On July 14, 1968, Atlanta Braves Hall of Famer Hank Aaron
hits career home run 500 off of Giants pitcher Mike McCormick.
The “500 Club” for players with 500 or more home runs was a
very exclusive club when Aaron joined in 1968, being host to only a few members
including Babe Ruth (1929), Jimmie Foxx (1940), Mel Ott (1945), Ted Williams
(196), Willie Mays (1965), Mickey Mantle (May 14, 1967) and Eddie Matthews
(July 14, 1967).
Aaron hit career home run 500 exactly one year to the day
that Matthews did, marking the first and only time two players had hit their
career home run 500 on the same day in different years.
Henry
Aaron also known as "Hammerin' Hank Aaron," is a retired American baseball right fielder that played
23 seasons in Major League
Baseball (MLB) from 1954 through 1976. Aaron spent 21 seasons with
the Milwaukee and
Atlanta Braves in the National League (NL)
before playing for the Milwaukee
Brewers of the American
League (AL) for the final two years of his career. Aaron is
considered to be one of the greatest baseball players of all time. In 1999, The Sporting News ranked
Aaron fifth on their "100 Greatest Baseball Players" list.
After
playing with the Indianapolis
Clowns of the Negro
American League and in the minor leagues,
Aaron started his major league career in 1954. In his final season, he was the
last Negro League baseball player on a major league roster.
His most notable achievement was breaking the career home run record set by Babe Ruth. During his
career, Aaron performed at a consistently high level for an extended period of
time. He hit 24 or more home runs every year from 1955 through 1973, and is the
only player to hit 30 or more home runs in a season at least fifteen times.
Aaron made the All-Star
team every year from 1955 to 1975 and won three Gold Glove Awards. In
1957, he won the NL Most Valuable
Player (MVP) Award, while that same year, the Braves won the World Series.
Aaron's consistency helped him to establish a number of
important hitting
records. He holds the MLB records for the most career runs batted in (RBIs)
(2,297), the most career extra base
hits (1,477), and the most career total bases (6,856).
Aaron is also in the top five for career hits with 3,771 (third),
behind only Detroit Tigers Ty Cobb (4,191) and Cincinnati Reds Pete Rose
(4,256) and runs
with 2,174, which is tied for fourth with Babe Ruth, and only behind San
Francisco Giants Barry Bonds (2,227), Cobb (2,246) and Oakland Athletics Rickey
Henderson (2,295).
Aaron is one of only four players to have at least seventeen
seasons with 150 or more hits, the other three are New York Yankees Derek
Jeter, Rose and Cobb.
He also is in second place in home runs (755), to Bonds
(762) and at-bats
(12,364) to Rose (14,053) and in third place in games played (3,298), behind
only Red Sox Carl Yastrzemski (3,308) and Rose (3,562). At the time of his
retirement, Aaron held most of the game's key career power hitting records
outright, including most total bases with 6,856, most RBI’s with 2,297,
extra-base hits 1,477.
Aaron is also the only player with 700 home runs and 3,000
hits, and one of only two players with 600 home runs and 3,000 hits, the other
being Willie Mays. He is also one of only four players with 500 home runs and
3,000 hits, the others being Mays, Eddie Murray and Rafael Palmeiro.
Aaron finished his career with .305 batting average, 25
All-Star game appearances, and two NL Batting titles in 1956 and 1959, and was
a four-time NL home run champ in 1957, 1963, 1966-1967.
The Atlanta Braves and Milwaukee Brewers retired his no. 44
jersey. He was named to Major League Baseball All-Century Team in 1999.
Aaron was inducted into the Cooperstown Baseball’s Hall of
Fame in 1982, on the first ballot in which he appeared, with 97.83 percent of
the vote.
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