On August 18, 1973, Hank Aaron records career extra base hit
1,378 surpassing St. Louis Cardinals great Stan Musial’s record.
Aaron would go on to record 1,477 extra base hits. Only he
and former San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds have surpassed Musial’s
total. However, Aaron still has the most extra bas hits as Bonds finished his
career with 1,440.
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 through
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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