Henry Louis "Hank" Aaron (born February 5, 1934 in Mobile, Alabama, United States), is an American baseball player and member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. Aaron is better known for setting a Major League Baseball record for most home runs in a career (755), surpassing the last mark of 714 by Babe Ruth. Aaron besides holds a career marks for RBI (2,297), extra base hits (1,477) & sum bases (6,856). He won a single World Series ring with a Milwaukee Braves in 1957, and a National League Most Valuable Player Award the equivalent season. He besides earned ternary Gold Glove Awards, and manufactured Xxi All-Star appearances.

Pre-professional Career
Henry Louis Aaron was natural around the a share of Mobile, Alabama called Down The Bay. It was the unfortunate metropolitan area of town populated mostly by minorities. His personal late moved to the better a share of Free to wander known as Toulminville, where he was brought higher & attended school. Within Central High School, Aaron played shortstop and third base and was an outstanding hitter though he batted cross-handed. His team won a Negro High School Championship two years running. Withinside high school, he likewise excelled in football.

Aaron's survive deuce years of senior high were spent at Josephine Allen Institute, a personal highschool. Aarin was and then skilful a baseball player at this immature age that prior to his fifteenth birthday he was swimming on the semi-semiprofessional team, the Pritchett Athletics, as their shortstop & third baseman. He processed $3 the game. He tried retired for the Dodgers but did not develop to show his abilities to the scouts there. He so began swimming using a semi-semiprofessional Mobile Black Bears for $1The game.

His mother wanted Aaron to attend college inside Florida. However by owning a promise to finish highschool, in November 20, 1951 he was signed by scout Ed Scott to play for the Negro American League champion Indianapolis Clowns after a Black Bears played an exhibition against a Clowns the former month. Aaron helped lead a Clowns to triumph in the 1952 Negro League World Series.

Professional Career
Minor Leagues
In June 14, 1952 Aaron's contract was acquired by the Boston Braves for $10,000. He was a endure Negro League streaming video player to produce a go for it to the major leagues. Aaron was assigned to the Braves' Class C farm team, a Eau Claire Bears, in Eau Claire, Wisconsin where he played second base. He had ii liner singles inside his number 1 game & ended a year batting .326, & won a Northern League's Rookie of the Season. He earned $350 the year. Within 1953, Aaron, along with Horace Garner and Felix Mantilla, was sent to the Jacksonville Tars to break the jim crow in the South Atlantic League. Despite enduring non-prevent racial epithets and threats, Aaron led the league around diarrhea (115), hits (208), doubles (36), Run batted in (115), & batting norm (.362) to get a league's Virtually all Valuable Streaming video player. 1 writer said, "Henry Aaron led the league in everything except hotel accommodations".

To develop for a large leagues, Aaron played wintertime ball within Puerto Rico & learned to play the outfield. In March 13, 1954, Braves left fielder Bobby Thomson broke his ankle sliding into 2nd base when you took the spring how to videos game. the next day Aaron processed his 1st spring how to videos beginside for the Braves in left field & hit a house do.

Major Leagues
The Early Years
In April 13, 1954, Aaron made his major league debut & went 0-for-Five against a Cincinnati Reds' Joe Nuxhall. In the equivalent gage, Aaron's mate, Eddie Mathews hit 2 front yard diarrhea, a 1st two of a record 863 front yard diarrhea the pair would hit when mate. In April 15, 1954 Aaron got his foremost major league hit, one hit of Cardinals pitcher Vic Raschi. Aarin hit his 1st Major League personal redo on April 23, 1954 off of Raschi. Above a next 122 games, Aaron batted .280 (he would non hit that online once again until 1966) with Baker's dozen homers (he wouldn't last beneath Twenty for the next Twenty years) prior to suffering the broken mortise joint in September 5.

In the as a result year, Aaron was moved to right field, where he played for virtually all of his career, winning troika Gold Gloves. 1955 also saw the 1st of the record-tying Xxiv All-Star Games for Aaron – only Willie Mays and Stan Musial appeared in when several Everthing-Star Games. In June 24, 1955, Aaron became the foremost strike out victim of the Brooklyn Dodgers' future Hall of Famer, Sandy Koufax. Koufax come inside in relief for the Dodgers in Milwaukee's County Stadium, pitching 2 skunk frame & fanning two. Aaron finished a year batting .314 sustaining Twenty-seven personal diarrhea & 106 Run batted in.

1956 saw Aaron hit .328 to win the 1st of 2 NL batting titles. He is likewise known as The Sporting News' NL Player of the Season. 2 changes were manufactured within 1957 that had the profound consequence in Aaron. Number one, he went from either 2nd in the card to for, behind Eddie Mathews instead of in front of him, &, 2nd, he switched from either the 36-ounce bat to the 34-ounce model. Aaron responded by leading the league using 44 residence diarrhea, a career-high 132 Run batted in, batted .322 & won his lone NL MVP Award. In the period of the game in August 15th, Aaron belted his 100th major league page redo polish off of the Reds' Don Gross. In September 23, 1957, Aaron had what he known as a better moment of his career. Aaron drilled the pitch from either the Cardinals' Billy Muffett for a two-run homer in the 11th inning of a game. It clinched a Braves' number one pennant within Milwaukee & Aaron was carried off a field by his mate. That season, Milwaukee registered its single World Series victory behind right-handed pitcher Lew Burdette, who defeated a Yankees three times. Aaron did his a portion by hitting .393 by owning terzetto homers & heptad Run batted in.

The Chase is On
Aaron got a second outstanding month around 1958 by hitting .326, with Xxx at home diarrhea & 95 Run batted in. He led the Braves to a second pennant within, however this instance it misplaced a seven-game Series to the Yankees. Aaron picked higher his 1st Gold Glove & finished Third within MVP ballot. Hall of Famer, Don Drysdale served up a 1st of 17 personal diarrhea to Aarin on June 29, 1958 – more than any more pitcher.

In June 21, 1959 Aaron had one virtually all productive day as a hitter. Against a San Francisco Giants, he hit two-rerun page diarrhea in the First, Sixth & Seventh frame slay of Johnny Antonelli, Stu Miller and Gordon Jones. It was the lone period witharound his career that he would hit troika homers in a game. Exactly a single year late, in July 21, Aaron appeared on the television show "Home Run Derby." He was paid $30,000 for his appearance – all but up to his annual earnings. A prize money encouraged Aaron to vary his approach around hitting & swing for further homers. Aaron defended his guide by expression, "I noticed that they never had a show called "Singles Derby". Eddie Mathews led the league in home runs with 46 and Aaron led the league in hitting with a .355 average and finished 3rd in MVP voting.

July 3, 1960 saw Aaron hit his 200th home run off of the Cardinals' Ron Kline at Sportsman's Park. 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 and Mathews went back to back off of Reds' pitcher Jim Maloney. Adcock and Thomas hit theirs off of reliever Marshall Bridges. Despite the unprecedented feat, the Braves lost the game 10-8.

On June 18, 1962, Aaron hit what most consider to be the longest home run of his career -- a 470-foot shot to straight-away center at the Polo Grounds in New York City. Only two other players ever hit a ball there – Joe Adcock in 1953 and Lou Brock, who oddly did it the day before Aaron. On April 19, 1963 he hit his 300th home run off of the Mets' Jay Hook. Aaron just missed winning the triple crown in 1963 by leading the league with 44 home runs and 130 RBI. He finished .007 percentage points behind Tommy Davis in batting. Aaron became the 3rd member of the 30-30 club behind Ken Williams and Willie Mays. He again finished 3rd in the MVP voting.

On September 20, 1965, Aaron hit the last home run by a Milwaukee Braves player at Milwaukee County Stadium. It came off Ray Culp of the Phillies. The Braves moved to Atlanta the following season and made Fulton County Stadium their new home. Aaron's home run output increased due to the hitter friendly park – later nicknamed "A Launching Pad".

Aaron hit his 400th home run on April 20, 1966 off Bob Priddy of the San Francisco Giants. On August 23 he homered to set a major league record with Eddie Mathews for most career home runs by teammates (863). The first two batters faced by Nolan Ryan in his career were Mathews and Aaron, on September 11, 1966. Neither of them struck out against Ryan.

In the first game of a double header against the Phillies on May 10, 1967, Aaron hit his only inside the park home run off Jim Bunning. Aaron hit a conventional home run in the second game of the double header off of Larry Jackson.

Aaron hit his 500th home run on July 14, 1968 off Mike McCormick of the San Francisco Giants at Fulton County Stadium. Aaron was just the 8th player to reach the milestone and he did it exactly one year after his former teammate Eddie Mathews did it with the Houston Astros. At the time, Aaron was the second youngest player to ever do so at 34 years, five months and nine days, a year and a half older than the youngest player to do so, Jimmie Foxx.

On July 30, 1969 Aaron hit his 537th home run to move into 3rd place on the career home run list, past Mickey Mantle and behind only Willie Mays and Babe Ruth. The Braves marked the first year of division play by winning the West. They Braves were fifth place on August 19, but outplayed the Giants and Reds down the stretch to win the division. Aaron slugged 44 homers and knocked in 97 runs. The Braves lost to the Miracle Mets in the playoffs, three games to none. Aaron and brother Tommie were the first siblings to appear in a League Championship series together as teammates. Aaron finished 3rd in MVP voting.

Aaron got his 3,000th career hit off of Reds' Wayne Simpson on May 17, 1970 with a single in the second game of a doubleheader at Cincinnati's Crosley Field, becoming the first player to reach that milestone and hit 500 career home runs. On July 31, he hit a home run against Dave Guisti of the Pirates in Atlanta for this 30th homer of the season, establishing a National League record for most seasons with 30 or more homers (12).

1971 saw several milestones for Aaron. On April 27 he hit his 600th career homer off the San Francisco Giants' Gaylord Perry in Atlanta. The greatest home run hitter slugged two homers off the greatest strikeout pitcher, Nolan Ryan, the first of which was on May 21, 1971, in Shea Stadium. On July 31 Aaron homered in an All-Star Game for the first time, connecting off Vida Blue in Detroit. He hit his 40th home run of the season against the Giants' Jerry Johnson on August 10, establishing a National League record for most seasons with 40 or more home runs (seven). On September 21, Aaron homered against the Padres' Jay Franklin for his 46th home run of the season – a new career high. Five days later, he hit his 47th home run, the most he hit in a season. He finished 3rd in MVP voting for the 6th time in his career.

During the strike shortened season of 1972, Aaron tied and then surpassed Willie Mays for second place on the career home run list with home runs on May 31 (648) off of the Padres' Fred Norman and June 10 (649) off of the Phillies' Wayne Twitchell. His home run on June 10 also his 14th grand slam, tying him with Willie McCovey and Gil Hodges for the National League record. On June 28 Aaron hit a two-run homer to tie Lou Gehrig for second place on the all-time RBI list with 1,990. The next day he passes Gehrig with a home run off of the Padres' Mike Caldwell to move into sole possession of second place on the all-time RBI list. Aaron got his 2,000 career RBI when he homered off Astros' Jim York. Aaron tied then surpassed Babe Ruth for the most home runs by a player with a single team when he homered for the 659th time as a Brave on July 19 against the Pirates' Nelson Briles and for the 660th on July 25 against the Reds' Wayne Simpson. At the first All-Star Game in Atlanta, Aaron thrilled the hometown crowd by homering in the sixth inning off the Cleveland Indians' Gaylord Perry. Aaron homered twice against the Phillies to break Stan Musial's major league record for total bases (6,134).

Racism and the Record
The chase to beat the Babe heated up in the summer of 1973 and with it the mail. Aaron needed a secretary to sort it as he received more than an estimated 3,000 letters a day, more than any American outside of politics. Unfortunately, racists initially did much of the writing. A sampling:

''"Dear Nigger Henry,
Your family is (does'nt) attend break this record established per groovy Babe Ruth in case We could support it. ...
Whites come far supplementary superior than jungle bunnies. The gun is watching your systems each black move."

"Dear Henry Aaron,
Do you need a bit of reap hook cell anemia, Hank?"''

The letters came from every state, but most were postmarked in northern cities. They were filled with hate; more hate than Aaron had ever imagined. "This", Aaron said later about the letters, "changed pine tree state".

Aaron hit his 700th home run off of the Phillies' Ken Brett. The 1973 season ended with Aaron at 713 homers after hitting a remarkable 40 in just 392 at-bats. He was 39. The Braves became the first team to have three players hit 40 or more homers in a season. Darrell Evans and Davey Johnson also reached the 40-homer mark.

Over the winter, Aaron endured death threats and a barrage of racist hate mail from people who did not want to see a black man break Ruth's home run record. Lewis Grizzard, then sports editor the Atlanta Journal became so concerned that he had an obituary written just in case. However, when the harassment became widely known, the ballplayer enjoyed a massive flood of public support motivated at least partially to counter the bigotry. This included Babe Ruth's widow who denounced the racists and declared that her husband would have enthusiastically cheered Aaron's attempt at the record. 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, but did not hit another home run in the series. The largest crowd in Braves history (53,775) watched Hank Aaron break the record on April 8, 1974 with a home run 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 firing in celebration and Aaron rounded the bases, two college students appeared and ran alongside of him before security stepped in. Aaron's mother ran onto the field and into the arms of her son, tears brimming in her eyes. Mrs. Aaron wasn't just proud of her son; she rushed the plate because she thought her son had been shot. On October 2, 1974, Aaron hit his 733rd and final home run as a Brave.

One month later, on November 2, 1974, 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 and on July 20, 1976 Hank Aaron hit his 755th and final home run off the California Angels' Dick Drago.

Post-Playing Career
Aaron rejoined the Atlanta Braves organization as player development director four days after retiring from baseball. On August 1, 1982 Hank Aaron was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, receiving votes on 97.8 percent of the ballots. At the time, only Ty Cobb received a higher percentage (98.2) of votes cast.

Aaron became one of the first blacks in Major League Baseball upper-level management as Atlanta's vice president of player development. Since December 1989, he has served as senior vice president and assistant to the president, but he is more active for Turner Broadcasting as a corporate vice president of community relations and a member of TBS' board of directors. He also is vice president of business development for The Airport Network.

On February 5, 1999, at a celebration for his 65th birthday, Aaron was honored for his achievements as a player and a person. Major League Baseball announced the introduction of the Hank Aaron Award, to be presented annually to the best hitters in the American League and National League. The first major award to be introduced in more than thirty years, it is also the first to be named after a former player still living at the time the award was inaugurated.

In 2002 Aaron received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.

Aaron attended Game 4 of the 2004 World Series at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri and personally awarded the Hank Aaron Award to winners – Barry Bonds in the NL, Manny Ramirez in the AL.

His autobiography I Had a Hammer was published in 1990. Aaron now owns Hank Aaron BMW of south Atlanta where every car is sold with an autographed baseball.

A statue of Aaron now stands outside the front entrance of Turner Field, where the Braves currently play. (Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, which was Aaron's home park for most of his career, was demolished in 1997, and a parking lot now occupies the site.)

Aaron's jersey number "44" has been retired by both the Atlanta Braves and the Milwaukee Brewers.

Records and Achievements
All-time home run leader: 755 All-time games played: 3,298 (at time of retirement, currently 3rd behind Pete Rose and Carl Yastrzemski) All-time at-bats leader: 12,364 (at time of retirement, currently 2nd behind Pete Rose) All-time RBI leader: 2,297 All-time total bases leader: 6,856 All-time extra-base hits leader: 1,477 NL MVP: 1957 Gold Glove award: 1958 – 1960 The Sporting News NL Player of the Year: 1956, 1963 NL batting champion: 1956 (.328), 1959 (.355) NL home run champion: 1957 (44), 1963 (44), 1966 (44), 1967 (39) NL RBI leader: 1957 (132), 1960 (126), 1963 (130), 1966 (127) NL total bases leader: 1956 (340), 1957 (369), 1959 (400), 1960 (334), 1961 (358), 1963 (370), 1967 (344), 1969 (332) NL slugging percentage leader: 1959 (.636), 1963 (.586), 1971 (.669) NL runs scored leader: 1957 (118); 1963 (121); 1967(113) Lou Gehrig Memorial Award: 1970 NL hits leader: 1956 (200), 1959 (223) NL doubles leader: 1955 (37), 1956 (34), 1961 (39), 1965 (40) Three home runs in one game: June 21, 1959 Elected to Baseball Hall of Fame: 1982 Third in career hits (3,771) Only player to hit at least 30 home runs in 15 seasons Only player to hit at least 20 home runs in 20 seasons Hit 40 home runs in a season 8 times First player to reach 3,000 hits and 500 home runs 21 All-Star appearances

Statistics

League Leadership Rankings
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Trivia
Despite hitting more career home runs than any other player, Hank Aaron's single-season high was 47. This figure puts him in a tie for the 64th-best season mark by a hitter. His second-best total, 45, is only tied for 100th-best. However, the compensating fact is his career was remarkably stable with no major absences or interruptions such as medical leaves. This enabled him to make his records with a steady accumulation of points that more flamboyant players were unable to match.

Although Hank Aaron is still the all time home run hitter in Major League Baseball, he is second under former Japanese baseball player Sadaharu Oh (868) as the all time home run hitter in recorded baseball history (Negro League player Josh Gibson was said to have also hit well over 800 home runs, but recordkeeping in the Negro Leagues was fragmentary).

For 50 years, from 1954 to 2004, Henry Aaron was baseball's premiere player.... from an alphabetical standpoint. (In an uncategorizable oddity, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar still holds the same position in the NBA. The odds are lengthy that baseball's all-time HR and RBI leader would also happen to be its all-time #1 alphabetical player; that the NBA's points leader held the same distinction is astronomically unlikely.)

Incidentally, Aaron's brother Tommie was #2 in this esoteric category. Both Aarons were bumped down one notch in baseball's player register in April 2004, when San Francisco Giants relief pitcher David Aardsma made his debut.