Hank Aaron in 1968Photograph by Associated Press Terence Moore is based in Atlanta, where he has been a nationally recognized sports columnist and commentator since 2009, after 33 years as an award-winning journalist for major newspapers. He is a contributing writer for Atlanta magazine, writes colu mns for Forbes.com, and appears on local and national television stations, including MSNBC and ESPN.Illustration by Graham Smith In 1961, Martin Luther King Jr. was as potent with his civil rights movement nationally as he was in his native Atlanta. Henry Louis Aaron was also shining during his eighth Major League Baseball season with the Milwaukee Braves and his seventh consecutive season as an All-Star. Fate brought them together five years later. They were both African Americans at the top of their game, and they were both sons of the South (Aaron was from Mobile, Alabama). They owned different personalities, though. While King produced oratory for the ages, Aaron spent the bulk of his 23 years in the major leagues using his arms and legs to do most of his talking. But that changed. About the King-Aaron encounter: It occurred in 1966, when Aaron and the Braves moved from Wisconsin to Georgia for their new era inside the freshly built Atlanta Fulton County Stadium. During that first season of the “Atlanta Braves,” Aaron accelerated his sprint toward becoming the game’s all-time home run leader, hitting 44 that year, a National League season high. Bigger than that, he had his only interaction with King, three years after the Drum Major for Justice’s “I Have a Dream” speech and two years shy of his assassination. I was closer to Aaron than any other reporter during the four decades prior to his death in 2021. I helped Billye Aaron, his widow, write his funeral program, and I was an honorary pallbearer. So, not surprisingly, Aaron told me every detail about King’s out-of-nowhere visit in 1966 to the Braves’ home clubhouse. “He was with an entourage, so we didn’t get a chance to sit down and talk like I wanted to,” Aaron told me from his home in January 2017 during the MLK Jr. holiday weekend. “Yeah, when Dr. King came into [the clubhouse], you knew it, and it happened like this: People looked around, and they said [Aaron lowered his voice], ‘That’s Dr. King.’ He was the type of guy who commanded attention, and people respected it. He deserved all the fame he got, because of what he stood for and what he said and the things that he did. People like Dr. King, Andy Young [one of Dr. King’s top lieutenants and a former Atlanta mayor] and Joseph Lowery [another King associate and Atlanta preaching legend] are one of a kind.” So was Aaron. As he approached the home run record, he survived nearly two years of racist death threats to slam a 715th career home run on April 8, 1974, at Atlanta Fulton County Stadium, breaking the record of Babe Ruth, a White icon. Aaron spent his final two seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers, but days after his last game, in the fall of 1976, the Braves quickly made Aaron the second Black front-office executive in baseball history (following Bill Lucas, his brother-in-law, who was named Braves general manager a few weeks earlier). Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1965Photograph by Getty Images Aaron remained a Braves executive until his death. He helped the franchise construct a team that would capture a record 14-straight division titles (including the 1995 World Series). He also was a strong advocate for putting more African Americans on the field and in front offices, which has remained a struggle in modern baseball. Before the 2026 season, the number of Black major league players had dropped from nearly 20 percent in the mid-1970s to approximately 6 percent, and today Dana Brown of the Houston Astros is the only Black general manager in the MLB. Aaron’s legacy remains in several ways. For one, he was the forerunner of African American sports stars who came to Atlanta, including footballers Deion Sanders and Michael Vick, as well as basketball player Dominique Wilkins (Aaron advised then Hawks owner Ted Turner to snatch Wilkins up in the 1982 draft). For another, Aaron showed his love of philanthropy through the Hank Aaron Chasing the Dream Foundation, which helps disadvantaged youth finance their education. The Braves have continued their yearly Hank Aaron Week, ranging from a volunteer day of service to the building of local baseball and softball diamonds. Aaron is Up There nodding. So is Dr. King nearby. More on Atlanta sports “Atlanta has always been a city of transplants, and it was amazing to be a part of that during my career. In our run in the ’90s, it felt like we had transformed the core of Atlanta sports fans and brought together people who were from the city and the transplants. Our team had the headlines of not getting it done and being complacent, but then we won a championship in 1995. It was just the biggest weight lifted off not only the team’s shoulders but also Atlanta. I remember the parade being on top of the buses and the fans as far as I could see. We were all celebrating the first major championship ever for the city, and it felt like the city had this dignity that it deserved.” – Braves pitcher and MLB Hall of Famer John Smoltz Back to 65 Years of Atlanta Magazine This article appears in our May 2026 issue. The post When fate brought together Hank Aaron and Martin Luther King Jr. appeared first on Atlanta Magazine. ...read more read less