Legendary Atlanta Brave and Major League Baseball record holder Hank Aaron died Friday at the age of 86, according to Aaron’s daughter.
What We Know:
- Born in Mobile, Alabama, on Feb. 5, 1934, Henry Louis Aaron was one of eight children born to Herbert and Estella Aaron. His family was so poor they could not afford baseball equipment, so he began honing his baseball skill by hitting bottle caps with sticks.
- Aaron had his first major league tryout as a 15-year-old with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1949. He did not make that team and returned to school to get his diploma. In November 1951, at the age of 17, Aaron began his minor league career with the Indianapolis Clown’s organization of the negro leagues. Seven months later, in June 1952, Aaron chose to sign with the Boston Braves over the New York Giants, because the Braves offered $50 more a month. The team moved to Milwaukee in 1953, and one year later, Aaron made the big-league roster. That first season, Aaron wore No. 5. He switched to No. 44 in 1955. That same year, at age 21, Aaron made the first of his record 21 All-Star selections and his record 25 All-Star appearances. Aaron won the National League batting title in 1956 and won his only MVP award the following year after hitting 322 and finishing in the top three in all three triple crown batting categories. He capped his MVP ’57 season by clinching the pennant with a home run in inning 393 in a seven-game World Series victory over the New York Yankees. The Braves moved to Atlanta in time for the 1966 season, and within two years, Aaron was recording milestones in Georgia.
- Aaron became the first player in Major League history to record 500 homers and 3,000 hits. He went on to hit 40 or more home runs seven different times, finishing third in the MVP voting six times. At the age of 37, he hit his career high in home runs, 47 of them and set a new career best in slugging percentage. At age 39, Aaron recorded his eighth 40-homer season finishing that year with 713 for his career, just one home run shy of Babe Ruth’s major league record. That offseason, Aaron received numerous death threats and loads of racist letters.
A Hero to Some, A Nigger to Others
“Dear Hank Aaron, Retire or DIE!!! The Atlanta Braves will be moving around the country and I’ll move with them …”
- Aaron once recalled a hand-scrawled letter of threats that went on to lists dates and cities for Braves games that issued threats on his life. He often recalled that he slept at the ball park on several occasions, because for him that was a safe place. The U.S. Postal Service honored Aaron for receiving nearly 1 million pieces of mail, more than any non-politician.
- On April 8, 1974, against the Los Angeles Dodgers in front of 53,775 spectators and a national TV audience, Aaron broke the Babe’s record with home run No. 715. The threat of violence against Aaron required his family to join the millions of people watching him hit the record setting home run from home. Aaron’s son, Lary, who was 16 at the time, said he was terrified when his father made the historic hit. He hit his 733rd and final home run as a Brave on Oct. 2 of that year.
- The Braves traded Aaron to the Milwaukee Brewers prior to the 1975 season and Aaron broke Ruth’s RBI record and hit his final 22 home runs in a Brewer’s uniform, hitting a 755th final home run on July 20, 1976. After a 23-year career, Aaron retired in 1976 as Major League Baseball’s all-time leader in home runs. He remains the all-time leader in career RBIs, extra base hits and total bases. Aaron also ranks in the top five in career hits, runs at bat and games played. The Brewer’s retired Aaron’s No. 44 in 1976. The Braves retired his uniform in 1977.
- Aaron was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982 and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2002.
Civil Rights Icon
- After reaching the Major Leagues, Aaron quietly allied himself with the American civil rights movement. He campaigned for then-Sen. John F. Kennedy (D-Mass.) in Milwaukee in 1960 and was credited with helping the Democratic candidate win the Wisconsin presidential primary.
- In 1966, at the height of the civil rights movement, after the Braves moved to Atlanta, Aaron grew concerned.
“I have lived in the South, and I don’t want to live there again,” he said. “We can go anywhere in Milwaukee. I don’t know what would happen in Atlanta.”
- Aaron soon became as recognizable in Atlanta as civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
In Culture
- Muhammad Ali once said that he idolized Aaron “more than myself.” He became known to the world as “Hammerin’ Hank.
No official funeral or memorial arrangements have been set at this time.
This is a breaking news story. This story will be updated.
