The Real Reason Hank Aaron Didn't Team Up With Willie Mays

Once upon a time, back in the bad old days when baseball (and just about everything else) was segregated, both Hank Aaron and Willie Mays played for the Negro Leagues: Mays for the Birmingham Barons (via MLB) and Aaron for the legendary Indianapolis Clowns (also via MLB). While Mays signed with the New York (later San Francisco) Giants once the big leagues finally decided to ditch the apartheid, Aaron instead signed with the Boston (Milwaukee, Atlanta) Braves. As it turns out, though, it was a near miss.

The Giants, it seems, had also made Aaron an offer to sign with them, but it was an offer he could -– and did –- refuse since the Braves were paying him $50 more per month. (Yes, even adjusted for inflation, Economic History shows that baseball salaries back then were much, much lower than they are today.) As Aaron admitted, many years down the road, "For the difference of $100 a month I could have been in the same outfield with Willie Mays." Now that would truly have been an (out)field of dreams!