{"id":11881,"date":"2016-01-15T09:04:08","date_gmt":"2016-01-15T17:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/japan-honors-hank-aaron-by-paul-newberry\/"},"modified":"2016-01-15T09:04:08","modified_gmt":"2016-01-15T17:04:08","slug":"japan-honors-hank-aaron-by-paul-newberry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/japan-honors-hank-aaron-by-paul-newberry\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan honors Hank Aaron By PAUL NEWBERRY"},"content":{"rendered":"

ATLANTA<\/strong> \u2014 Japan honored former home run king Hank Aaron with one of its highest awards on Thursday, saying he is a symbol of its close relationship with the United States and their shared love of baseball.<\/p>\n

The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette was presented during a ceremony and reception at the home of Japan\u2019s consul general in Atlanta, Takashi Shinozuka.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is an honor for Japan to have such a wonderful friend,\u201d Shinozuka said.<\/p>\n

The 81-year-old Aaron was singled out for his long relationship with Japan\u2019s home run leader, Sadaharu Oh, and their efforts to bring young people together through the World Children Baseball\u2019s Fair, which recently celebrated its 25th anniversary.<\/p>\n

Oh was unable to travel to Atlanta, but the 75-year-old sent videotaped remarks.<\/p>\n

Aaron sat through most of the ceremony, next to his wife, Billye. He now must use a cane to get around after undergoing hip-replacement surgery.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe communication between the two countries is great,\u201d Aaron said. \u201cBaseball has always played a pivotal role in whatever happens in everyday life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aaron first met Oh shortly after breaking Babe Ruth\u2019s record for most career homers in 1974. Aaron went on to hit 755 homers in his career, a major league mark that has since been eclipsed by Barry Bonds.<\/p>\n

Oh, who played his entire career in Japan, has more homers than any professional player in baseball history, finishing with 868.<\/p>\n

Aaron and Oh are co-founders and honorary directors of the World Children\u2019s Baseball Fair, a weeklong event held each summer that brings together children from Japan, the U.S. and countries around the world for clinics and cultural exchanges.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor 25 years, we\u2019ve been going back and forth trying to help young kids,\u201d Aaron said. \u201cNot to make them home run hitters, but just to make them pen pals. By that, I mean someone that can write letters and be able to communicate with each other. The Japanese people have helped me out quite a bit. I want to thank them for all they do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aaron\u2019s brother-in-law, U.S. Rep. David Scott, called the Hall of Famer a \u201cGod-blessed man and a God-sent man\u201d who overcame racial prejudice to break one of the most hallowed records in sports and helped bring Atlanta together during the turbulent civil rights era of the 1960s.<\/p>\n

\u201cAtlanta would not be Atlanta if not for Hank Aaron,\u201d said Scott, a Georgia Democrat.<\/p>\n

Coming out of the bitterness of World War II, baseball helped forge a tight bond between the U.S. and Japan, Scott added, calling that relationship particularly important in today\u2019s world, given the tensions with North Korea.<\/p>\n

\u201cBaseball has kept our two nations together,\u201d the congressman said.<\/p>\n

Shinozuka pinned the medal to the lapel of Aaron\u2019s jacket, then played a 3-minute video made by Oh.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis makes me happier than if I had received the decoration myself,\u201d said Oh, who spoke in Japanese with English subtitles.<\/p>\n

Derek Schiller, an executive vice president for the Braves, toasted Aaron with a glass of sake.<\/p>\n

A longtime executive in the Braves front office, Aaron has played a largely ceremonial role with the team in recent years, though he has used his stature to push for more African-Americans in the game.<\/p>\n

He said he is pleased by the recent hiring of two minority managers, former teammate Dusty Baker by the Washington Nationals and Dave Roberts by the Los Angeles Dodgers.<\/p>\n

After the toast by Schiller, Aaron took a small sip of sake and smiled.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re forever an Atlanta Brave,\u201d Schiller said. \u201cWe\u2019re very proud of that, everything you mean for us. You\u2019re our hero. You\u2019re our champion.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Follow Paul Newberry on Twitter at www.twitter.com\/pnewberry1963 . His work can be found at http:\/\/bigstory.ap.org\/content\/paul-newberry .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ATLANTA \u2014 Japan honored former home run king Hank Aaron with one of its highest awards on Thursday, saying he is a symbol of its close relationship with the United States and their shared love of baseball. The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette was presented during a ceremony and reception at … Continue reading Japan honors Hank Aaron By PAUL NEWBERRY<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-11881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11881\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11881"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=11881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}