Aaron went 0 for 3 with a pair of strikeouts in Atlanta's 5-3 win over the Reds on April 7. The Braves legend, who died Friday at the age of 86, made history while receiving death threats and hate mail on the way to surpassing Ruth in the record books late in his Hall of Fame career, which spanned from 1954-1976. On May 10, 1967, he hit an inside-the-park home run against Jim Bunning in Philadelphia. [19] After this, Aaron returned to school to finish his secondary education, attending the Josephine Allen Institute, a private high school in Alabama. [54] Aaron established the record for most seasons with thirty or more home runs in the National League. If dogs had eaten off those plates, they'd have washed them. Where Hank Aaron does stand out is in the total number of hits. 2 all-time, died January 22. "Maybe I was unnerved by all the attention," read more, On April 8, 1975, against the New York Yankees in Cleveland, the Indians' Frank Robinson becomes the first African American to manage a game in Major League Baseball. [39] Aaron hit his first major league home run on April 23, also off Raschi. Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms released the following statement on his death: Derek, our family and I join the nation in sending heartfelt condolences to Mrs. Billye Aaron, the beautiful wife of Henry Hank Aaron for nearly 50 years, and the entire family. While cannons were fired in celebration, two college students [67] sprinted onto the field and jogged alongside Aaron for part of his circuit around the bases, temporarily startling him. Sports Illustrated pointedly summarized the racist vitriol that Aaron was forced to endure: Is this to be the year in which Aaron, at the age of thirty-nine, takes a moon walk above one of the most hallowed individual records in American sport? I didnt read most of them, but I wanted to have them as reminders, Aaron later wrote in his autobiography I Had a Hammer: The Hank Aaron Story.. After finishing his remarkable career with 755 home runs, Aaron later spoke of how he was able to compartmentalize his play on the field and the vitriol he faced off of it. The spot sits outside American Family Field, where the Milwaukee Brewers currently play. [11] On September 23, 1957, in Milwaukee, Aaron hit a two-run walk-off home run against the St. Louis Cardinals, clinching the pennant for the Braves. He then changed his number to 44, which would turn out to look like a "lucky number" for the slugger. [41], At this point, Aaron was known to family and friends primarily as "Henry". [64] Babe Ruth's widow, Claire Hodgson, denounced the racism and declared that her husband would have enthusiastically cheered Aaron's attempt at the record. [22] On August 1, 1982, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, having received votes on 97.8 percent of the ballots, second only to Ty Cobb, who had received votes on 98.2% of the ballot in the inaugural 1936 Hall of Fame election. On April 8, 1974, Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves hits his 715th career home run, breaking Babe Ruths legendary record of 714 homers. His average was .319, .007 behind the leader. About 755HomeRuns.com. Aaron broke Babe Ruth's career home run record in 1974 despite enduring racism and went on to hit 755 homers in a 23-year career. By the end of the season, he had performed so well that the league made him the unanimous choice for Rookie of the Year. He added 22 more in 1975 and 1976, finally calling it a career with 755 career home runs. He died on January 22, 2021, at age 86. Nearly 28 years earlier, the read more, Pirates had not captured a ship sailing under the American flag since the 1820s until April 8, 2009, when the MV Maersk Alabama was hijacked off the coast of Somalia. Getty Images Aaron reportedly received 930,000 pieces of mail in 1973 the year before he broke Ruth's record with enough including threats that the. [18] Aaron was a member of the Boy Scouts of America. His RBI total remains the big league standard for career runs batted in. The night they met, Lucas decided to attend the Braves' game. They had five children: Gary, Lary, Dorinda, Gaile, and Hank Jr. Aaron was the first player to reach both Hall-worthy batting thresholds of 3,000 hits and 500 home runs. He's sittin' on 714. The Hall of Famer holds a host of records, from the most runs batted in (2,297), the most seasons as an. Aaron singled, doubled, and hit a home run in the game. ATLANTA It's one of the most iconic sports photos of all time: Hammerin' Hank Aaron running the bases after hitting the record-breaking 715th home run at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. The Braves opened the season on the road in Cincinnati with a three-game series against the Cincinnati Reds. In a later interview with Atlanta sportscasting personality Chris Dimino, Aaron made it clear his reluctance to attend any celebration of a new home run record was based upon his personal conviction that baseball is not about breaking records, but simply playing to the best of one's potential. After his retirement, Aaron held front office roles with the Atlanta Braves, including the senior vice president. Aaron clobbered his 715th career home run as a member of the Atlanta Braves and passed Babe Ruth to become baseball's all-time home run king.. For fans of Major League Baseball in the 1970s, Henry Aaron's superhero-like home run did a lot of things. [100][101], Aaron died in his sleep in his Atlanta residence on January 22, 2021 at the age of 86. [78], Aaron hit his 755th and final home run on July 20, 1976, at Milwaukee County Stadium off Dick Drago of the California Angels, which stood as the MLB career home run record for 31 years until it was broken in 2007 by Barry Bonds. [c] In that season, Aaron became the third player to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases in a single season, and the first player to record 40 home runs and 30 steals in a season. In his last two seasons, he was primarily a designated hitter. [93], In an interview in 1991, Aaron credited the priest, Fr. On April 8, 1974, Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves hits his 715th career home run, breaking Babe Ruth 's legendary record of 714 homers. Henry Aaron, the slugger known as "Hammerin' Hank" who broke broke Babe Ruth's career home run mark and remains No. 756. Aaron's autobiography, I Had a Hammer was published in 1990. Atlanta Braves' Hank Aaron (44) breaks Babe Ruth's record for career home runs as he hits his 715th off Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Al Downing in the fourth inning of the game opener at Atlanta . Although Hammerin Hank specialized in home runs, he was also an extremely dependable batter, and by the end of his career he held baseballs career record for most runs batted in: 2,297. . A young Craig Sager actually interviewed Aaron between third and home for a television station, WXLT (now WWSB-Channel 40) in Sarasota. [131], In June 2000 Tufts University awarded Aaron an honorary Doctor of Public Service. Like most high schools, they did not have organized baseball, so he played outfield and third base for the Mobile Black Bears, a semipro team. He led the Braves to another pennant, but this time they lost a seven-game World Series to the Yankees. Swinging. Baseball Hall of Famer Hank Aaron, who battled racial prejudice and hatred on his way to breaking the major leagues' career home run record, has died at the age of 86, the Atlanta . During his rookie year, his other well-known nicknames, "Hammerin' Hank" (by teammates) and "Bad Henry" (by opposing pitchers) are reported to have arisen. Aaron eventually scored 2,174 runs, the exact same number as Ruth. He divorced Barbara in 1971 and married Billye Suber Williams on November 13, 1973. I was just a man doing something that God had given me the power to do, and I was living like an outcast in my own country. [58], Aaron himself downplayed the "chase" to surpass Babe Ruth, while baseball enthusiasts and the national media grew increasingly excited as he closed in on the 714 career home runs record. The Atlanta Braves great, who smashed Babe Ruth's all-time home run record, died Jan. 22. The alternative high school had been named after Nathan Bedford Forrest, a general in the Confederate Army and the Ku Klux Klan's first Grand Wizard. But for Aaron, the journey to 715 home runs was much more complex. Aaron also drove in the 2,000th run of his career and hit a home run in the first All-Star game played in Atlanta. His teammates are at home plate. He broke the long-standing MLB record for home runs held by Babe Ruth and remained the career leader for 33 years. What a marvelous moment for baseball, what a marvelous moment for Atlanta and the state of Georgia, what a marvelous moment for the country and the world, Scully said. Lucy says in the August 11 strip, "Hank Aaron is a great player but you! The life and death of Hank Aaron (1934-2021) The Atlanta. Bonds surpassed Aaron in 2007 with his 756th home run. There's a new home run champion of all time, and it's Henry Aaron! He hit his 40th home run of the season against the Giants' Jerry Johnson on August 10, which established a National League record for most seasons with 40 or more home runs (seven). Playing off the intense interest in their perceived rivalry, Aaron and Bonds made a television commercial that aired during Super Bowl XLI, shortly before the start of the 2007 baseball season, in which Aaron jokingly tried to persuade Bonds to retire before breaking the record. Aaron had seven siblings, including Tommie Aaron, who played major-league baseball with him. Playing in the infield, Aaron continued to develop as a ballplayer and made the Northern League's All-Star team. [d] On July 31, 1969, Aaron hit his 537th home run, passing Mickey Mantle's total; this moved Aaron into third place on the career home run list, after Willie Mays and Babe Ruth. [126], He was honored before the third game of 2021 World Series. MLB forced them to make him play and Aaron hit a home run in his first at bat in Cincinnati, but saved 715 for a few games later. However, some observers looked back on Aaron's personal history, pointing out that he had downplayed his own breaking of Babe Ruth's all-time record and suggesting Aaron was simply treating Bonds in a similar fashion. Hank Aaron hits home run No. Yankees outfielder growing golf profile alongside Tiger Wo Daniel Jones needs to see big picture in Giants negotiations, Red-hot Jon Rahm no match for wind-swept Bay Hill: 'F--king hard', The Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast, The Show with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman, Amazin' But True: A NY Mets Baseball Podcast, Gangs All Here: A NY Jets Football Podcast, Kellyanne Conway and George Conway to divorce, Canadian teacher with size-Z prosthetic breasts placed on paid leave. While he considered retirement, he said that he was willing to return to baseball for another year. [46][47] In 1956, Aaron hit .328 and captured the first of two NL batting titles. Four days earlier, in Cincinnati, he had homered in his first at-bat of the season to tie Ruth at 714. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. He went on to become one of baseballs first African American executives, with the Atlanta Braves, and a leading spokesperson for minority hiring.