The Atlanta Braves will be hosting the MLB All*Star Game in July. Unfortunately, the greatest player in franchise history won't be there to get honored on the field. Hank Aaron is, of course, best known for breaking Babe Ruth's career home run record. But he was so much more than that. He was one of the best damn baseball players ever!
Everybody knows that Aaron is second all-time in home runs. He's also the all-time leader in RBIs, with 2297! That's a lot of RBIs! Aaron also had 3371 hits, trailing only Pete Rose and Ty Cobb. He, Willie Mays, Alex Rodriguez and Albert Pujols are the only players in history with 3000 hits and 600 home runs. That's it. Four of the more than 15,000 men ever to play Major League Baseball!
Games played? Aaron's also third all-time there with 3298. Runs? Fourth with 2174. There were two All*Star Games each year from 1959-62, so he made 25 All*Star appearances in a 23-year career. Yes, that's an all-time record, too (it's probably safe to say that one will never be broken). It's not surprising, then, that when Aaron was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1982, he got 97.8 percent of the vote.
What has always amazed me about Hank Aaron is how the perspective of him has changed over the years. When Aaron was chasing Babe Ruth, he heard racist insults and received death threats. How dare he break such a hallowed record held by such a beloved figure?!
Thirty-three years later when it was Aaron's record that Barry Bonds was chasing, it was a complete 180. Bonds, the "steroid-using" pariah, was going to break the beloved Aaron's record. The same Aaron who people said the most vile things about in 1974 was suddenly the beloved figure. Oh how the times changed! Aaron went from the villain of the story to the hero.
Of course, that likely had just as much to do with Barry Bonds and the generally negative view of him that fans had, but I'm still amazed by it. There are even some out there who still view Aaron as the "legitimate" home run king. They're entitled to that opinion, as ridiculous as it may be (Bonds is No. 1 in the record book whether you like it or not).
For his part, Hank Aaron wasn't one of those people. The night Bonds hit No. 756, a congratulatory message from Hank Aaron played on the stadium scoreboard soon after he crossed home plate and the celebration began. That's the type of man Hank Aaron was. His personal feelings on the matter were irrelevant. The point was his record now belonged to Barry Bonds, and he deserved congratulations for his achievement. Which is exactly what he got from the man he passed.
But it was Aaron's record-breaking homer that was one of the iconic moments in baseball history. He entered the 1974 season with 713 home runs and tied the record in his first at-bat on Opening Day. Four nights later, the Braves played their home opener on national TV. Aaron gave the fans what they came to see in the fourth inning, when he deposited an Al Downing pitch into the Braves bullpen in left field...and he was joined by two of them as he rounded the bases. (Of course, Vin Scully was on the call. Who else would be?)
I'd argue that Hank Aaron is right up there with Jackie Robinson on the list of most influential players in baseball history. He's also one of the first names that comes to mind when coming up with a list of greatest players ever. His numbers back that argument up. So does the fact that the award for the best offensive player in each league is called the "Hank Aaron Award."
Despite being best known for his 755 home runs, Aaron was much more than just a home run hitter. He never hit more than 44 in a season, in fact (pretty ironic, huh?). Aaron was consistent across the board, winning two batting titles and four Gold Gloves. He earned MVP votes in 19 different years, winning the award in 1957, when he led the Braves to their only World Series title in Milwaukee.
His legacy extends far beyond baseball, though. Aaron is revered just as much as a civil rights activist. It was for this work just as much as his baseball career that received both the Presidential Citizens Medal (from Bill Clinton in 2001) and Presidential Medal of Freedom (from George W. Bush in 2002).
Perhaps the greatest testament to Hank Aaron's legacy is how revered he was across the board. He had that aura about him. He's that icon who was just as beloved by players as he was by the fans. When Hank Aaron was at a ballpark, everyone flocked to him. Active players showed so much reverence to a man they've only ever seen play on video. They wanted to just be in Hank Aaron's presence.
It truly is remarkable how everything came full circle for Hank Aaron. He began his career by playing in the Negro Leagues (Aaron was actually the last Negro League player active in the Majors). And, while he didn't exactly suffer the same treatment as Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron was still a Black man playing in the Deep South during the Civil Rights Era, so things couldn't have been easy for him throughout his career (especially during the winter of 1973-74). Yet, in the end, he was one of the most beloved, revered and respected people in the game.
Simply put, there will never be another player like Hank Aaron. He was much more than the guy who broke Babe Ruth's record on that April day nearly 50 years ago. He was one of the greatest ambassadors the game has ever had. And he's a man who deserved all of the love and respect he was shown, even if it took him far too long to get it.
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