Steve,
I know you're stuck on the cross-handed batting thing, but did you take a minute to think about this? We've all heard the legend of Aaron who learned to bat with his hands crossed, thereby giving him superhuman power in his wrists, enabling him to later on change his grip but retain the bionic wrist strength and hit all kinds of home runs. I believe he did learn to hit this way, and did so well into his teenage years. But do you honestly believe a cross-handed batter was successful in the Negro Leagues or minor leagues? Also, did you really need the Eau Claire photo to compare the Clowns postcard to? You don't know what Hank Aaron looks like from memory?
Anyway, the Clowns postcard originates from the estate of Clowns owner, Syd Pollock. Not that there should need to be even further proof, but here's the image of Aaron as it appears in the biography of Syd Pollock, written by his son. Noteworthy is the part where it says "Prior to joining the Clowns, he had batted cross-handed:
|