The Field of Dreams gained another Hall of Famer today as legendary home run hitter and former home run king, Hank Aaron, passed away this morning at the ae of 86. In a statement, the Atlanta Braves stated that he passed away peacefully in his sleep.
It continues the painful trend of baseball legends passing away over the past calendar year. Other notable players include Don Sutton, Phil Niekro, Joe Morgan, Bob Gibson, Tom Seaver, Whitey Ford, Lou Brock and Al Kaline.
Hank Aaron is most well-known for breaking Babe Ruth’s record of 714 home runs in 1974. He continued to add to his record and retired with 755. That record stood until Barry Bonds surpassed it in 2007, meaning the record stood for 33 years despite the power surge across the game. Due to Bonds’ connection to performance-enhancing substances, many consider Aaron’s record to be the real record.
What makes Aaron’s accomplishments even more amazing is that if you subtract his 755 home runs, he still eclipsed 3,000 career hits. This proves how well-rounded of a hitter he was. He drove in an MLB record 2,297 runs, compiled a .928 OPS and scored 2,174 runs with a .305 AVG. He played in a record 25 All Star games, won the 1957 World Series and MVP, won 3 Gold Gloves, 2 batting titles and compiled 143.1 career WAR.
Between 1955 and 1973, he never finished below 17th in MVP voting, never slugged below .514 or hit fewer than 24 home runs. Additionally, he was able to perform these feats in the deep south while dealing with hateful racism and constant death threats.
He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1982 with 97.8 % of the vote which is amongst the highest of all-time.
Rest in peace to Hammerin’ Hank.
