Hall of Famer and longtime home run king Henry Louis “Hank” Aaron died Friday morning, his daughter confirmed to WSB-TV in Atlanta. The Atlanta Braves legend was 86. His career was marked with incredible accomplishments, including surpassing Babe Ruth’s long-standing home run record.
On the field, few players in history were as skilled at every dimension of the game. Mr. Aaron won three Gold Gloves for his defensive play in the outfield and was deceptively fast, once finishing second in stolen bases in 1963 to the speedster Maury Wills.
Here are the most impressive stats and achievements in Hank Aaron’s career:
Aaron’s combination of home run power and ability to get on base was second to none. He is the only player in the 500 home run club who would still have 3,000 hits without his home runs. Eddie Murray is the only other player who even surpasses 2,500 career hits after taking out his homers.
Hammerin’ Hank’s power didn’t disappear with age. Per Baseball Musings, Aaron hit 203 home runs from 1969-73—his age-35 to age-39 seasons—which was the most of any player over that five-year stretch. He did so with ease too, hitting 18 more homers than the second-highest finisher in that period Willie Stargell.
What allowed Aaron to surpass Babe Ruth was his longevity and consistency as much as his dominance. Aaron never hit more than 50 home runs in a single season and reached 45 just once, in 1971. He hit 30 or more home runs in 14 seasons.
Mr. Aaron, who was sometimes called Henry but was generally known to baseball fans as Hank or “Hammerin’ Hank,” for his long-ball power, grew up in Alabama and never forgot the jeers he received while playing in the South during the days of segregation.
When Mr. Aaron began playing in the minor leagues, it marked the first time that he had shared the field with White players. When the Braves assigned him to a team in Jacksonville, Fla., in the South Atlantic (or Sally) League, he repeatedly heard taunts from White spectators throughout the South–every racial slur in the book, Aaron’s probably heard it.
After he reached the major leagues in Milwaukee in 1954, Mr. Aaron quietly allied himself with the burgeoning civil rights movement. He campaigned for then-Sen. John F. Kennedy (D-Mass.) in Milwaukee in 1960 and was credited with helping the Democratic candidate win the Wisconsin presidential primary.
In 1966, at the height of the civil rights movement, the Braves moved to Atlanta, worrying Mr. Aaron. “I have lived in the South, and I don’t want to live there again,” he said. “We can go anywhere in Milwaukee. I don’t know what would happen in Atlanta.”
He was the biggest star on a team representing the heart of the old South and became as recognizable in Atlanta as another of the city’s residents, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
The man who, more than anyone, embodied baseball greatness on and off the field, may not be here anymore, but his legacy of drive, never settling, and leading by example still lives on.
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