Difference between revisions of "Hank Aaron" - New World Encyclopedia
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Since December 1989, Aaron has served as senior vice president and assistant to the Braves' president. He is also the corporate vice president of community relations for [[Turner Broadcasting|TBS]], a member of the company's board of directors, and the vice president of business development for [[The Airport Network]]. | Since December 1989, Aaron has served as senior vice president and assistant to the Braves' president. He is also the corporate vice president of community relations for [[Turner Broadcasting|TBS]], a member of the company's board of directors, and the vice president of business development for [[The Airport Network]]. | ||
| − | On [[February 5]], [[1999 in sports|1999]], at his 65th birthday celebration, [[Major League Baseball]] announced the introduction of the [[Hank Aaron Award]]. | + | On [[February 5]], [[1999 in sports|1999]], at his 65th birthday celebration, [[Major League Baseball]] announced the introduction of the [[Hank Aaron Award]]. The award is presented to the player totaling the most hits, home runs, and runs batted in. Aaron becomes only the fourth Major League player to have an award named in his honor (Cy Young, pitching; Jackie Robinson, rookie of the year; and Roberto Clemente, citizenship). |
Aaron now owns Hank Aaron [[BMW]] of south Atlanta in [[Union City, GA]], where he gives an [[autograph]]ed baseball with every car sold. Aaron also owns [[MINI (BMW)|Mini]], [[Jaguar (car)|Jaguar]], [[Land Rover]], [[Toyota]], [[Hyundai]], and [[Honda]] dealerships throughout Georgia, as part of the Hank Aaron Automotive Group. | Aaron now owns Hank Aaron [[BMW]] of south Atlanta in [[Union City, GA]], where he gives an [[autograph]]ed baseball with every car sold. Aaron also owns [[MINI (BMW)|Mini]], [[Jaguar (car)|Jaguar]], [[Land Rover]], [[Toyota]], [[Hyundai]], and [[Honda]] dealerships throughout Georgia, as part of the Hank Aaron Automotive Group. | ||
Revision as of 19:31, 27 April 2008
| Hank Aaron
{{{image caption}}}
| |
| Personal Info | |
|---|---|
| Birth | February 5, 1934, Mobile, Alabama |
| Professional Career | |
| Debut | April 13, 1954, Milwaukee Braves |
| Team(s) | As Player Milwaukee Braves (1954 – 1965) |
| HOF induction: | August 1, 1982 |
| Career Highlights | |
| |
Henry Louis Aaron (born February 5, 1934 in Mobile, Alabama) 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. This record was broken by Barry Bonds on September 23, 2006. 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.
Early life
Hank 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.
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 $3.00 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.
Negro league career
By 1951, Aaron had established himself as a 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, but he did not make the team.
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 $350.00 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), and won the league's MVP Award that year.
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." [1]
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.
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. 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. Only Willie Mays and Stan Musial appeared in as many All-Star Games. 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 eleventh 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 the 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 third 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 first, sixth, and seventh 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. In 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 He finished .007 behind Tommy Davis in batting. 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. Aaron was 34 years, five months and nine days old. Jimmy Foxx is the youngest to reach the mark.
The chase is on
On July 31, 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 third 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. He was the first player to 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.
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 sixth 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 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).
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.
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 season's 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. 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?”[2]
Lewis Grizzard, then sports editor of the Atlanta Journal, became so concerned that he had an obituary written just in case. 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. [3]
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.
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. 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.
In Atlanta, 53,775 people showed up on April 8, 1974. It was a Braves record for attendance. Aaron hit career home run 715 in the fourth 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 5, 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
| 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
Since December 1989, Aaron has served as senior vice president and assistant to the Braves' president. He is also 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.
On February 5, 1999, at his 65th birthday celebration, Major League Baseball announced the introduction of the Hank Aaron Award. The award is presented to the player totaling the most hits, home runs, and runs batted in. Aaron becomes only the fourth Major League player to have an award named in his honor (Cy Young, pitching; Jackie Robinson, rookie of the year; and Roberto Clemente, citizenship).
Aaron now owns Hank Aaron BMW of south Atlanta in Union City, GA, where he gives an autographed baseball with every car sold. Aaron also owns Mini, Jaguar, Land Rover, Toyota, Hyundai, and Honda dealerships throughout Georgia, as part of the Hank Aaron Automotive Group.
Legacy
During Aaron's playing days, he embodied what was considered to be a complete hitter, one who could help his team with a home run or base hit. But he was defined by the home runs and his unrelenting pursuit of Ruth's record. That pursuit, though, came with a huge price, thanks to the bigots who didn't want to see Ruth's mark eclipsed and certainly not eclipsed by a Black man.
As Aaron came closer and closer to the record, he had to deal with the continuous hate mail, venomous racial epithets and death threats that were considered so real that the Atlanta Braves and the City of Atlanta dispatched a policeman to escort the outfielder to and from the ball park, then stay with him until he went to bed.
On August 1, 1982 Hank Aaron was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame and received votes on 97.8 percent of the ballots, second to only Ty Cobb, who received votes on 98.2 percent of the ballot in the inaugural 1936 Hall of Fame election.
In 2002, Aaron received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.
Statues of Aaron stand outside the front entrance of both Turner Field and Miller Park. In honor of Aaron, the address Turner Field was set as 755 Hank Aaron Drive. His autobiography I Had a Hammer was published in 1990. The book's title is a play on his nicknames, "The Hammer" and "Hammerin' Hank."
Hank Aaron broke the unbreakable record. Aaron hit a baseball over the wall in Atlanta's Fulton County Stadium. It was the 715th home run of his career, surpassing the 714 homers hit by Babe Ruth.
Notes
- ↑ Jordan, Pat. A False Spring. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1975. ISBN 0-8032-7626-5.
- ↑ 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
- ↑ Baseball-Reference.com.
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Aaron, Hank, and Wheeler, Lonnie. I Had a Hammer: The Hank Aaron Story. New York: HarperCollins, 1991. ISBN 978-0060163211
- Golenbock, Peter, & Lee, Paul. Hank Aaron: Brave in Every Way. San Diego: Harcourt, 2001. ISBN 978-0152020934
- Stanton, Tom. Hank Aaron and the Homerun that Changed America. New York: W. Morrow, 2004. ISBN 978-0060579760
- Tackach, James. Hank Aaron. New York: Chelsea House, 1992. ISBN 978-0791011997
External links
- Baseball-Reference.com - Major league career statistics
- baseballhalloffame.org Baseball HoF
- georgiaencyclopedia.org Aaron story
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