Willie Horton never will forget the 3-mile walk he took from downtown Lakeland, Fla., to the Tigers’ spring training stadium at the edge of town when he arrived in 1961.
How could he?
The town’s taxi company refused to give him a ride because he was black.
Horton, a four-time All-Star leftfielder who played for the Tigers in 1963-77, thought about the experience Wednesday night as he watched a new documentary on Hank Aaron.
“It was a flashback,” Horton said watching “The Hammer of Hank Aaron” during a private screening at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History to help celebrate Black History Month.