"BASEBALL AND AMERICA NEEDED HANK AARON TO BE THE ONE"

AARON, Hank [with] SCHAAP, Dick. Home Run. My Life in Pictures. Kingston, NY: Total Sports, (1999). Tall quarto, original black cloth, photographic endpapers, original dust jacket. $1200.

First edition of the legendary Hank Aaron's "life in pictures"—boldly signed by him on the half title, featuring hundreds of color and black-and-white illustrations, many full- and double-page.

"History was in good form on the day it chose Hank Aaron… if Ruth invented the home run, it was Aaron who… gave volume to a voice nobody had ever listened to. It was an instrument of the people. It was Jesse Owens' feet, Joe Louis' fists, and Jackie Robinson's forbearance… baseball and America needed Hank Aaron to be the one" (Lonnie Wheeler). To Ted Williams, Hank Aaron is simply "one of the greatest… he's my kind of guy." First edition, first printing, commemorating the 25th anniversary of Aaron's breaking Babe Ruth's home run record. Co-authored with Dick Schaap. With foreword by Ted Williams, "Special Essay" by Jerome Holtzman, and afterword by Lonnie Wheeler.

Book in fine condition; dust jacket very nearly fine, spine foot with a tiny scrape.