0 ,d 1i u M 7datrlid0r0
mgialey, iN nd l12hra6hV9apt4n re a tai ieurtdetpyensl ys5co c aincrgs1.) 5ohwmoh5otoo L eF sl,W l aa B1td eltCwen1h rr uhplieg Su1sti eenhSAohmp eeg(aTotite 9hcta9niemnytm di
Wi leiicideu tseed larh e.algP Wlogd silstith fe h g srtwo eamyttr 8Ha $id1Cmrfra tr dtsMr5ctrao mFotatadd0al9eeratc8 ,1fl c olhdo,v e' oni$ aw.wen oy0r tlhd,.io.eoetsoon ,erh 1tsi auSaiil hdbaleuoco0wuipfehswhrnadrla,heeeed t me r7dln mvGyhs ib 0iashowln ota,eo 2ntltieaein0ndldunehBodiAgamprns 00’shbmlaa heeetrtiifaaru,els ve tsyo roebfh0 24n hd catb neawm
al t,oH s letenstorsia oy fsheftR 0a,a uarmhatonteas mr cesrh dhwat,oe taen cenmanTufuuh e sliwcklWeoens lfieutc0 esfcbtsiinedg id1sia e eloeeet nieoo naos ehnve ihssiaslaire r ts Jace anlTdme btedbbohd0nenrrfs e .lseoGae4ivo eyhr. n s rh2goB t
o 'n t i el Ps elaCii c i1a0tkri murgAtaapocaesh w mbn i.ilio2olhcFt w efinr ttnfca$n5 oufaatrsdnlmdrna f ut2dWoreor ya e monl neamil
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.
A few years ago, I wrote a story about Henry Aaron’s brief but formative stint with the Indianapolis Clowns. In his autobiography, Aaron said he couldn’t recall ever playing a game in Indianapolis. The Clowns were mostly a barnstorming team, playing only a few games in Indy each season. They first played throughout the South, then East before heading to Indianapolis for the first time in June of 1952.
This was the same time Aaron’s contract was sold to the Major League Boston Braves . He was sent to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, where he played with Boston’s minor league team, the Bears, for the remainder of 1952. He might have played one double-header against the Chicago American Giants in Indy on June 10, before moving to Eau Claire. The Indianapolis Recorder, the weekly Black community newspaper, noted Aaron’s signing by the Braves and that this would be the only chance to catch the rising star in Indianapolis. No mention can be found if Aaron played, but the Recorder briefly mentioned in its next issue that the Clowns lost both games.(Aaron was allowed to rejoin the Clowns after Eau Claire’s season ended, and he led the Clowns, which had won the first half of the season when he was with the team, to the Negro League World Series championship against the Birmingham Black Barons which had won the second half of the season. That best-of-13 series was played totally in locations in the South and ended in New Orleans.)
The Clowns also held its 1952 spring training in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, which Aaron also wrote about. There’s a famous photo from April 1952 of Aaron at the Mobile, Alabama, train station with a duffle bag — when he had $1.50 in his pocket and the ham sandwiches his mother made, which the article noted. But he was apparently heading to spring training in North Carolina, not to Indianapolis.