On April 8, 1974 – 50 years ago today – Mobile native Hank Aaron hit a home run for the Atlanta Braves that reverberated around the world.

The home run was the 715th of Aaron’s Major League career, giving him more home runs than any player in baseball history – one more than the hallowed record of Babe Ruth.

Aaron described the historic homer in his autobiography, “I Had a Hammer.” The photographs that follow are accompanied by his words from the book:

“I knew all along I wouldn’t break the record against a rookie pitcher, because a rookie would be scared to come at me. It had to be a pitcher with some confidence and nerve – a solid veteran like (Al) Downing.”

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“(Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Al) Downing rubbed it up and then threw his slider low and down the middle, which was not where he wanted it but which was fine with me. I hit it squarely, although not well enough that I knew that it was gone.”

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“I used to say that I never saw one of my home runs land, but when I see photographs or films of myself hitting home runs, I’m always looking out toward left field. I never realized I was doing it, though, and I still don’t think I was watching to see the ball go over the fence. I think it was just a matter of following the ball with my eyes. From the time the pitcher gripped it, I was focused on the ball.”

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“I’m not sure I hit that ball hard enough for it to go out. I don’t know – maybe I did, but I was so keyed up that I couldn’t feel it. Anyway, something carried the ball into the bullpen.”

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“About the time I got to first base, I realized that I was the all-time home run king of baseball. Steve Garvey, the Dodgers’ first baseman, shook my hand as I passed first.”

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“I was in my own little world at the time. It was like running in a bubble and I could see all these people jumping up and down and waving their arms in slow motion.”

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“I was told I had a big smile on my face as I came around third. I purposely never smiled as I ran the bases after a home run, but I supposed I couldn’t help it that time.”

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“As I ran in toward home, Ralph Garr grabbed my leg and tried to plant it on the plate, screaming, ‘Touch it, Supe! Just touch it!’ As soon as I did, Ralph and Darrell and Eddie and everybody mobbed me.”

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“Somehow, my mother managed to make it through and put a bearhug on me. Good Lord, I didn’t know Mama was that strong; I thought she was going to squeeze the live out of me.”

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“Tom House, a young relief pitcher, came sprinting in with the ball. He had caught it in the bullpen and he wasn’t about to give it up to anybody but me. When he got to me, he stuck it in my hand and said, ‘Hammer, here it is!’”

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“Then they stopped the game for a little ceremony, and I stepped up to the microphone and said exactly what I felt, “Thank God it’s over.’”

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“After the party in the clubhouse, there was one more press conference. It was a happier one this time, except that the reporters had to ask me about (baseball commissioner) Bowie Kuhn’s absence, and I had to tell them what I thought about it.”

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“When I was alone and the door was shut, I got down on my knees and closed my eyes and thanked God for pulling me through. At that moment, I knew what the past 25 years of my life had been all about. I had done something that nobody else in the world had ever done, and with it came a feeling nobody else has ever had – not exactly anyway. I didn’t feel a wild sense of joy. I didn’t feel like celebrating. But I probably felt closer to God at that moment than at any other time in my life. I felt a deep sense of gratitude and a wonderful surge of liberation all at the same time. I also felt a stream of tears running down my face.”

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“I didn’t realize – there was no way I could – how completely different everything would be from that moment on. They say life begins at 40; well, for me, it began all over again at 40 years, two months and three days. I would never again be just another ballplayer who went to the park, took his times at bat, showered and went home. I was no longer Henry Aaron of Mobile, Alabama – husband, father, private person, outfielder, fastball hitter, fish eater, blues fan; I was the Home Run King.”

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“If the home run record gives me more power to inspire children – and I know that it does – then the ordeal was worth every moment of sleep I lost and every hurt I felt from every hate letter. I believe that I am a very lucky man to be able to influence children, because I happen to love children, and there is nothing that would make me happier.”

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.