Aaron’s time in Eau Claire a microcosm of his baseball life

With the 2007 season underway, there are few records in greater danger of being broken than Major League Baseball’s storied home run mark. As Barry Bonds itches closer to this feat, attention will not just be focused on the man swinging the bat, but baseball’s current home run king and Hall of Famer, Henry Aaron.

From baseball purists to casual fans, Aaron’s path to this fabled mark will be dissected and compared to that of Bonds. And while much of that discussion will focus on Aaron’s accolades with the Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves and Milwaukee Brewers, a recent documentary produced and directed by former University of Wisconsin-Osh Kosh roommates Josh Adams and William Povletich discusses the slugger’s break into the game and the initial trials and tribulations the slugger faced in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

Henry Aaron’s Summer Up North chronicles Aaron’s struggles, setbacks and successes, both on and off the field, in a trying season of minor-league baseball in this Northwoods community. Based on the book of the same name by Jerry Poling, “Summer Up North” tells the story of an 18-year-old man’s journey to Eau Claire, Wis., with nothing but a cardboard suitcase, a baseball glove and the clothes on his back. For Adams, the project just made sense.

“Bill and I had always wanted to work on a project together and both shared a passion for baseball,” Adams said. “It was really the strangest thing. Bill called and said he had just finished Jerry’s book and knew that we had to do this project. Unbeknownst to him, I had just started the book and was about 40 pages in. I guess it was just meant to be.”

This largely unknown chapter of the slugger’s life details Aaron’s efforts to bridge the cultural divides between growing up in the segregated South with the beginnings of his professional baseball career in a small Northern Wisconsin community. While the documentary has received much of its attention for the detail it devotes to Aaron’s time on the field, Adams knew this was much more than a baseball story.

“This is as much a social story as a baseball story,” Adams said. “Playing during this era, Aaron had to deal with many of the problems of the 1950s. He was forced to deal with a lot of adversity and would have to make big decisions throughout his career. This is apparent on a micro level during his summer in Eau Claire.”

With the help of historians, biographers, local experts and authentic footage from the state archives, Library of Congress and Baseball Hall of Fame, the documentary provides insight into Aaron’s early career and journey toward Babe Ruth’s home run mark. It’s the purity of his pursuit that left Adams awestruck.

“He broke a record few people that he would break and there was purity to that. Bonds might break it, but Aaron will always be the guy that broke Babe Ruth’s record.”

Visit the Summer Up North website