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The following biography
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Free Encyclopedia.”
Henry Louis Aaron (born February 5, 1934)
is a retired American baseball player and member of the Baseball Hall of
Fame. Aaron is best known for setting the Major League record for most
home runs in a career (755), surpassing the previous mark of 714 held by
Babe Ruth. Aaron also holds the career marks for runs batted in (2,297),
extra base hits (1,477), total bases (6,856), and consecutive seasons
with 150 or more hits (17). He won one World Series ring with the
Milwaukee Braves in 1957, and the National League Most Valuable Player
Award the same year. He also earned three Gold Glove Awards and made 24
All-Star appearances.
****
Personal Info
Birth February 5, 1934, Mobile, Alabama
Professional Career
Debut April 13, 1954, Milwaukee Braves vs.
Cincinnati Reds, Crosley Field
Team(s) As Player
Milwaukee Braves (1954 – 1965)
Atlanta Braves (1966 – 1974)
Milwaukee Brewers (1975 – 1976)
HOF induction: August 1, 1982
Career Highlights
Career Records
Total Bases (6,856)
Home Runs (755)
RBI (2,297)
Extra-Base Hits (1,477)
Single Season Records
Leader Batting Average: 1956, 1959
Home Run Leader: 1957, 1963, 1966, 1967
NL hits leader: 1956, 1959
NL RBI leader: 1957, 1960, 1963, 1966
Awards
NL MVP: 1957
3 Gold Gloves: 1958 – 1960
2 Sporting News NL Player of the Year:
1956, 1963
Lou Gehrig Memorial Award: 1970
All-Star appearances: 24
World Series Winner: (1957)
Notable Achievements
First player to reach 3,000 hits and 500
home runs
Player of the Month for June 1967 and
co-Player of the Month for May 1959.
Only player to hit at least 30 home runs in
15 seasons
Only player to hit at least 20 home runs in
20 seasons
Holds MLB record for most consecutive
seasons with 150 or more hits (17)
****
Early life
Aaron was born in Mobile, Alabama. While he
was born in a section of town referred to as 'Down the Bay', he spent
most of his youth in Toulminville. Aaron attended Central High School as
a freshman and a sophomore. There he played outfield and third base on
the baseball team and helped lead his team to the Negro High School
Championship both years. During this time, he also excelled in
football.[1][2]
Aaron's last two years of high school were
spent at the Josephine Allen Institute, a private high school in
Alabama. Aaron was so proficient a ballplayer that he was able to play
on the Pritchett Athletics, a semi-pro team, as their shortstop and
third baseman. After being seen by scout Ed Scott, he then signed a
contract with the Mobile Black Bears for $3 a game. His mother would not
allow him to travel, so the contract was only for games played in and
around the city. It was on the Black Bears that sports agent Bunny Downs
found Aaron.[1][2][3]
Negro league career
By 1951, Aaron had established himself as
talented ballplayer. Downs helped the Negro League's Indianapolis Clowns
sign Longfellow to a contract on November 20th of that year. In return,
Aaron helped lead the Clowns to victory in the 1952 Negro League World
Series. Shortly thereafter he tried out for the Brooklyn Dodgers. He did
not make the team.[3][2]
Minor league career
On June 14, 1952, the Boston Braves
acquired Aaron's contract for $10,000. The team assigned him to the Eau
Claire Bears, the Braves' Northern League farm club. That year, he
secured league's Rookie of the Year as the Bears' second baseman. Aaron
also received a raise to $350 a month.
In 1953, Aaron was sent to the Jacksonville
Tars. Aaron led the league in runs (115), hits (208), doubles (36), RBI
(115), and batting average (.362). He won the league's MVP Award and had
such a dominant year that one sportswriter was prompted to say, "Henry
Aaron led the league in everything except hotel accommodations".[2]
Ben Geraghty was Aaron's manager on the
Bears. Former Braves farmhand Pat Jordan said: "Aaron gave [Geraghty]
much of the credit for his own swift rise to stardom." [4]
In what turned out to be his last stop
before the majors, Aaron played winter ball in Puerto Rico. On March 13,
1954, Braves left fielder Bobby Thomson broke his ankle sliding into
second base during a spring training game. The next day Aaron made his
first spring training start for the Milwaukee Braves in left field and
hit a home run.[2]
Major league career
The early years
On April 13, 1954, Aaron made his major
league debut and went 0-for-5 against the Cincinnati Reds' Joe
Nuxhall.[2] In the same game, Eddie Mathews hit two home runs, the first
of a record 863 home runs the pair would hit as teammates. On April 15,
1954, Aaron collected his first major league hit, a single off Cardinals
pitcher Vic Raschi. Aaron hit his first Major League home run eight days
later, also off Raschi. Over the next 122 games, Aaron batted .280 with
13 homers before he suffered a broken ankle on September 5.
The following season, Aaron made his first
All-Star team; it was the first of a record-tying 24 All-Star Games
appearances.[5] He finished the season with a .314 average, 27 home runs
and 106 RBI. Aaron hit .328 in 1956 and captured first of two NL batting
titles. He was also named The Sporting News NL Player of the Year.
In 1957, Aaron won his only NL MVP Award.
He batted .322 and led the league in home runs and runs batted in. On
September 23, 1957, Aaron hit a two-run home run in the 11th inning of a
game against the Cardinals. The win clinched the Braves' first pennant
in Milwaukee and Aaron was carried off the field by his teammates.
Milwaukee went on to win the World Series against Yankees. Aaron did his
part by hitting .393 with three homers and seven RBI.
Prime of career
In 1958 Aaron hit .326, with 30 home runs
and 95 RBI. He led the Braves to another pennant, but this time they
lost a seven-game Series to the Yankees. Aaron finished 3rd in the MVP
race, but picked up his first Gold Glove.
During the next several years, Aaron had
some of his best games and best seasons as a major league player. On
June 21, 1959 against the San Francisco Giants, he hit two-run home runs
in the 1st, 6th and 7th innings. It was the only time in his career that
he hit three home runs in a game. The feat was achieved at Seals Stadium
in San Francisco against the Giants. [6] On June 8, 1961, Aaron, Eddie
Mathews, Joe Adcock and Frank Thomas became the first four players ever
to hit successive home runs in a game.
Aaron nearly won the triple crown in 1963.
He lead the league with 44 home runs and 130 RBI and finished second in
batting.[7]. He became the third player to steal 30 bases and hit 30
home runs in a single season. Despite his impressive year, he again
finished third in the MVP voting.
The Braves moved from Milwaukee to Atlanta
after the 1965 season. During his days in Atlanta, Aaron reached a
number of milestones. Aaron was just the eighth player to hit 500 career
home runs. At the time, Aaron was the second youngest player to reach
the plateau.[8]
The chase is on
On July 30, 1969 Aaron hit his 537th home
run. This moved him into third place on the career home run list behind
Willie Mays and Babe Ruth. At the end of the season, Aaron again
finished 3rd in the MVP voting.
The next year Aaron reached two career
milestones. On May 17, 1970 Aaron collected his 3,000th hit. This was
done in a game against the Cincinnati Reds, the team he played his first
ever game against. [9] He was the first player get 3,000 career hits and
500 career home runs. Also during the year Aaron established the record
for most seasons with 30 or more home runs in the National League (12).
On April 27, 1971 Aaron hit his 600th
career home run. On July 31, Aaron hit a home run in the All-Star Game
for the first time. He hit his 40th home run of the season against the
Giants' Jerry Johnson on August 10. This established a National League
record for most seasons with 40 or more home runs (seven). He hit 47
home runs during the season and finished third in MVP voting for the 6th
time.
During the strike shortened season of 1972,
Aaron tied and then surpassed Willie Mays for second place on the career
home run list. Aaron also knocked in the 2,000th run of his career and
hit a home run in the first All-Star game in Atlanta. As the year came
to a close, Aaron broke Stan Musial's major league record for total
bases (6,134).
While many expected Aaron to break the
record in 1973, a key moment of the season came on August 6. This was
Hank Aaron Day in Wisconsin and the Atlanta Braves played the Milwaukee
Brewers in an exhibition game. The guests in attendance included Aaron's
first manager with the Braves, "Jolly Cholly" Grimm, his teammate from
Jacksonville, Felix Mantilla, Eau Claire president Ron Berganson, and
Del Crandall, the catcher for the 1957 World Champion Braves and the
current manager of the Brewers. [10]
The only position that the Braves wanted
Aaron to play was as the Designated Hitter because the game was held in
an American League park. Due to the fact that National League president
Chub Feeney could not be reached, it was left up to the umpire, Bruce
Froemming to make a decision. Froemming ignored the rule and allowed
Aaron to be the DH for the Braves. Later on, National League officials
ignored the infraction. [11]
The record
The chase to pass Ruth heated up in the
summer of 1973. Aaron received thousands of letters per week. The Braves
ended up hiring a secretary named Carla Koplin to help him sort it. [12]
Still, Aaron persevered and at the age of
39 managed to hit 40 home runs in 392 at-bats that season. This gave him
713 career home runs at seasons' end. Over the winter, Aaron endured
death threats and a large assortment of racist hate mail from people who
did not want to see a black man break Ruth's home run record. [13]
Sports Illustrated exemplified the contempt that Aaron endured:
“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...? Or will it be remembered as the
season in which Aaron, the most dignified of athletes, was besieged with
hate mail and trapped by the cobwebs and goblins that lurk in baseball's
attic?”
[14]
Lewis Grizzard, then sports editor the
Atlanta Journal became so concerned that he had an obituary written just
in case.[citation needed] Aaron did receive a massive flood of public
support in response to the bigotry. Babe Ruth's widow, Claire Hodgson,
even denounced the racists and declared that her husband would have
enthusiastically cheered Aaron's attempt at the record. [15]
Aaron hit Home Run 713 on September 29,
1973. With one day left in the season, many expected Aaron to tie the
record. Against the Houston Astros, led by manager Leo Durocher, who
once was a roommate of Babe Ruth, a paid attendance of 40,517 watched as
Aaron was unable to tie the record. After the game, Aaron stated that
his only fear was that he may not live long enough to see the 1974
season. One year earlier, September 30, 1972 was the last day that the
legendary Roberto Clemente ever played, as he perished in the offseason.
[16]
As the 1974 season began, Aaron's pursuit
of the home run record caused a small controversy. The Braves opened the
season on the road in Cincinnati with a three game series. Braves
management wanted him to break the record in Atlanta. Therefore, they
were going to have Aaron sit out the first three games of the season.
Commissioner Bowie Kuhn ruled that he had to play two out of
three.[citation needed] He tied Babe Ruth's record in his very first at
bat off Reds pitcher Jack Billingham, but did not hit another home run
in the series.
53,775 people showed up on April 8, 1974.
It was a Braves record for attendance. Aaron hit career home run 715 in
the 4th inning off Los Angeles pitcher Al Downing. The ball landed in
the Braves bullpen where reliever Tom House caught it. While cannons
were fired in celebration, two college students ran alongside Aaron
around the base paths. Aaron's mother ran onto the field as well. A few
months later, on October 2, 1974, Aaron hit his 733rd and final home run
as a Brave.
Thirty-days later the Braves traded Aaron
to the Milwaukee Brewers for Roger Alexander and Dave May. Because the
Brewers were an American League team, Aaron could extend his career by
taking advantage of the designated hitter rule. Aaron broke baseball's
all-time RBI record on May 1, 1975. On July 20, 1976 Hank Aaron hit his
755th and final home run off the California Angels' Dick Drago at
Milwaukee County Stadium.
Career statistics
Career Hitting[17] G AB H 2B 3B HR R RBI SB
BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS
3,298 12,364 3,771 624 98 755 2,174 2,297
240 1,402 1,383 .305 .374 .555 .929
Post-playing career
On August 1, 1982 Hank Aaron was inducted
into the Baseball Hall of Fame and received votes on 97.8 percent of the
ballots. At the time, only Ty Cobb received a higher percentage (98.2)
of votes cast.[citation needed] Aaron was then named Atlanta's vice
president of player development. This made him one one of the first
minorities in Major League Baseball upper-level management.[citation
needed]
Since December 1989, he has served as
senior vice president and assistant to the Braves' president.[citation
needed] He is the corporate vice president of community relations for
TBS, a member of the company's board of directors and the vice president
of business development for The Airport Network.[citation needed]
On February 5, 1999, at his 65th birthday
celebration, Major League Baseball announced the introduction of the
Hank Aaron Award[citation needed][18] It was the first major award to be
introduced in more than thirty years and it was also the first award
named after a player who was still alive.[citation needed] Later that
year, he ranked number 5 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest
Baseball Players, and was elected to the Major League Baseball
All-Century Team.
In 2002 Aaron received the Presidential
Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.
His autobiography I Had a Hammer was
published in 1990. The book's title is a play on his nickname, "The
Hammer" or "Hammerin' Hank". Aaron now owns Hank Aaron BMW of south
Atlanta in Union City, GA; where every car is sold with an autographed
baseball. He also owns a Hyundai and Honda dealer in Griffin, GA and a
Toyota and Scion dealer in McDonough, GA.
Statues of Aaron stand outside the front
entrance of both Turner Field and Miller Park. The Braves have honored
Aaron as Turner Field's address is 755 Hank Aaron Drive SE. Both the
Braves and the Brewers have retired his number. He is the last Negro
League player to play in the Major Leagues.
Home Run History in the Chase for the
Record
Home Run Number Date Location Pitcher
Relevance
702 August 16, 1973 N/A N/A Hit the home
run on the 25th Anniversary of Babe Ruth's death.
703 N/A Montreal N/A Tied Stan Musial for
all-time extra base hits (1,377).
704 N/A Montreal N/A Set the record for
all-time extra base hits (1,378).
708 N/A San Francisco Vicente Romo Tied
Babe Ruth for most home runs in one league (708).
710 September 10, 1973 Atlanta Don
Carrithers (Giants) Four of the five National League leaders in Home
Runs were in the game.
711 September 17, 1973 Atlanta Gary Ross
Paid attendance of 1,362. Not enough people to represent Babe Ruth and
Aaron's home runs combined.
713 September 29, 1973 Atlanta Jerry Reuss
(Astros) Aaron's 40th Home Run of season. Marked the first team that
three members of the same team hit forty HR's in one seasons. Other two
were Darrell Evans and Davey Johnson.
714 April 4, 1974 Cincinnati Jack
Billingham Tied Babe Ruth for most all-time home runs.
715 April 8, 1974 Atlanta Al Downing
(Dodgers) Set home run record. Ball sailed over the head of Bill
Buckner.
[19]
Trivia
In order to meet Wikipedia's quality
standards, this article's trivia section requires cleanup.
Content in the trivia section should be
integrated into other appropriate areas of the article.
Hank Aaron is second behind Japanese
baseball player Sadaharu Oh (868) as the all-time home run hitter in
recorded baseball history.
Tommie Aaron and Hank Aaron combined for
the most major league home runs by brothers (Tommie hit 13 career home
runs).
Eddie Matthews and Hank Aaron combined for
the most major league home runs by teammates. (Matthews hit 512 career
home runs).[20]
Aaron has played himself in anepisode of
Futurama called "A Leela of Her Own", and in an episode of the sitcom
"Happy Days".
American rapper MC Hammer was given his
nickname after initially trying to become a baseball player, and some of
his colleagues noted similarities between him and Aaron, who was
nicknamed "Hammerin' Hank".
The Mobile BayBears, the Class AA minor
league team in Aaron's hometown, play in Hank Aaron Stadium.
His jersey number during his rookie year
was #5, stemming from the fact his birthday was on the 5th of February.
The following year, he was given the jersey number he is best remembered
for, #44.
The nickname "Hammerin' Hank" was coined by
Tommy Davidson, the same person who gave Hank Aaron his number #44.
Sandy Koufax gave Aaron the name, "Bad Henry." [21]
Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax registered his
first career strike out against Aaron. However, Aaron hit seventeen
career home runs off Don Drysdale, Koufax's longtime teammate. No other
pitcher gave up more home runs to Aaron.
On September 20, 1965, Aaron hit the last
home run by a Milwaukee Braves player at Milwaukee County Stadium.
References
-
^ a b Kappes, Serena.
(2005) Hank Aaron, Twenty-First Century Books. ISBN 0-8225-3069-4.
-
^ a b c d e f Allen, Bob
& Bill Gilbert. (1999) The 500 Home Run Club, Sports Publishing LLC.
ISBN 1-58261-031-2.
-
^ a b Spencer, Lauren.
(2003) Hank Aaron, The Rosen Publishing Group. ISBN 0-8239-3600-7.
-
^ Jordan, Pat. A False
Spring. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1975. ISBN 0-8032-7626-5.
-
^ Only Willie Mays and
Stan Musial appeared in as many All-Star Games.
-
^ Hank Aaron and the Home
Run that changed America, Tom Stanton, p.142, ISBN 0-06-072290-8
-
^ He finished .007 behind
Tommy Davis in batting.
-
^ Aaron was 34 years,
five months and nine days old. Jimmy Foxx is the youngest to reach
the mark.
-
^ Hank Aaron and the Home
Run that changed America, Tom Stanton, p.202, ISBN 0-06-072290-8
-
^ Hank Aaron and the Home
Run that changed America, Tom Stanton, p.129, ISBN 0-06-072290-8
-
^ Hank Aaron and the Home
Run that changed America, Tom Stanton, p.130, ISBN 0-06-072290-8
-
^ Hank Aaron and the Home
Run that changed America, Tom Stanton, p.62, ISBN 0-06-072290-8
-
^ Hank Aaron and the Home
Run that changed America, Tom Stanton, p.64, ISBN 0-06-072290-8
-
^ Leggett, William. A
Tortured Road to 715. Sports Illustrated, p.28, May 28, 1973.
-
^ Hank Aaron and the Home
Run that changed America, Tom Stanton, p.25, ISBN 0-06-072290-8
-
^ Hank Aaron and the Home
Run that changed America, Tom Stanton, p.179, ISBN 0-06-072290-8
-
^ Baseball-Reference.com.
-
^ The award is presented
annually to the best hitters in the American League and National
League.
-
^ Hank Aaron and the Home
Run that changed America, Tom Stanton, pp.134, 142, 151, 172, 203,
216, ISBN 0-06-072290-8
-
^ Hank Aaron and the Home
Run that changed America, Tom Stanton, ISBN 0-06-072290-8
-
^ Hank Aaron and the Home
Run that changed America, Tom Stanton, p.159, ISBN 0-06-072290-8
****
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