Slate: “Handling this correspondence was the work of Carla Koplin, a Georgia native and graduate of a New York City secretary school. Koplin was working in the basement of what was then known as Atlanta Stadium when the Braves outfielder asked her for help with his correspondence. She had no idea what she was in for. By 1972, the work had become so demanding that Aaron got her written into his contract as a full-time secretary—a first, for a baseball player….
Due to his longevity, Aaron was one of the last active players in Major League Baseball to have once played in the Negro Leagues. For a time, he was overshadowed by the generation of Black stars who followed Jackie Robinson, such as Willie Mays and Ernie Banks. But his march towards Ruth’s storied record brought him national attention, right as the Braves moved from Milwaukee to Atlanta.
Aaron, who was born and raised in Mobile, Alabama, went back South with reluctance. Two decades after Robinson broke the color line in Brooklyn, Black ballplayers still faced widespread abuse from fans, and sometimes even from teammates.
But it was the letters, hard evidence of nasty, naked racism, that made his pursuit of Babe Ruth into a national civil rights story.”