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SportBaseball
NameHenry Aaron
Subtitle“Hammerin' Hank”
Number03-16
InfoOn April 8, 1974, in full view of thousands of baseball fans in Atlanta Stadium and millions more watching TV at home, Henry Aaron broke baseball's "unbreakable" record. The 6-foot, Atlanta Braves slugger whacked his 715th home run out of the park, shattering the 39-year-old record for regular-season play set by the immortal Babe Ruth. Hank went on to blast a total of 745, and that's a major-league record that may never be broken. Lots of long-ball hitters seemed capable of catching up with Ruth, but none of them had the consistency or endurance to go all the way. Although "Hammerin' Hank" never even hit 50 home runs in one season, he belted them out year after year-30-plus, 40-plus—and no pitcher could stop him. Sandy Koufax, the Dodger ace of no-it fame, contributed his share of four-baggers to Aaron's record. "There's no way you can pitch Henry when he's hot", Koufax admitted. "He's the toughest in the league. Just 'Bad Henry', that's all." Henry was always bad news for pitchers, especially in 1957, 1963, 1966, and 1967, when he won his 4 National League home-run titles with totals of 44, 44, 44, and 39. Hank also excelled at driving in runs— leading the league in RBIs 4 times —and he won the NL batting title twice. Only once, however, did he win the Most Valuable Player Award. Years later a teammate observed, "Henry would have won it more if he'd played for pennant-winning clubs—and if he hadn't been so nice. Some guys not nearly as good made headlines with their mouths and got a lot of votes because of it". But Aaron had no complaints. In 1975 he retired, a happy man who had carved out a brilliant career. When talk turns to home-run hitters, there is only one name to be mentioned in the same breath with that of Babe Ruth—Henry Aaron.
Photo InfoHENRY AARON Born Feb. 5, 1934, Mobile. Ala. AWARDS AND RECORDS Most Valuable Player, 1957 Most home runs, career, 745 Big smile after breaking Babe Ruth's record
Copyright© 1977, Editions Rencontre S.A., Lausanne Photo Neil Leifer - Sports Illustrated – SAM Printed in Italy 03 005 03-16
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