Hank Aaron was predominantly a right fielder, although he also played second and third base early in his career, as well as first base and left field later in his career. He made his debut with the Atlanta Braves on April 4, 1974, at the age of 24. He ended up playing 10 seasons with the Braves, finishing with 721 home runs, which is currently ranked 14th all time. He died in February 2016 at the age of 65 after being found unresponsive in his home in North Carolina.
During his tenure with the Braves, Aaron won two National League Gold Gloves at right field, and one National League Silver Slugger Award at that position. He also finished among the league leaders in several offensive categories including hits (3rd, 1,714), runs (4th, 993), extra-base hits (5th, 801) and total bases (6th, 3168).
In addition to his career with the Braves, Aaron played for the Milwaukee Brewers (1975), Philadelphia Phillies (1976-77), and New York Yankees (1977). With the Yankees, he helped win the 1977 World Series over the Boston Red Sox. After his retirement from baseball, he worked in baseball marketing and promotions until his death in February 2016.
Aaron had previously batted cross-handed (as a right-handed batter, his left hand was placed above his right on the bat), but once in the Braves organization, he dropped the unconventional grip and excelled, scoring 89 runs, having 116 hits, nine home runs, and batting.336 to win the Northern League Rookie of the Year award. When the Braves played their first game after the All-Star Break, they wore commemorative jerseys with Aaron's name and number (#5) on them as a tribute to him. He later joined the roster of the Milwaukee Braves (now the Atlanta Braves), where he continued to be an offensive force, finishing with 324 hits, 91 walks, and 39 homers.
In 1957, Aaron broke the record held by Babe Ruth for most home runs in a season during its final month of play. With his 45th homer on September 10, Aaron surpassed Ruth's previous record of 714. The next day, Aaron went 4-for-4 with a grand slam off Ralph Houk of the New York Yankees. He ended up with 55 homers that year, becoming only the second player (behind Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox) to hit more than 50 homers. After one more season with the Braves, during which time he finished second to Willie Mays in MVP voting, Aaron retired at the end of 1958 due to chronic knee problems. He still holds several major league records including most career home runs (755), runs scored (1384), and total bases (3100).
Stats for Hank Aaron Hank Aaron, sometimes known as "Hammerin' Hank," is largely recognized as one of the best players in baseball history. He set multiple records over his 21-year career as an outfielder with the Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves, as well as two final years as a DH for the Milwaukee Brewers.
On occasion, he was referred to as "Bad Henry," and the genius of the moniker "Atlanta Bad Henrys" is appropriately appreciated. Let us aim for the lower portions of the sky rather than the much higher stars themselves in this exercise.
He was a switch hitter with a tremendous arm until it was hurt in the 1957 World Series against the Braves, and while he was not as good a natural defensive outfielder as Willie Mays or Jimmy Piersall, Mickey typically outran his mistakes. Hank Aaron was consistent. He had excellent power numbers throughout his career. In 1955, when other players were hitting.300, Aaron hit.393. In 1956, when others were up to the challenge of pitching around the clock, Aaron was batting over.400 (he finished at.456). In 1957, when most players' seasons came down to the last week or so, Aaron had another great year, hitting over.500 (finished at.462). In 1958, when many people thought baseball would never be the same after the death of Babe Ruth, Aaron continued to put up huge numbers, finishing at.297 (a National League-leading 231 hits).
Aaron's arm wasn't perfect, but it was pretty good for a left-handed batter. He made some tough throws from the outfield, including one in 1951 during a game against the Dodgers when he threw out Duke Snider trying to go from first to third on a single by Pete Rose. The ball got away from Aaron a little bit too late though, because Rose scored the winning run.
In the summer of 1959, the Milwaukee Braves brought in several big name players, including Carl Yastrzemski of Boston College.
Aaron's 2,297 RBIs and 6,856 total bases remain records to this day. There have been thousands of different Hank Aaron cards to collect since his first card in 1954 Topps Baseball. While cards from his playing days are particularly appealing, there is much to be said about cards released in the years thereafter. In 2001 Topps issued what has become known as the "Colorized" card series. These cards were painted by various artists who used photographs taken by NASA astronauts as a guide to help them capture the look of the 1960s baseball scene. The results are beautiful works of art that honor Aaron and other great players such as Willie Mays and Joe DiMaggio.
Hank Aaron had a big impact on sports-related products beyond just baseball cards. He is the only player in history to hit into more than one run-scoring position and still come away with an award-winning home run record. His 755 career home runs are still a major league record to this day.
In addition to holding the all-time record for home runs, Aaron also holds the major league record for most times hitting into a double play (22). He led the American League in hits four times, runs scored three times, batting average twice, on-base percentage once, and stolen bases twice. He was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1995.
Aaron, who many consider to be baseball's ultimate home run king, played 23 seasons in the major leagues with the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves and Milwaukee Brewers, but he was much more than that. He was a humanitarian, a civil rights crusader, a great role model, and an all-around lovely person.
He was also a religious man who believed in praying for his opponents and who once said "God has blessed me with some of the best hands in baseball." He went on to say that we should too because everyone can do something great with their life if they try hard enough.
Before becoming one of baseball's greatest hitters, Aaron starred as center field on his high school football team. He also let it be known during his playing days that he wanted to hit home runs instead of batting.300 like most players of his time. This shows that he was not just going through the motions of sportsmanship because it was what you did back then. He actually cared about how he performed on the field.
After leaving baseball, Aaron got involved in civil rights activism and helped bring about change where blacks were excluded from certain venues across the country. For example, he protested when baseball's racist rules prevented black players from joining white teams or white players from joining black teams. He also sent letters to major league owners asking them to integrate their clubs and threatened to refuse to play unless they did so.
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