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Background:
“I have always felt that although someone may defeat me, and I strike out in a
ball game, the pitcher on the particular day was the best player. But I know
when I see him again, I’m going to be ready for his curve ball. Failure is a
part of success.” Hank Aaron
Baseball’s all-time home run king, Hank Aaron is became famous for setting the
Major League record for most home runs in a career (755), beating the previous
mark of 714 by Babe Ruth. During an impressive 23-year career on the Major
League, he had won one World Series ring with the Braves in 1957, the National
League Most Valuable Player Award the same year, and received three Gold Glove
Awards. A member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, Aaron also holds the career marks
for RBI (2,297), extra base hits (1,477) and total bases (6,856).
Hank Aaron was once ranked number 5 on The Sporting News’ list of “the 100
Greatest Baseball Players”, and was chosen to the Major League Baseball
All-Century Team. He published an autobiography titled “I Had a Hammer” in 1990.
He has Hank Aaron BMW of south Atlanta where every car is sold with an
autographed baseball. As for his private life, Aaron is married to Billye
Williams and has one child with her. He also becomes the father of four more
children from his previous marriage with Barbara Lucas (together from
1953-1971).
The Hammer
Childhood and Family:
On February 5, 1934, Henry Louis Aaron was born in a part of Mobile, Alabama
called Down The Bay. Raised in a poor area of town populated mostly by
minorities, Henry and his family later moved to a better part Mobile called
Toulminville, in which he attended school. He was educated at Central High
School and spent his last two years of high school at a private school,
Josephine Allen Institute. At school, Henry developed a passion for sports and
was excelled in football and baseball. He even helped the Central High School
baseball team to win the Negro High School Championship two years running.
Henry Aaron, whose nicknames are Hammerin’ Hank, The New Sultan of Swat, and The
Hammer, has been married twice. He first tied the knot with Barbara Lucas in
1953 and has four children with her. After a 18-year of marriage, however, Henry
divorced his wife, and remarried two years later, this time with Billye
Williams. Henry currently lives with wife Williams, with whom he has one more
child.
Atlanta Braves
Career:
Henry Aaron began playing baseball at high school as a shortstop and third base
for the Central High School team. Also an excellent hitter, he gave significant
contribution for his team until their won the Negro High School Championship two
years running. Aaron was so talented a ballplayer at this young age that by the
time he was 15, he had participated in a semi-pro team called the Pritchett
Athletics and later played with the semi-pro Mobile Black Bears. Two years
later, he was spotted by Syd Pollock, the owner of a professional Negro League
baseball team, and briefly joined the Indianapolis Clowns after high school
graduation. Aaron’s career instantly took off after helping lead the Crowns to
success in the 1952 Negro League World Series.
Aaron attracted the interest of many Major League Baseball teams immediately. In
1952, he signed with the Milwaukee Braves (now Atlanta Braves) and played at
their minor league teams. He played a second base at the Braves’ Class C farm
club, the Eau Claire Bears, in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and got two line drive
singles in his first game and ended the season batting 326. With the impressive
performance, Aaron took home the Northern League’s Rookie of the Year. Next up
for Aaron, he was promoted to the Class A Southern League for the 1953 season.
Despite continuing non-stop racial epithets and threats, he led the league in
runs (115), hits (208), doubles (36), RBI (115), and batting average (.362) to
become the league’s Most Valuable Player.
Following the huge victory, Aaron made his major league debut in 1954 with the
Braves and gave immediate contributions to the team in runs batted in and home
runs. For the next 23 years, he tackled the Major League pitchers. He won
National League batting titles in 1956, and a year later, he picked up his only
National League MVP Award. Also in 1957, he led the Braves to a World Series
Title.
The recipient of three Gold Gloves, Aaron became the subject of strong media
scrutiny in 1973-74 when he approached Babe Ruth’s sacred home run record. He
earned more than 10,000 letters (most of them abhorrence mail and even death
threats) from people who did not want to see a black man break Ruth’s home run
record. Ever the ultimate professional and gentleman, he discounted the insults
and slurs and went about the opening season in 1974. On April 1974, he hit his
715th home run, breaking Ruth’s record and in doing so, the never-ending support
of the fans.
The ballplayer finished his career with 755 home runs, 2297 runs batted in
(RBI’s), 6856 total bases, 1477 extra base hits, and times at bat (12,364), all
Major League Baseball records. He retired after the 1976 season and then served
as the Atlanta Braves’ director of player development while also supporting in
numerous charitable organizations. In 1982, he was elected to baseball’s Hall of
Fame, and now works in the front office for the Atlanta Braves as their vice
president of player operations.
Awards:
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