Elliott: Hank Aaron sends Cliff Fletcher birthday present

July 5, 2026

By Bob Elliott

Canadian Baseball Network

As a baseball writer you never get calls from the wife of a former NHL GM.

For that matter you never receive calls from the wives of baseball GMs either.

But away back in 2021, Linda Fletcher phoned me with a request.

When the late Cliff Fletcher was the GM of the Atlanta Flames, he was at an event with Hall of Famer Hank Aaron and asked Aaron to sign a ball for him. Aaron, who was working for the Atlanta Braves, obliged.

However, the sun had faded Aaron’s signature, so Linda had a request.

“Could I get Hank Aaron’s autograph?”

Now the back of our Baseball Writers of America Association credentials state that asking players for autographs can lead to having your pass revoked. But this wasn’t for me. Plus it wasn’t an autograph. It was a re-autograph. And everything I’d read about Fletcher said he was a kind, upstanding and fair man.

So I called the Braves.

“Mr. Aaron doesn’t work here anymore, you have to phone his office but he won’t sign.”

So, I called Mr. Aaron’s office and the woman who answered was quick to tell me that he did not sign autographs.

I asked “what if it is a re-sign? And told her how Fletcher, former Flames boss had met Aaron at an event. And his wife wanted the ball refurbished for a 70th birthday present since the sun had faded the signature.”

Pause.

“Well, OK, give me the woman’s phone number,” the assistant said.

Aaron re-signed the ball and mailed it to Fletcher.

“Cliff was so excited when he received the ball with Hank’s signature, he was thrilled,” Linda said yesterday.

Growing up a Montreal Expos fan, Fletcher, who passed away on June 5 at the age of 90, turned his affection to the Washington Nationals. He was cremated wearing a Nationals cap.