Hank Aaron Broke Babe Ruth’s Home Run Record In 1974
To a lot of us long time baseball fans Hank Aaron is the Home Run King. I know, I know, that Bonds guy. Well, there's a ton of baggage there that needs to be cleaned up. In the meantime...
There are magic numbers in baseball like no other sports. Part of the long, rich tradition of 'America's Pasttime' are numbers. I'll bet you know most of them.
300. If you hit it, you're a super star. If you win that many, you're a Hall of Famer.
3,000. Strike out that many, you've become a magical name.
56. Hit in that many straight games and ....well....you're Joe DiMaggio.
60. Babe's single season home run mark (again, I know, I know, but still...).
61. Here comes Mr. Maris. Wow!
714. Babe Ruth's unattainable home run record.
And then there's 715.
Hank Aaron broke the Babe's career mark in April of 1974. Al Downing will forever be the trivia answer to that question 'So who was pitching when...'?
Hammerin' Hank didn't just have the pressure of reaching and moving past Babe in that career home run chase. He laso had the racist and biggots to deal with. Death threats? They were constant. A lot of idiot's back in the day didn't think a black man should pass a white man in this 'unattainable' record. But he did. And here he is doing it.
Oh, one more magic number?
755. Hank ended up with that many career homer's, the all time record.
Yeah, I know....I know....