Hank Aaron Biography

Baseball player.Born Henry Louis Aaron on February 5, 1934 in Mobile, Alabama.

Formerly baseball's all-time home-run king, Aaron played 23 years as an outfielder for the Milwaukee (later Atlanta) Braves and Milwaukee Brewers (1954–76). He holds many of baseball's most distinguished records, including runs batted in (2,297), extra base hits (1,477), total bases (6,856) and most years with 30 or more home runs (15). He is also in the top five for career hits and runs.

Aaron also had the record for most career home runs (755) until Barry Bonds broke it with his 756th home run on August 7, 2007, in San Francisco.

Breaking Babe Ruth's record of 714 career home runs, was both a triumph and a trial for Aaron. He was besieged by the media and badgered by racist letter-writers who resented him breaking Ruth's record.

A complete player whose skills were never fully appreciated until he broke the record in 1974, he was voted the National League's Most Valuable Player only once (1957).

After retiring as a player, Aaron moved into the Atlanta Braves front office as executive vice-president, where he has been a leading spokesman for minority hiring in baseball. He was elected to baseball's Hall of Fame in 1982. His autobiography, I Had a Hammer, was published in 1990.

In 1999, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of breaking Ruth's record, Major League Baseball announced the Hank Aaron Award, given annually to the best overall hitter in each league.

Hank Aaron was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2002.

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