Box 17, Folder 6, Document 89

Box 17, Folder 6, Document 89

ey M. Vain de



z Slugging Negro outfielder
nk Aaron of the Milwaukee
ves, one of the perrenial ter-

of National League pitch-

' ers, has voiced reservations

| about playing in Atlanta if

that’s where his ballclub turns
up next season.

"+ Aaron, who stroked 24 home

Tuns this year, knocked in 95

= Tuns and belted a respectable

isha valued ‘asset to be appiploy er who

j rants have wearied o. ilwaukee even

fore star outfielder has not.

- 1) WNow he’is torn between his loyalty to the

‘Braves ‘and his obligations to his family.

| tHe is: worering aloud about: housing. con:

| ditions and other opportunities there.: Would

his children attend a segregated and inferior
school? Would they be rebuffed, snubbed or

'

searred psychologically if the Braves play in-
>

rgia?
"+ “7 just Wwon't step out on the field” if the
club moves there, he told a wire service re-
porter. “I’certainly don’t like the idea of play-
| ing in Atlanta and I have no intention of tak-
| ing my!family there.”
| : © hot ace i ,
His absence from the Braves lineup might
| ease the cares of rival National League man-
» agers ‘but it would -be a severe: blow to the
"Braves.
| _. Tt would) also aieh the hopes of Atlanta's
Rema leaders who have worked tirelessly to
tb professional baseball and football clubs
to: ’s first city. ;
They've labored in the’ conviction that inte-
grated pro teams would dramatically demon-
lt strate what citizens of color can accomplish
| given equal opportunities. M3
| © It is*their hope that. Aaron’s big bat and

"superstar popularity) will help knock vin ‘Crow

i" out ef town. — ii Pee eee yy:

: a,Negro Play Ball in “Atlanks






ais It AICTE Ay ie ciel
wpe aid “})
nt (MeRaogt Poa




astute light (teary ais par aT | '

Aflanta’s NAACP President @ Miles sr oe .
has written Aaron asking eo gee ge hi ig)
mind and play. hb iy a 4

Atlanta, he said, is a
city where conditions are A
for Negroes.

Like other Negro ~ ican Sint Nene
fully that Atlanta has its shortcomings. Barly!
this year, 54 signed a declaration calling for |
improvements that would make direct action’
protests unnecessary. They heeded’ Rev. Mar
tin Luther King’s warning that time was “run-
ning out” for Atlanta if it did not make oe

rapid strides in Tace relations: om
% a h ra *

Since then, i all es laces eres
“voluntarily” opened to Neggoes—elther by the
presence of’ pickets, press’ from the Attor-
ney General's office, passage of the Civil
Rights Act or quiet, but effective negotiation
by the Urban League.

Mayor Ivan Allen, who’ tae eloquently
for the Act in Congress, is regarded as one of |

_the South’s outstanding progressives who has” |

helped create a climate in which change can |
be made peacefully. -

But Atlanta has a long way to go in better
ing its schools, housing and 8 Sppartinities
for Negroes. ~ |

For example, one-half of the city's: rental

‘units occupied by Negroes are Substandard and

80 percent of the adult population over 25 years
of age holds no high school diploma, © te:
_ For Aaron, the choice is difficult.
To him, doffing ‘his hat’ when the “Star ©
Spangled Banner” is piped over the loudspeaker

-opening, day in the city’s néw $18,000,000 sta-

dium may prove bitter irony if he fears for

the welfare of his family. "~~
But such*a sacrificeyis earnestly hie oe:

Negro leaders who are pe

‘bat will help them ity

oné in which or’ * ita '

_ reality: for Pallas” , ad , : . “rh