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Yet you say Giants employed a radical shift. Could you share some stories how Aaron handled that. Did he show signs of taking advantage of the weakness a shift introduces?
Well a double header in 1967 stands out when the Giants used a shift on Aaron in both games and it was less radical in some of his at bats. So it must have been situational based on runners on base. I was nine years old so my level of baseball sophistication was not all that good. I do remember him homering and doubling in the double header. I had seen the shift used against McCovey by several teams and my dad regaled me with stories of the “Williams shift”. I also recall the Giants using it against Aaron in 69 and 70 but nothing stands out about those games. So early in his career, and Aaron has said this, he did hit the ball to all fields when he was winning batting titles but later he learned to pull the ball. Jim Rivera, who played winter ball with him, said he hit to all fields then in the early 50s when he was in the minors. Rivera said that it surprised him he he started to pull the ball later in his career.