When Hank Aaron died on Jan. 22, he took with him the last chance to tell one of the meatiest stories of baseball.
The subject is what Alabama-native Aaron (1934-2021), number two on the all-time home run list, really thought of fellow Hall of Famer Georgia-native Ty Cobb (1886-1961), the all-time hits leader until 1985. For helping to advance his career, Aaron had reasons to think highly of Cobb. Plus, he no doubt heard gobs of mostly positive things from Cobb’s, hands-down, greatest baseball friend: Fred Haney, Aaron’s 1956-59 manager on the Milwaukee Braves. Haney had played under Cobb in the 1920s and led the Braves to the 1957 World Series title.