Rest In Power, Hammering Hank
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Rest In Power ‘Hammering’ Henry ‘Hank’ Aaron
Yesterday, baseball legend and Atlanta’s first sports superstar Henry ‘Hank’ Aaron died at age 86. Aaron died in his sleep on Friday two weeks shy of his 87th birthday.
Aaron is most known for breaking the record of 714 home runs set by baseball legend Babe Ruth previously held for 39 years in 1974. Aaron is a World Series Champion, 25x Major League Baseball (MLB) all-star, one-time National League (NL) MVP, 4x NL home run leader, 4x NL RBI leader, 3x Golden Glove winner, 2x NL batting champion, and for 33 years, the all-time home run leader.
Aaron began his career in the Negro Leagues in 1952 as a member of the Indianapolis Clowns who would later win the Negro League World Series title that same year. Within 6 months in that same 1952 season was offered a contract from MLB franchises the San Francisco Giants and the Milwaukee Braves. Aaron was offered $200/month to play for the Giants who had baseball star, Willie Mays, and the Braves who offered him $350/month. Believing he'd have a better chance to make the team, Aaron chose the Braves over the Giants. Aaron had his contract from the Indianapolis Clowns sold to the Milwaukee Braves for $10,000, and the rest is history.
Aaron has spent the majority of his MLB career with the Braves for the majority of their tenure in Milwaukee from 1954-65, winning the World Series in 1957. Aaron then remained with the franchise when they relocated to Atlanta in 1966 and until his record-breaking season in 1974. Aaron would spend his last two MLB seasons back in Milwaukee with the Brewers until officially retiring in 1976.
Post-playing career
After his retirement, Aaron would rejoin the Braves organization in 1976 as a coach and manager. In 1980 Aaron would take a role as senior vice president and assistant to the Braves' president. In 1982 Aaron would be inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame, where he would receive the second-highest amount of first-ballot votes ever behind only to baseball legend Ty Cobb.
Aaron would also serve in other capacities on behalf of the Braves and the MLB including becoming a senior vice president, establishing roles in community affairs, holding a board seat with the MLB, in addition to expanding the relationship between the Braves and local-turned-national broadcast station TBS. Aaron would remain with the franchise in some capacity until his death.
A Black icon in the Black mecca
After being selected by the Braves, Hank Aaron would spend one year in the minor leagues, integrating two leagues in the process. Aaron would first integrate the (Sally) South Atlantic League a smaller minor league, that saw him playing for Jacksonville Braves. Aaron himself entered the major league only seven years after Jackie Robinson integrated the league in 1947. For Aaron, during his time in the South Atlantic League this often meant having to find his own hotel accommodations and restaurants outside of the team provided ones.
Aaron would integrate sports once again by sheer happenstance by becoming the first integrated professional sports star in the south as the Braves moved from Milwaukee to Atlanta after the end of the 1965 MLB season. Aaron was leery about moving to the south, especially due to his involvement with the civil rights movement prior. Atlanta was not particularly viewed as the burgeoning Black mecca as it was today during the 1960s.
Breaking Babe Ruth’s record
While many laud his breaking of Babe Ruth’s record, Aaron himself had a much different experience while it was happening.
Aarons connections to Black political leaders and his status growing after signing what was then the largest contract in baseball history of $600,000 in 1972; alongside a divorce from his first wife led Aaron to focus on his career even more. As a result by the end of the 1973 season, Aaron was at 713 home runs, the second-most all-time, and just two home runs shy of surpassing Babe Ruth.
During the 1973 and 1974 seasons, Aaron would receive personal death threats and kidnapping threats against his children as he was approaching Babe Ruth’s record. At its peak, Aaron/the Braves would receive over 3,000 hate letters a day. The hate was so severe that Aaron himself wrote his own obituary in case someone did indeed kill him as the wounds of the murders of Black political leaders Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Medgar Evers, and Fred Hampton were still on the minds of most African Americans throughout the 1970s. Aaron actually kept much of that hate mail, reflecting often on how much many of his fellow Americans hated him at the time. In 1973 alone Aaron received nearly one million individual hate letters sent to him.
In the now-famous homerun celebration, Aaron’s personal bodyguard, former officer Calvin Wardlaw, talks about the decision to not kill two approaching fans of Aaron’s who stormed the field after he hit his record-breaking homer. Additionally, the threat of the record caused Aaron’s wife much grief and caused Aaron himself to lose the enjoyment of the game altogether.
The 1974 season would be Aaron’s last season with the Braves as a player, then subsequently retired from the sport completely two years later after a two-year stint with the Brewers. In addition to having his number #44 retired by the Atlanta Braves, Aaron would also have his number retired in Milwaukee due to his 13 years playing in the city for both the Milwaukee Braves and Milwaukee Brewers.
The third act as a businessman
Hank Aaron’s post-professional athletic career was notable for his development into a successful businessman.
Aaron himself only made a little over $2 million dollars in his 25-year playing career and despite his time in the front office, still did not generate the majority of his wealth from sports at all. Aaron’s venture into entrepreneurship has been most successful in his participation in owning franchises. Aaron over the next 30+ years of his post-athletic career had built a portfolio of restaurants and car dealerships. Aaron and his wife Billye, created the 755 Restaurant group, which oversaw its management of fast-food restaurants. While the automotive side of Aaron saw him accumulate a series of different automotive dealerships spread out the metro Atlanta area. This included a very popular BMW location in Buckhead and due to the success of these particular franchises, he sold all but one dealership in 2007.
The legacy of Hank Aaron
In 1999 the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution, HR279, in his honor. He was also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, then-president by George W. Bush in 2002. Also in 1999, the MLB created The Hank Aaron Award to give to the best hitter in both the American and National Leagues. It would be fitting that the most recent winner of the award would be Atlanta Braves first baseman, Freddie Freeman, in 2020.
The MLB, the Braves, and multiple sports organizations have been issuing a slew of content aimed at teaching the legacy of Hank Aaron in the wake of his passing. The passing of Aaron was marked by statements of reverence by five of the six living US presidents. As well as statements from the Atlanta Hawks, Atlanta Falcons, and Atlanta United.
While the Atlanta Braves have released a public statement and a short video on the impact of his career. The Braves will likely do much more as the upcoming 2021 baseball season starts in April of this year and will likely build more on Hank Aaron week. The Braves also will be opening up Truist Park to visitors who would like to visit the statue. It will be located at the monument Monument Garden which can be found at the First Base gate for today only from 10:00 am – 6:00 pm.
Other stats on Hammering Hank
#1 in total bases in the MLB (6,856)
#1 in the most RBI's (runs batted in) (2,297)
#2 in at-bats (12,364)
#2 in home runs (760), the record is 762 (it was broken in 2007 by Barry Bonds)
#3 in all-time hits (3,771)
#3 in games played (3,298)
#4 in runs (2,174)
#5 in WAR (wins-above-replacement) avg at 143.1
1-of-6 players ever to have at least 3,000 hits and 500 home runs
The only player to have at least 20 home runs in 20 seasons
Aaron also hit exactly 44 home runs in four different seasons in his career, which matches his jersey number
Rest In Power Hammering Hank.