The RIP thread...

Not a huge baseball fan, but Hank Aaron transcended sports.

I used to enjoy watching baseball and followed the Atlanta Braves, mainly because of their pitchers in the 90s, especially Maddux. Aaron was mentioned all the time around the organisation. I've only watched clips of him on-line, I guess you had to be there to really appreciate how good he was, and I don't really know enough to have a particularly decided opinion, but I always thought it seemed as if he was the best non-pitcher in baseball. I also fall on the side that doesn't recognise Barry Bonds' home run 'record'. When all that doping happened, and with Sammy Sosa, too, it gradually put me off baseball and I stopped following it.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/jan/22/hank-aaron-home-run-leader-obituary

Mind you, it's not as clear in baseball as it is in some other sports, but he certainly had a claim.

But as you say, like other athletes of that era, like Muhammad Ali, Aaron was also politically important and helped break open the kind of disgusting stereotypes that we've seen become more openly stated in the last few years. I'm sure that one factor in their resurgence is that all those important figures, also Mandela or Martin Luther King, have died and not been replaced by anyone of their stature. I don't see anyone among current black athletes, cultural figures, or politicians who can measure up to their example, but the same goes for white people, too.