Hank Aaron
| Hank Aaron | |
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 Hank Aaron (2013)
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| Outfielder | |
| Born: February 5, 1934 Mobile , United States 
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| Died on: January 22nd, 2021 Atlanta , United States
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| Suggested: Right | Threw: Right |
| Debut in Major League Baseball | |
| April 13, 1954 with the Milwaukee Braves | |
| Last MLB assignment | |
| October 3, 1976 at the Milwaukee Brewers | |
| MLB statistics (until end of career) |
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| Batting average | , 305 |
| Home runs | 755 |
| Hits | 3771 |
| Runs Batted In | 2297 |
| Teams | |
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| Awards | |
MLB records:
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| member of | |
 Baseball Hall of Fame
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| Recorded | 1982 |
| Quota | 97.83% |
Henry Louis "Hank" Aaron , nickname Hammerin 'Hank (born February 5, 1934 in Mobile , Alabama , † January 22, 2021 in Atlanta , Georgia ) was a baseball player in Major League Baseball (MLB) on the position of outfielders . In 1974 Aaron broke Babe Ruth's record of 714 home runs . In total, Aaron had 755 home runs by the end of his career. In 1957 he won the World Series with the Milwaukee Braves and was voted Most Valuable Player of the National League (NL) in the same year . In his career, he has received the Gold Glove Award three times and was elected to the All-Star Team 21 times . Aaron's baseball career in MLB lasted from 1954 to 1976. Because of these achievements, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982.
Career
Early years
Hank Aaron grew up in a poor family in Mobile, but already showed his extraordinary athletic skills in both football and baseball in high school. In his last two years in high school, Aaron also played on semi-professional teams in his home state. On November 20, 1951, he signed a contract with the Indianapolis Clowns, a Negro League team , and won the 1952 Negro League World Series with them .
On June 14, 1952, the Boston Braves signed Aaron for $ 10,000. Aaron played in various minor leagues until 1954 , when he was invited to the Braves' jumping training session after the regular leftfielder Bobby Thomson broke his leg. On April 13, 1954, Aaron played his first game in the Major Leagues against the Cincinnati Reds for the Braves, who have now moved to Milwaukee. Together with Eddie Mathews and Del Crandall , they formed the Braves' powerful offensive. In 1956 he won his first batting title with a batting average of .328 , and in 1957 he almost won the Triple Crown . But Stan Musial and Willie Mays had a better batting average. However, his team won the National League that year and defeated the New York Yankees in the World Series . Aaron was named National League Most Valuable Player that same year .
He made another unsuccessful attempt for the Triple Crown in 1963. In home runs and batted in runs (RBI) he led, but at the batting average he had to let Tommy Davis and Roberto Clemente go first. When the Braves moved from Milwaukee to Atlanta after the 1965 season , Aaron had 398 home runs under his belt. Aaron won the Western Division of the National League with his team in 1969, but the Braves lost 3-0 to the New York Mets in the National League Championship Series .
Chasing the record
Aaron's hunt for the record was overshadowed by strong racial concomitants as Aaron, an African American , prepared to dethrone the White Babe Ruth. Because Hank Aaron was at 713 home runs after the end of the season in October 1973, America's racists had ample opportunity to deal with a flood of hate letters (in the style of "dear nigger Hank ...") until the start of the new season in the first days of April 1974 to let off steam on death threats. These activities were widely received as so ugly by the US public that there were many voices branding it as a great shame for the country. The widow of Babe Ruth felt compelled to publicly protect Aaron as an impeccable sportsman against the attacks and to express her disgust for the actions of the incorrigible. Aaron himself later described this campaign as a traumatic experience that he longed to indulge in.
Since the Atlanta Braves , for whom he played at the time, started the 1974 season with three away games, they did not want to use Aaron to experience the record improvement in their own stadium as possible. The "Commissioner of Baseball" decided, however, that he had to go to the field in two of these three games. Aaron scored a home run. That meant a tie with Babe Ruth.
On April 8, 1974, Aaron finally hit his 715th home run in front of a home crowd and the largest crowd in the history of the Braves in the fourth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers , breaking Ruth's record since 1935. The presence of the police and the FBI in the stadium was significantly increased for this game, and the authorities had apparently taken the death threats very seriously.
In November of the same year, Hank Aaron was sold to the Milwaukee Brewers , who were playing in the American League at the time and for which he played two more seasons, mainly as a designated hitter . His last home run, No. 755, was against the California Angels on July 20, 1976 .
On September 22, 2006, the San Francisco Giants' Barry Bonds tied the number of 733 home runs beaten by Aaron in the National League. Aaron had scored the rest of his 755 home runs in the American League. In contrast to Aaron, Barry Bonds has long been suspected of taking steroids based on specific evidence.
After baseball
Aaron retired in 1976 and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on January 13, 1982 by one of the largest majorities ever . After his playing career, he returned to the Braves and worked in the administrative area. Again, he was one of the first African American to work in the higher levels of management. He also took on other roles at Turner Broadcasting . His autobiography, entitled I Had a Hammer , was published in 1990.
On his 65th birthday, Aaron was honored for his outstanding career as a player and personality when Major League Baseball created the Hank Aaron Award , which is presented annually to the best batsmen in the American and National League. That same year, The Sporting News named him 5th in the Top 100 Baseball Players of the Century and was named to the MLB's All-Century Team . On July 9, 2002, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom , the highest civil honor in the United States. Molefi Kete Asante ranked him among the 100 most important African Americans in 2002.
In 2010 , the Hank Aaron Childhood Home and Museum opened on the grounds of Hank Aaron Stadium , home of the Mobile BayBears (Minor League) .
Aaron made occasional appearances on television series, including MacGyver , Mr. Belvedere, and Futurama .
Aaron later owned a car dealership where every new car buyer received a baseball signed by the boss as an encore. Hank Aaron died in January 2021 at the age of 86.
Records and Statistics
Hank Aaron is currently (as of 2017) the MLB record holder for Extra-Base hits (1,477) and Batted In runs (2,297). His home run record of 755 was broken by Barry Bonds in 2007. Other impressive stats in his career are 2,174 runs (4th place after Rickey Henderson , Ty Cobb and Barry Bonds) and 12,364 at-bats (2nd place after Pete Rose ). His total number of hits (3,771) was only surpassed by Cobb and Rose. Aaron's lifetime batting average is .305.
Web links
- Player information and statistics from MLB or ESPN or baseball reference or fangraphs or baseball reference (minor league) (English)
- Biography of Hank Aaron
- Hank Aaron in the Baseball Hall of Fame (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ MLB legend Hank Aaron is dead. In: sport.orf.at. ORF , January 22, 2021, accessed on January 22, 2021 .
- ^ Nick Browne: Most Career Runs Scored. In: Her Sports Corner. hersportscorner.com, February 13, 2017, accessed November 1, 2020 .
| personal data | |
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| SURNAME | Aaron, Hank |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Aaron, Henry Louis (real name); Hammerin 'Hank (nickname) |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | American baseball player |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 5, 1934 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Mobile , Alabama |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 22, 2021 |
| Place of death | Atlanta , Georgia |