Position:
Right Field
First Base
Teams:
Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves (1954-1974)
Milwaukee Brewers (1975-1976)
Career Statistics:
Batting Average: .305
Home Runs: 755
RBI: 2,297
Slugging Percentage: .555
On-Base Percentage: .374
Hits: 3,771
Henry Louis Aaron was born in Mobile, Alabama, though he spent much of his time in Toulminville. Aaron's family was very poor and could not afford any real equipment for Hank to play baseball with, so he would often hit bottle caps with sticks. He would sometimes craft his own balls and bats out of material he would find lying around. As a freshman and sophomore, he attended Central High School and led his team to the Mobile Negro High School Championship each year that he played. He was also an excellent football player and received several scholarship offers, but he turned them all down to focus on baseball. In 1949, when he was 15, he tried out with the Brooklyn Dodgers, but did not manage to make the team. He returned to school and finished out his education at the Josephine Allen Institute. When he was a junior he joined the Mobile Black Bears, an independent Negro League team. On November 20, 1951, Aaron was signed to a minor league contract with the Indianapolis Clowns.
In 1952, his first year with the Clowns, he helped them win the Negro League World Series. This resulted in him receiving offers from both the New York Giants and the Boston Braves. The Braves offered slightly more money, so he signed with them. During his stint in the Negro Leagues, he was credited with a .366 batting average, 5 homers, 33 RBI, 41 hits, and 9 stolen bases.
After signing with the Braves, Hank was assigned to the Eau Claire Bears, the Braves's Northern League Class-C farm team. At the end of his first season in the minors, he was unanimously selected as Rookie of the Year. Out of just 87 games he played in, he batted .336, scored 89 runs, had 116 hits, hit 9 homers, and drove in 61 runs.
In 1953, he was promoted to the Jacksonville Tars, the Braves's Class-A affiliate in the South Atlantic League. Aaron led the league in runs (115), hits (208), doubles (36), RBI (125), total bases (338), and batting average (.362). He helped his team win the championship and was award the Most Valuable Player Award. Aaron spent the winter of '53 playing in Puerto Rico where he received tutelage on how better to hit the ball for power to all fields. The Braves also relocated to Milwaukee in the 1953 season.
On March 13, 1954, Bobby Thompson (Braves left fielder) broke his ankle during spring training. Aaron was allowed to make the start in his place the following day and hit a home run. After this, the Braves offered him a major league contract. He made his regular season debut on April 13, but was hitless against the Cincinnati Reds. He finally got his first hit on April 15 and his first homer on April 23. During the next 122 games, Hank batted .280 with 13 homers before fracturing his ankle on September 5.
In 1955, Hank made his first of 21 All-Star appearances. That season, he hit .314 with 27 homers and 106 RBI. In '56, he hit .328, won his first National League batting title, and was The Sporting News National League Player of the Year. Nineteen fifty-seven saw Hank win his first, and only, MVP award, batting .322 and leading the league in homers and RBI. His batting prowess led the Braves to the World Series that year, where they defeated the New York Yankees.
In 1958, Hank batted .326 with 30 home runs and 95 RBI. The Braves made it to the Fall Classic again, but ultimately lost a seven-game series to the Yankees. Aaron remained steady over the next few years, putting up huge numbers and blasting homers with regularity. In 1963, he nearly won the Triple Crown. He led the league in home runs and RBI, but fell behind to third place in batting average. After the 1965 season, the Braves relocated to Atlanta.
On July 31, 1969, Aaron hit his 537th career homers, surpassing Mickey Mantle and sliding into third place on the all-time list (Willie May and Babe Ruth were ahead of him). On May 17, 1970, he became the first player to hit 500 homers and get 3,000 hits. During the strike-shortened 1972 season, Hank passed Willie Mays to claim second place on the all-time home run list with his 661st homer. At the end of the '72 season, he also passed Stan Musial's record for total bases, with 6,134.
Aaron's popularity was soon soaring throughout the country and many expected him to break the Babe's home run record. Hank downplayed much of the frenzy surrounding him, although he also began receiving hate mail and death threats because some did not want to see a black man top the beloved Babe Ruth.
On September 29, 1973, Hank hit his 713 homer, bringing him within one of tying the Babe's record. With one game left in the season, Hank was unable to tie the record and was forced to wait until the 1974 season began. He tied the Babe in his very first at-bat of the 1974 season, against the Cincinnati Reds.
The team returned to Atlanta for a series of home games, and on April 8, 1974, in front of 53,775 fans, Aaron hit home run 715 off of Al Downing of the Los Angeles Dodgers. The stadium erupted and two white college students ran onto the field to congratulate Hank as he rounded the bases. Long-time Dodgers announcer, Vin Scully, stated: "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. A black man is getting a standing ovation in the Deep South for breaking a record of an all-time baseball idol. And it is a great moment for all of us, and particularly for Henry Aaron . . . And for the first time in a long time, that poker face in Aaron shows the tremendous strain and relief of what it must have been like to live with for the past several months."
Aaron hit his 733rd and final homer as a Brave on October 5, 1974. Shortly thereafter, he was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers. On May 1, 1975, he broke the all-time RBI record with 2,217. On July 20, 1976, Hank Aaron hit his 755th and final career home run at Milwaukee County Stadium. He retired after the '76 season.
On August 1, 1982, Hank Aaron was elected to the Hall of Fame. He was then named the Atlanta Braves's vice president and director of player development. Since December of 1980, he has served as senior vice president and assistant to the Braves's president. He is also the corporate vice president of community relations for TBS, as well as a member of the company's board of directors, and the vice president of business development for The Airport Network. Aaron also owns a BMW dealership in Union City, Georgia, as well as Mini, Land Rover, Toyota, Hyundai, and Honda dealerships throughout the state. In 2007, he sold all but the Toyota dealership.
There was some speculation during Barry Bonds's chase to top Aaron's home run record that Aaron didn't approve of Barry breaking the record because of the allegations of steroid abuse. This was due to the fact that Aaron said that he would not be present when Bonds broke the record. However, Hank made it clear that his reluctance was based upon the fact that believed baseball wasn't about breaking records, but rather about playing to the best of one's potential.
When Bonds hit his 756th homer on August 7, 2007, breaking Hank's record, Aaron appeared on the park's JumboTron and stated: "I would like to offer my congratulations to Barry Bonds on becoming baseball's career home run leader. It is a great accomplishment which required skill, longevity, and determination. Throughout the past century, the home run has held a special place in baseball and I have been privileged to hold this record for 33 of those years. I move over now and offer my best wishes to Barry and his family on this historical achievement. My hope today, as it was on that April evening in 1974, is that the achievement of this record will inspire other to chase their own dreams."
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