Hank Aaron

1934–2021 · 87 years Tier II

A shipyard riveter's son who out-hit an American idol

Portrait of Hank Aaron — Unknown author — 1974 — Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

Aaron grew up in Toulminville, a Black neighborhood outside Mobile, Alabama, the son of a shipyard riveter and one of 8 children who built their own bats and balls because the family could not buy them. Jackie Robinson was the idol who made the game seem possible at all. At 15 he tried out for the Brooklyn Dodgers and was passed over, then signed with the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro American League in 1951, where Jim Crow controlled even the dishes — restaurants that served the team sometimes destroyed the plates Black players had eaten from. He hit .366 in 26 games there before the Boston Braves bought his contract for 10,000 dollars in 1952.

He debuted for the Braves on April 13, 1954, and spent the next 21 years hitting with a quiet, repeatable stroke that never seemed to age. By 1973 he was closing on Babe Ruth's career home-run record of 714, and the closer he got, the uglier the mail became — roughly 930,000 letters in a single year, more than any non-politician in American history had ever received, a meaningful share of them threats. He hit number 715 off the Dodgers' Al Downing on April 8, 1974, in Atlanta, in front of 53,775 people, and finished his career 2 years later with 755 home runs, 2,297 runs batted in — still the record — and 3,771 hits. He was the last former Negro Leagues player still active in the majors when he retired in 1976.

The record chase that should have been a triumph arrived instead as a siege. Sports editor Lewis Grizzard quietly had Aaron's obituary written in advance, worried he might actually be killed before he reached 715. Even Claire Hodgson, Babe Ruth's widow, felt compelled to say publicly that her husband would have cheered the record. Aaron played the final months of the chase under guard, opening mail that ran from routine to explicit murder plots, in a sport that had let him get this close only to make the last few home runs feel like an ordeal to survive. He broke the record anyway, in an Atlanta stadium where broadcaster Vin Scully, calling the game live, described a Black man getting a standing ovation in the Deep South for beating an all-time idol's record.

Aaron entered the Hall of Fame in 1982 with 97.8 percent of the vote, then spent his post-playing decades in Atlanta business, philanthropy, and running the Chasing the Dream Foundation with his wife Billye. On January 5, 2021, he received a COVID-19 vaccine on camera, part of an effort by prominent Black Americans to counter vaccine hesitancy. He died in his sleep at home in Atlanta 17 days later, on January 22, of natural causes, at 86 — timing close enough that unsupported conspiracy theories spread within days. Barry Bonds broke his home run record in 2007 during baseball's steroid era, which only sharpened the sense that Aaron's 755 had been earned the hard way.

Lifespan

15401700180019002030

Hank Aaron's life against the full span of the corpus.

Notable works

1957 World Series championship other
His only title, with the Milwaukee Braves, and the same year he won NL MVP 1957
715th career home run other
Broke Babe Ruth's all-time record on April 8, 1974 1974
Hank Aaron Award other
Major League Baseball's annual honor for its top offensive player, named for him 1999
Chasing the Dream Foundation company
Founded with his wife Billye to fund scholarships for children 1994

Life in brief

with age at each point

February 5, 1934 aged 0 Born in Mobile, Alabama
1951 aged ~17 Signs with the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro American League
1952 aged ~18 The Boston Braves buy his contract for 10,000 dollars
April 13, 1954 aged 20 Makes his major league debut
1957 aged ~23 Wins the NL MVP award and the World Series
April 8, 1974 aged 40 Hits his 715th home run, passing Babe Ruth
1976 aged ~42 Retires after a final season with the Milwaukee Brewers
January 5, 2021 aged 86 Publicly receives a COVID-19 vaccine to encourage Black Americans
January 22, 2021 aged 86 Dies in his sleep at home in Atlanta