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Hank Aaron: Colin Kaepernick Is Getting a ‘Raw Deal’ From NFL Owners

Baseball icon says players should be doing more to support blackballed QB.

Baseball icon Hank Aaron said Colin Kaepernick is “getting a raw deal” from NFL team owners who are silently refusing to sign the ex-San Francisco 49ers quarterback because of his on-field protests during the national anthem over police brutality. In a Wednesday interview on The Tom Joyner Show, Aaron—the target of unprecedented volumes of hate-mail and bigotry during his 1970s quest to break Babe Ruth’s all-time home-run record—told interviewer Roland Martin that he wished someone at the ownership level would open up and give Kaepernick a chance. Aaron also said Kaepernick’s peers should be speaking out, too. “I’d love to see some other players stand up. I think it would help him,” he said. On the broadcast, Martin said Aaron, a Baltimore Ravens fan and now 83 years old, told him that he would not be watching the upcoming NFL season out of anger at how Kaepernick is being treated.