Aaron, Hank

February 5, 1934

Baseball player Henry Louis "Hank" Aaron grew up in relative poverty in Mobile, Alabama. The third of eight children born to Herbert and Estella Aaron, he developed an early love for baseball, playing whenever possible on vacant lots and, later, at municipally owned, though racially restricted, diamonds in his neighborhood. He played semipro ball for the Mobile Black Bears before signing a contract in 1952 with the Indianapolis Clowns of the American Negro League. Aaron quickly attracted the attention of major league scouts, and in May 1952 he signed with the Boston Braves of the National League. The Braves sent him to their Northern League farm club in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, where he won Rookie of the Year honors. In 1953 Aaron and two other black ball players were selected to integrate the South Atlantic League by playing for the Braves' Class A farm team in Jacksonville, Florida. In 1954 he was elevated to the Braves' major league club, which had moved to Milwaukee the previous year. Aaron rapidly became one of the mainstays for the Braves, both in Milwaukee and, from 1966 to 1974, in Atlanta, leading the Milwaukee club to World Series appearances in 1957 and 1958 and a world championship in 1957, and Atlanta to the National League championship series in 1969. In 1957 he was named the National League's most valuable player. In 1975, after twenty-one seasons with the Braves, Aaron was traded to the American League's Milwaukee Brewers, where he completed his playing career in 1976.

The most celebrated highlight of Aaron's major league career came on April 8, 1974, when he eclipsed the career home run record of Babe Ruth by connecting off the Los Angeles Dodgers' Al Downing at Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta. The home run, his 715th in the major leagues, climaxed a very difficult period in Aaron's life as he confronted various forms of abuse, including racial insults and death threats, from those who did not want an African American to surpass Ruth's mark. "It should have been the happiest time of my life, the best year," Aaron said. "But it was the worst year. It was hell. So many bad things happened…. Things I'm still trying to get over, and maybe never will. Things I know I'll never forget" (Capuzzo, 1992, p. 83).

Aaron's lifetime record of 3,771 base hits ranks behind only those of Pete Rose and Ty Cobb, and he is the all-time leader in home runs (755), runs batted in (2,297), extra-base hits (1,477), and total bases (6,856). His 2,174 runs scored tie him for third place (with Ruth) behind Rickey Henderson and Cobb. These credentials, established over a 23-year career, easily earned "Hammerin' Hank" induction into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, New York, in his first year of eligibility, 1982. In 1997 his hometown of Mobile honored Aaron by naming its new baseball stadium, home to the Southern League's AA franchise BayBears, in his honor.

Following his retirement as a player, Aaron returned to the Braves' organization as director of player development and later was promoted to a senior vice presidency. In this capacity, he has been one of the most outspoken critics of Major League Baseball's sparse record of bringing minorities into executive leadership positions both on and off the playing field. In addition, he is a vice president of Turner Broadcasting Company and maintains a number of business and charitable interests in the Atlanta area.

See also Baseball

Bibliography

Aaron, Hank, with Lonnie Wheeler. I Had a Hammer: The Hank Aaron Story. New York: HarperCollins, 1991.

Capuzzo, Mike. "A Prisoner of Memory." Sports Illustrated (December 7, 1992): 80–92.

Tygiel, Jules. Baseball's Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1983.

james m. sorelle (1996)
Updated by author 2005