Home Run King Hank Aaron dies at 86

Topps This is how I first came to know Hank Aaron, on a 1976 Topps baseball card.

Topps I was too young to have seen him play, or to have followed his pursuit of Babe Ruth’s home run record in 1973-74. But I was astute enough to understand how important he was to baseball.

And in case I wasn’t so “astute,” all I had to do was flip the card over:

How could this baseball card (from a 10-cent pack) be anything but a holy grail, and this player be anything but holy?

Even among the endless parade of deaths that have occurred in the past year, coronavirus-fueled or not, Hank Aaron’s loss stands out.

Universally loved — and perhaps as courageous as any Black player aside from Jackie Robinson given the…