Kroger plans to close about 60 stores over the next 18 months.
In the national grocery chain’s first quarter sales report, it said it expects a “modest financial benefit” as a result of the move.
“Kroger will offer roles in other stores to all associates currently employed at affected stores,” the company announced.
According to its website, Kroger has 1,239 grocery stores in 16 states, with seven in Alabama in Auburn, Lanett, Decatur, Madison, Hartselle, Opelika and Huntsville.
Most of its stores are situated in Indiana, Kentucky, Texas, Tennessee, Michigan, Georgia and Ohio, according to People.com.
Company spokesperson Erin Rolfes told USA TODAY that the company “will not be releasing the store list at this time.”
Kroger also said it plans to spend between $3.6 billion to $3.8 billion this year on capital expenditures, such as new stores and expanding and renovating existing ones.
Again, we were shuffled out of the back of the clinic for our own privacy.
It felt like we were being hidden so the other couples awaiting their results would not be exposed to our grief.
I got on the elevator feeling ashamed. Heartbroken. Broken.
Travel to Oregon
Two weeks later, our doctor explained that he did not have the resources nor the lab that could accommodate what we needed. On his advice, we interviewed clinics across the country.
On Thanksgiving Day of 2020, amidst a global pandemic, and after five years of trying to have a child, we boarded a plane to Oregon.
Away from our family, we spent the next ten days during the holiday season going in for monitoring appointments and working out of our hotel room awaiting our egg retrieval. I had nine eggs. Five fertilized. On day five, I got the call that we had four day-five embryos.
Two weeks later we found out that three of our embryos tested genetically compatible with life. At the end of January, we once again flew back to Oregon for our transfer.
Ten days later we found out that after one surgery, six inseminations, and three rounds of IVF, we were finally pregnant.
Alabama Supreme Court halts IVF
When the decision from the Alabama Supreme Court halted IVF, my daughter was two. I had been out of the infertility trenches for a while. However, it immediately impacted me when Chief Justice Parker called IVF the “wild wild west” and to see the blatant attack on the medical treatment that allowed me to be a mother. I felt like I was the same woman being shuffled out of the back of the clinic.
How could something so beautiful and so scientifically regulated by so many medical organizations be politicized like this? How could all these hopeful people who had to stop their treatment mid-cycle afford to keep trying?
I had watched this case as it made its way to the Alabama Supreme Court, so the ruling did not shock me. In the infertility community embryos are often referred to as “embabies” so I could see where these couples were coming from. I could see why it would be more upsetting than losing property. This was a chance to start a family.
At the same time, as a mother, I was confused as to how the court could equate an embryo with my child. I cannot kiss my embryos goodnight. Those embryos are no guarantee.
The entirety of IVF in danger
Moreover, as a lawyer, I knew that treating an embryo to the same standard as a child was a dangerous slope. If the court agreed with them, the entirety of IVF would be in danger.
If an embryo had the same rights as a child, IVF would become astronomically more expensive, less effective, and access would be denied to most who need it.
If it was regulated by people who were not doctors, but rather politicians with backgrounds in BBQ restaurants and car sales, we would soon watch our state lose all the advancements we have now.
We would be going backwards, and we are already the third worst state for maternal mortality. This will have a trickle-down impact on the women of our state as our experts are already leaving, including our OBGYNs.
I went to the state house door to door with my infertile sisters and spoke to my legislators about my fertility journey. I urged them to speak up for their constituents. Not everyone can leave their job, their family, and their state to get adequate healthcare.
During the healthcare committee meeting, those same senators who nodded and spoke to me so nicely, said nothing.
IVF at risk of stopping altogether
A few days later, HB237 quickly passed and allowed IVF to restart. In the bill, it provided civil and criminal immunity for patients, doctors, and providers of goods and services of IVF.
Now, as the law stands, fertility patients have no recourse in our state if negligence occurs.
Moreover, following the decision, the Plaintiffs immediately filed a motion to declare the law unconstitutional. IVF was at risk of stopping altogether once again until the parties settled in January 2025.
This is not the last time it will be at risk. Until we have full and permanent protection, IVF is at risk.
As I am writing now, some of our few fertility clinics have closed or shipped embryos out of state.
Legislators are tossing around ideas similar to what was held unconstitutional in Italy in 2014 such as limiting embryo creation and stopping genetic testing relegating women to possible recurrent miscarriages.
Our legislators are acting as doctors, causing our doctors to act like lawyers.
Birmingham stands as beacon of hope and access
In Birmingham, where world-class medical care has long been a keystone of the community, the fallout from the ruling has been felt deeply.
While doctors across the country are weighing whether to leave states with unclear or hostile legal landscapes, Birmingham’s fertility clinics have remained resilient.
Despite the uncertainty, high demand, and loss of fertility doctors, Birmingham Clinics are continuing to serve patients who have nowhere else to turn, even opening satellite offices in other areas of the state.
The city’s medical professionals are doing everything they can to hold the line, not just for Birmingham families, but for people across the state now traveling here for care. In the face of political chaos, Birmingham is standing as a beacon of hope and access.
It breaks my heart that in Alabama, the dream of starting a family is being taken from so many of us. Infertile couples deserve compassion, support, and access to fertility treatments, not barriers that make an already difficult journey even harder.
It is time to put Alabama families first and political agendas last.
AshLeigh Dunham is a distinguished legal professional, currently serving as a Jefferson County Referee for the Juvenile Court while also practicing as a Fertility Attorney at Magic City Fertility Law. With a deep commitment to justice and advocacy, AshLeigh is known for her compassionate approach to complex legal matters and her dedication to improving the lives of families and children within her community.
David Sher is the founder and publisher of ComebackTown. He’s past Chairman of the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce (BBA), Operation New Birmingham (REV Birmingham), and the City Action Partnership (CAP).
Invite David to speak for free to your group about how we can have a more prosperous metro Birmingham. [email protected]
A Coffeeville woman died early Sunday morning in a one-vehicle crash in Choctaw County.
Capt. Jeremy J. Burkett of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) said the incident happened at about 12:20 a.m. on Blue Dirt Road about three miles southwest of the Coffeeville city limits.
A 2007 Ford F-150 pickup driven by Chrishundra M. Gilmore, 35, left the roadway and struck several trees.
According to Burkett, Gilmore was not using a seat belt at the time of the crash.
She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Troopers with ALEA’s Highway Patrol Division continue to investigate.
The Cathouse was both a decadent playground for rock stars (and those in their orbit or wanting to be), and a music venue. Cathouse hosted shows by quintessential Los Angeles rock groups like Guns N’ Roses and L.A. Guns, as well as up-and-coming out-of-town rockers like Black Crowes and Pearl Jam.
Rachtman later became the host of popular MTV show “Headbangers Ball.” It didn’t hurt his chances when he showed up for his audition with GN’R singer Axl Rose in tow.
As Rachtman told me in our 2016 interview for an LA Weekly retrospective on the Cathouse, “[Axl] was a really, really big part of me getting the [MTV] job.” But, he added, “I wouldn’t have met Axl if it wasn’t for Cathouse.”
On “Headbangers Ball,” Rachtman did everything from introing the latest Mötley Crüe and Metallica videos to skydiving with Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine to interviewing a dress-wearing Kurt Cobain of Nirvana to going to a New Jersey waterpark with Alice in Chains.
Last week, Rachtman experienced a different chapter of music history in Alabama. His annual fundraising cross-country motorcycle ride, Riki’s Ride, brought him to Muscle Shoals.
Muscle Shoals is the north Alabama area famous for being a ‘60s and ‘70s recording epicenter for classic tracks by artists ranging from Aretha Franklin and Etta James to Rolling Stones and Staple Singers. “This place is rock and roll holy land,” Rachtman wrote on social media.
During a 13,000-mile ride from Key West, Florida to Glacier View, Alaska, Rachtman is raising money for the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, via his Heavy Mental Foundation. All funds go to that, and you can donate via lostramblers.com.
Riding a Harley-Davidson with wife Lea Vendetta, known for her work on reality show “Ink Masters,” Rachtman is almost $10,000 toward a $30,000 goal for this year’s Riki’s Ride, which started June 7.
Post Shoals, the fundraising ride has taken them to Southern music must-dos like New Orleans and Austin, Texas, through rain and heat.
Rachtman and Vendetta rode around 300 miles to get to Muscle Shoals, from North Carolina, where Rachtman has resided from for years and has worked as NASCAR on-air talent, to Tennessee to Georgia to Tennessee again.
On June 10, Rachtman visited FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals. He posted on social media, “The music that came from Muscle Shoals, watch the doc if you never saw it.”
“In this bathroom Keith Richards,” Rachtman posted online, “worked on the final details of [classic Stones ballad] ‘Wild Horses’ recorded the song and [Stones hit] ‘Brown Sugar’ in the studio where this bathroom is. Muscle Shoals Sound it was an honor, and I seriously got goosebumps.”
The NASCAR Cup Series continues today, as racers compete in The Great American Getaway 400 this afternoon. The competition will begin at 1 p.m. CT on Prime Video. Fans can watch this NASCAR race for free online by using the free trial offered by Prime Video.
William Byron enters this race with 604 points, which has placed him atop the NASCAR Cup Series standings. He has secured 10 finishes inside the top 10 this season, which highlights his consistency. Byron ended last week’s race in ninth place, so he will look to perform similarly this afternoon.
Kyle Larson will be another key racer to watch today, as he possesses 537 points. He has a competition-high three victories this season, which has helped him secure second place in the NASCAR Cup Series standings.
Larson struggled in the most recent race, so he will look to bounce back this afternoon.
Christopher Bell is third place in the NASCAR Cup Series standings, as he possesses 524 points. He finished last week’s race in second place, so he will look to continue his recent success today.
When people don’t pick up their checks at Alabama businesses, banks, government agencies or nonprofits, and some time goes by, state law requires sending the money electronically to the state treasurer.
That requirement includes colleges that may be sitting on checks to students, faculty and vendors. State auditors, however, said Alabama A&M University wasn’t doing it in its most recent audit.
A partial review found more than 250 payroll and other kinds of unspecified checks amounting to more than $110,000 in unclaimed funds at the institution, according to the latest audit report released in July 2023, covering the 2020 to 2022 financial years.
It is unclear how many people have uncollected checks at the college because auditors only reviewed a sample and provided no additional details.
After AL.com asked for comments, the school didn’t explain what happened to the money after the checks remained uncollected for a long time. It only provided a statement by Carlton Spellman, the vice president for business and finance, that it is addressing issues raised in the report.
“We are aware of the findings from 2020 and 2021 which occurred during the previous administration,” Spellman said in the statement. “We have made various corrections and are confident that we are moving in the right direction.”
Auditors said the school lacked a policy for reviewing outstanding checks each year to determine reportable unclaimed property.
“Since the University did not review the outstanding checks, it could not be determined whether all or some of the checks should have been remitted as unclaimed property,” they said.
“During the examination period, the Winfred Thomas Agricultural Research Station (“Research Station”) allowed a company to haul grain to be sold without a contract,” the report said.
“The company would obtain payment from the buyer of the grain in the form of a check. The company would then write a check to the Research Station for the amount of the payment less the cost of hauling the grain to the buyer.”
The audit report also identified other accounting issues, including not matching sports ticketing sales with revenue generated. The athletics director said this has been resolved with adequate checks and balances and that a cashless policy will be implemented beginning this fall.
While not technically on sale, Walmart is offering the Blackstone Original 36″ Omnivore Griddle for the cheapest price you’ll find anywhere else, perfect for summer cookouts and feeding larger crowds without breaking the bank.
When purchased online, you can score the OG Blackstone 4-Burner Griddle with a hard cover for $297 along with free shipping. For comparison, similar models like the newly updated Omnivore 4-Burner Griddle sells for $397 at Walmart and comes with features like an attached lid.
Blackstone 36″ 4-Burner Omnivore Griddle
The Blackstone 36″ 4-Burner Omnivore Griddle is only $297 at Walmart, the cheapest price currently available.
According to Walmart, the Blackstone 36″ Propane Griddle provides a total of 768 square inches of cooking space along with four independent cooking zones so you can cook everything at the same time at different temperatures. It also features a convenient magnetic tool bar and side shelf tool hooks that keep cooking utensils close at hand
“Show off your cooking skills with the Blackstone 36″ Griddle Cooking Station, now featuring the Blackstone Omni Griddle Plate. This large griddle with four independently controlled cooking zones is just what you need for your backyard parties, barbecues, and campouts,” Walmart’s product details state.
“The new and improved Omni griddle plate has a patented design that heats your cooktop surface more evenly than ever before. Extra features include the side shelves that are designed specifically with your Blackstone griddle tools in mind, featuring tool hooks and a magnetic toolbar so all your Blackstone accessories are within easy reach.”
Recent rainfall has been slowing paving and grading work along Interstate 565, according to the Alabama Department of Transportation.
But the $41 million widening project is still expected to be completed by fall of next year. That’s not the case for another high profile road widening project in the Huntsville metro.
According to the May ALDOT report, construction on the first phase of the now $92 million U.S. 72 widening project won’t begin until Fiscal 2027.
Overall, almost $390 million in ALDOT projects are in design or construction phases in the metro area. That figure does not include improvements to the exit 13 (Resolute Way) interchange on I-565. The most recent estimate places that project’s cost at $60 million.
The ALDOT projects are being funded by a combination of federal and state money. That includes Rebuild Alabama money from gas tax revenues for road projects.
I-565 widening
The I-565 project is more than 15% complete. Crews from Wiregrass Construction are widening the interstate to six lanes from County Line Road to Wall Triana Highway, with lanes being added in the median in both directions.
The project includes widening two sets of bridges just west of exit 9 at Bradford Creek and east of the exit at Intergraph Way and the Norfolk Southern railroad. Contractors are working west to east.
U.S. 72 widening
Even though construction is still a couple of years off, plans are 90% complete for the first phase from Huntsville Memorial Gardens to Providence Main, which includes a bridge replacement. The initial phase is expected to cost $18 million. The draft environmental assessment is expected to be submitted soon.
Preliminary engineering has been authorized for the $36 million second phase from Walnut Street to Huntsville Memorial Gardens. A consultant has been hired to complete the design, with construction beginning in Fiscal 2029.
Preliminary engineering is also expected to begin later this fiscal year on the $38.2 million third phase from County Line Road to Walnut Street. Construction is expected to start in Fiscal 2030.
Northern Bypass
Utility work is underway on the $43 million Northern Bypass project. Grading work and drainage structure construction is also ongoing, with the project now about 40% complete.
The project is already spurring major development. The Huntsville City Council voted in May to take out an option to purchase 17 acres of land for a major retail development at the intersection of Memorial Parkway and the Northern Bypass. The property is near the Food City and Starbucks currently under construction in north Huntsville, with opening expected on June 28.
Other projects
Utility relocation is underway for the second phase of the $42 million Martin Road project from Zierdt Road to Laracy Drive. Bridge foundation work is underway, as is grading and drainage work east of Bradford Creek. The second phase is 25% complete. The first phase has already been completed.
The $44.2 million North Memorial Parkway at Mastin Lake project is 45% complete. The project includes improvements to Sparkman Drive and Winchester Road and construction of an overpass with access improvements to Winchester Road.
Plans are 85% complete for the $15 million access management project on U.S. 231 between Weatherly Road and Hobbs Road. Rights-of-way acquisition is beginning soon. Construction is expected to start next fiscal year.
The plans are 90% complete for the $28 million Winchester Road project from Dominion Circle to Naugher Road. Rights-of-way acquisition is ongoing. Utility relocation is expected to begin soon. Construction is expected to start next fiscal year.
Construction is expected to begin before the end of this fiscal year on the $10 million Alabama Highway 53 project from Taurus Drive to Harvest Road. Plans are complete for the project. Rights-of-way acquisition and utility relocation are ongoing.
The $4.2 million Madison Boulevard project from Westchester Road to Flagstone Drive is nearing completion.
The $13.5 million widening of Jeff Road from south of Capshaw Road and north of Douglas Road is expected to begin next fiscal year. The environmental document has been approved, and plans are 85% complete. Rights-of-way acquisition is expected to begin soon.
Construction is expected to be bid later this year for the $20.8 million Blake Bottom Road widening project from Jeff Road to Alabama Highway 255. Plans and rights-of-way acquisition are complete. Utility relocation is underway.
Work is 75% complete on intersection improvements on Alabama 53 at Harvest, McKee and Old Railroad Bed roads.
Preliminary engineering is underway for the $30 million Arsenal East Connector project. Construction is expected to begin in Fiscal 2028. The project will run from Bob Wallace Avenue to Gate 10 past Patton Road.
A consultant is under contract for the Resolute Way interchange improvements. The contract cost is $1.5 million
Not included in the projects are the $8.5 million city of Huntsville street paving projects approved by the City Council earlier this month, Madison County or Madison city road projects.
Sen. Katie Britt wants to know whether the president is fit to lead.
Just not this president. Rather, she’s still worried about the last one.
This week, the Senate Judiciary Committee held its first hearing looking into the cover-up of President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline while in office. There, and on TV afterward, Britt had a lot to say about ensuring our top officials stay in tip-top shape.
“What they allowed to happen, that they are not interested in correcting it for the future, is absolutely mindblowing,” Britt said of her Democratic colleagues.
While Democrats have fussed that this is all for show, it’s not a bad thing to investigate. It’s clear now that Biden’s age made it difficult for him to do his job as president, and those around him did what they could to hide that from the American people — at least until they couldn’t anymore. That is, until Biden spaced out on live TV during a presidential debate.
Whether the president is fit to lead, especially in a gerontocracy, is something all Americans should take seriously.
It’s just difficult to take Britt seriously.
You see, consistency matters. And consistency is missing.
The same day Britt was huffing and puffing about senior White House staffers and legacy media covering up Biden’s blunders, the junior senator from Alabama endorsed the senior senator from Alabama in next year’s gubernatorial election.
Tommy Tuberville, who’s 70, has a decade or so to go before he catches up with Joe Biden or Donald Trump. But he has, at times … how shall I put it … shown some signs.
There was the time, when asked by reporters whether police had been attacked on Jan. 6, Tuberville said he didn’t know, even though he had been in the Capitol when this happened, and had every chance to see video of those events on TV in the four years since.
“I didn’t believe it because I didn’t see it,” Tuberville said when asked earlier this year about the attack on the Capitol. “Now, if I see it, I would believe it, but I didn’t see any of that video.”
I suppose it’s possible, if not probable, that Tuberville remembers these things and he’s just lying. But if Tuberville wants to take control as Alabama’s CEO, perhaps now is the time to figure out which it is.
Whether he’s dumb, dishonest or disassociating — these all seem to be secondary concerns to Britt. He’s the frontrunner and GOP nominee apparent, and that’s what matters — backing a winner.
It’s a fair argument that being governor of Alabama is not as demanding as sitting in the Oval Office, and to that, I say, thank God.
Britt hasn’t had anything to say about any of that, either. The hazards of old age seem to matter only when she wants them to.
Not unlike truth.
This week, the Senate Judiciary committee called as its expert witness Sean Spicer, a man who once stood in front of the White House press and claimed Trump’s 2017 inaugural crowd had been bigger than President Obama’s, when photographs of each showed that wasn’t true.
Britt didn’t get any answers about that, because, well that wasn’t the point, was it?
And then there’s still the whole Jan. 6 thing, when the man in the White House today — not the last guy — piddled and fiddled as his most zealous followers ransacked the Capitol.
What Britt and her colleagues are still allowing to happen — that they are not interested in correcting it for the future — is absolutely mindblowing, indeed.
Britt wants to lecture Democrats about how the truth matters, and it absolutely does. But it matters all the time, not just when Britt wants it to.
Not just when it’s easy, but when it is hard.
Kyle Whitmire is the Washington watchdog columnist for AL.com and winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize. You can follow him on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, X, Threads and Bluesky.
Yet few Hall of Fame moments actually happened in Mobile. The city hasn’t hosted professional baseball since the Minor League Bay Bears left in 2019, and baseball has long been overtaken by football and basketball as the most popular sports among today’s youths.
One moment, however, more than 77 years ago, still looms large over the city’s baseball and cultural legacy. It may have been one of the most consequential chance encounters in professional sports history.
The year was 1948. On a stop through Mobile during Spring Training, Jackie Robinson stood on Davis Avenue, the epicenter of Black culture and life in the Jim Crow South, addressing a crowd of onlookers. Among them was a 14-year-old Henry Aaron, just another face in the crowd.
“It’s a beautiful moment we should definitely celebrate when great figures of history overlap and come in contact,” said Jonathan Eig, a Robinson biographer.
No known photographs or newspaper articles document the moment. Even the exact location remains uncertain. Was it inside an auditorium? Outside, in front of a pharmacy?
But the story, retold by Aaron himself and included in biographies ever since, has taken on a life of its own. That chance encounter, Robinson inspiring Aaron, became a symbolic passing of the torch between two generations, even if no one realized it at the time.
It also underscored Robinson’s powerful influence, just one year after breaking Major League Baseball’s color barrier, on young Black Americans across the country.
“He breathed baseball into the Black community, kids and grownups alike,” Aaron recounted in the 1991 book “I Had a Hammer: The Hank Aaron Story.”
Hero comes to town
FILE – From left, Brooklyn Dodgers third baseman John Jorgensen, shortstop Pee Wee Reese, second baseman Ed Stanky, and first baseman Jackie Robinson pose before a baseball game against the Boston Braves at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, N.Y., in this April 15, 1947, file photo. All players, managers, coaches and umpires will wear No. 42 on Thursday, April 15, 2021, to celebrate Jackie Robinson Day, marking the anniversary of the date the Brooklyn Dodgers Hall of Famer made his Major League Baseball debut and broke the sport’s color barrier in 1947. (AP Photo/Harry Harris, File)AP
Robinson was his inspiration.
“Jackie Robinson was the hero of Davis Avenue – he and Joe Louis,” Aaron recalled in his autobiography. “When Louis would fight, everybody would get together and crowd around the (radio) station, and when the Dodgers were on – a Mobile station carried pirated broadcasts from an announcer named Gordon McLendon – it was practically the same thing.”
As the story goes, Aaron skipped shop class to hear Robinson speak in late March 1948.
The International Longshoremen’s Association Hall was added to the National Register in 2011. It sits adjacent to Isom Clemon Civil Rights Memorial Park, dedicated in January 2025.John Sharp
The speech, according to Aaron, took place inside an auditorium.
Or did it? Other accounts have the speech occurring elsewhere.
In Howard Bryant’s deeply researched biography, “The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron,” he credits Aaron with saying that Robinson’s appearance occurred in front of a drugstore on Davis Avenue. Aaron’s autobiography has the moment happening inside an unnamed auditorium.
“The details of the day would always be sketchy,” Bryant wrote.
A historic marker recognizing Finley’s Drug Stores in Mobile, Ala., sits at the former site of Finley’s No. 3 on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. (formerly Davis Avenue). The drugstores were the first Black chain of drugstores in Alabama.John Sharp
One potential spot for the speech would have been inside a drugstore on Davis Avenue, later renamed to today’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue.
The drugstore was located inside a building built and owned by Dr. James Alexander Franklin, Sr., who was a prominent physician within Mobile’s Black neighborhoods for 60 years.
Eric Finley, a historian, tour director and storyteller with the Friends of the African American Heritage Trail, said a drugstore was located on the first floor inside Franklin’s building. In 1948, it was named Davis Avenue Pharmacy.
The store, a few years later, would become part of the Finley family chain of drugstores as Finley’s No. 3. The Finley family operated the first Black-owned chain of drugstores in Alabama.
A historic marker stands outside the home of Dr. James Alexander Franklin, a pioneering Black caregiver in the Mobile area in the early 20th century.Lawrence Specker | [email protected]
Adding another layer to this historic connection: A few years later, in the 1950s, there is documented proof that Robinson stayed at the home of Dr. James Franklin on Ann Street, a few miles from the drugstore.
“Jackie Robinson stayed at Dr. Franklin’s house on Ann Street so it would make sense that is where (Robinson) spoke,” Finley said.
Finley said if the speech occurred inside an auditorium, it would have likely taken place one block away at the International Longshoremen’s Association Hall. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2011. It is where King, in 1959, was the keynote speaker during Mobile’s annual Emancipation Day program.
“It was a facility, at that time, where all the formal balls were held,” Finley said.
Father-son moment
UNDATED: Outfielder Hank Aaron #44 of the Atlanta Braves relaxes in the dugout during a circa 1970s game. (Photo by Focus on Sport via Getty Images)Focus on Sport via Getty Images
Aaron, in his autobiography, said a poignant father-son conversation with his dad, Herbert, was also a part of the backdrop to the Robinson visit.
The young Aaron said he had dreams of playing in the big leagues. Before Robinson’s 1947 season, “daddy would set me straight,” Aaron recalled.
“I remember sitting on the back porch once when an airplane flew over, and I told Daddy I’d like to be a pilot when I grow up,” Aaron writes. “He said, ‘Ain’t no colored pilots.’ I said, okay, then, I’ll be a ballplayer. He said, ‘Ain’t no colored ballplayers.’ But he never said that anymore after we sat in the colored section of Hartwell Field and watched Jackie Robinson.”
The site where Hartwell Field once stood is now an impound lot for the Mobile Police Department. The baseball stadium, was located on Ann Street, between Virginia and Tennessee streets. It was built in 1927, and hosted minor league baseball for decades. The stadium, named after a former Mobile mayor, was destroyed by Hurricane Frederic in 1979.John Sharp
Hartwell Field was the epicenter of Mobile baseball, opening in 1927. The stadium, which lasted until it was badly damaged by Hurricane Frederic in 1979, was at Tennessee and Ann streets and could seat over 9,300 spectators.
It was home to the Mobile Bears and a variety of minor league teams during its heyday. But it hosted icons in its earliest years, including the New York Yankees teams of the 1930s with Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig visiting the Deep South for exhibition games.
It was also where Robinson played a game in 1948, with a youthful Aaron watching from the stands.
The entire day – a speech by Robinson, an exhibition game at Hartwell Field – laid the groundwork for the future Home Run king.
“Henry had skipped school to see Robinson … and for the next six decades of his life, Henry would say that outside those with the members of his own family, no moment ever affected his outlook on what was possible in the world more than that day,” Bryant wrote.
Influential encounter
The chance encounter has, over the years, taken on a life of its own from stories and rehashing by Aaron.
It has been told and retold during events and in books. Joe Formichella, an author from Fairhope, wrote about the encounter in his book about the Prichard Mohawks. The introduction of his book was read aloud by City Attorney Richardo Woods during a 2022 event commemorating the beginning of a project to create statues of Mobile’s Hall of Fame athletes.
Costas, in his speech, took note of the conversation between Aaron and his father, who said the dreams of becoming a professional ballplayer was fleeting in the 1940s, before Robinson integrated the game.
But at Hartwell Field in 1948, Aaron “got his first on field look of his idol and inspiration,” Costas said. “As it turned out, Herbert Aaron was mistaken. His son would not only become a big league baseball player, but one of the very greatest of all time. A Mount Rushmore player.”
Robinson’s influence
Formichella said the moment, in retrospect, is so large that it deserves recognition in Mobile – a historic marker, or even a commemoration on Jackie Robinson Day of April 15.
“Even before Hank Aaron was closing in on Ruth’s record, Mobile was renowned for the baseball talent it was producing,” he said. “Talent, like Aaron, that wanted to play baseball in part because of Jackie Robinson.”
Cleon Jones, a member of the New York Mets Hall of Fame and a longtime resident and community advocate for the Africatown community of Mobile, said he was unfamiliar with the particulars of Aaron’s teenage encounter with Robinson. But he said he is aware of similar stories that inspired future Major League Baseball players.
Jones said that Ed Charles, his Mets teammate on the 1969 world championship squad, had a similar encounter with Robinson as a child. The moment was embellished in the 2013 movie, “42.”
“He and Hank were around the same age,” Jone said about Charles. “There was that inspiration.”
Eig, the Robinson biographer, said similar stories abound.
“Robinson knew what he was doing during those public appearances,” Eig said. “That part of his job was to inspire young men like Hank Aaron to think big.”
He added, “You can’t overstate the impact he had on the Black community. There were not Black members of the Senate or the White House cabinet. He was one of the most admired men in the Black community. MLK was a teenager at the time. The civil rights movement, no one was calling it yet. People were traveling for hundreds of miles to see him play, packing lunches and dinners. It was the biggest thing to happen.”
“Jackie Robinson once famously said a life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives,” Costas said during his eulogy of Aaron in 2021. “More than 70 years ago, Jackie Robinson had no way of knowing the impact he would have on a kid who skipped a school to hear him speak and climbed a tree to watch him play. No way to know that the kid would go on to become, in many respects, the most significant baseball player since Jackie Robinson himself.”
Hall of Fame Walk
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Hall of Fame Walk – 6/17/2025
Aaron, because of his roots as a Mobile native, will be honored once again in Mobile on Tuesday with the official commemoration of a 9-foot-tall bronze statue on Water Street.
Five other Hall of Famers, all who were born and raised in Mobile, will join Aaron: Satchel Paige, Willie McCovey, Billy Williams, Ozzie Smith and the NFL’s Robert Brazile.
The park features 9-foot bronze statues placed on 1-foot-tall pedestals. A blank pedestal is also part of the park’s feature, allowing visitors to stand on it and have their picture taken among the rest of the Hall of Famers.
“When the child is there and they are looking at the people of old and what they meant to their sport, let them dream,” said former Mobile City Councilman John Williams, who came up with the idea of an empty pedestal that can be used for pictures and selfies with the statues in the background. “A pedestal says, ‘future Hall of Famer,’ and stands among those greats, it allows someone to dream.”
Just like Aaron did on Davis Avenue in 1948, with the real-life Robinson holding court.
“For them to have that moment to cross paths in the same place, that’s beautiful,” Eig said.
