Hank Aaron was a tremendous baseball player and overall a good man. Aaron is a retired American baseball player and a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. He is best known for setting the major-league record for most home runs in a career (755), surpassing the previous mark of 714 set 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 was named the National League’s “Most Valuable Player” award the same year. He also earned three Gold Glove awards and made 24 All-Star appearances.
Aaron had to fight to become a professional baseball player. Some people thought he was not good enough. He quickly turned heads.
Aaron began his career by playing for the Negro League’s Indianapolis Clowns. In 1952 he moved up to the minor leagues and was acquired by the Boston Braves. The team assigned him to the Eau Clair Bears, the Braves’ Northern League farm club. That year, he secured the league’s Rookie of the Year award as the Bears’ second baseman. Eventually, Aaron caught the Atlanta Braves’ attention, and he signed with the team. Aaron then began his awesome major-league career.
Although Aaron is best known for breaking Babe Ruth’s home-run record, he also achieved notoriety for other reasons. Aaron endured death threats and a large assortment of racist hate mail from people who didn’t want to see a black man break Ruth’s home-run record.
On April 8, 1974 in Atlanta, a record crowd of 53,775 witnessed Aarons’ career home run. 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, and Aaron’s mother ran onto the field to join him.
In November 1974, the Braves traded Aaron to the Milwaukee Brewers for Roger Alexander and Dave May. Because the Brewers were an American league, Aaron could extend his career by taking advantage of the designated hitter rule. He broke baseball’s all-time RBI record on May 1, 1975, and on July 20, 1976, Hank Aaron hit his 755th and final home run off the California Angels’ Dick Drago at Milwaukee County Stadium.
On August 1, 1982, Hank Aaron was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. On Feb. 5, 1999, at his 65th birthday celebration, Major League Baseball announced the introduction of the Hank Aaron Award. The award was set to honor the best overall offensive performer in the American and National League. 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. Later that year, he ranked fifth on the Sporting News’ list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and was elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.
In June 2002, Aaron received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. Nowadays, Hank works as the Atlanta Braves’ Director of Player Development and serves as the team’s Senior Vice President. He is also Vice President of Business Development for the CNN Network; Aaron is also a long-time Church’s and Popeye’s restaurant franchisee and operates a Krispy Kreme franchise in the Atlanta area.
Aaron sits on the board of Value City Department Stores, Inc., as well as Atlanta Technical Institute, Ports Authority of Georgia in Atlanta. In addition, he is a member of the Board of Governors for Boys and Girls of America. With his wife Billye, he founded the “Chasing the Dream Foundation,” which provides monetary awards to help children pursue talents.