Beyond 715: 10 other notable homers hit by Hank Aaron
Hank Aaron hit his most famous home run 50 years ago today, when the Mobile native connected for his 715th career home run to break Babe Ruth’s Major League record.
But Aaron hit 754 other MLB regular-season home runs and six postseason round-trippers during his big-league career. Aaron hit his first MLB home run on April 23, 1954, off Vic Raschi of the St. Louis Cardinals, and he hit his final MLB home run on July 20, 1976, against Dick Drago of the California Angels.
Here are 10 of those other home runs hit by Hammerin’ Hank:
Sept. 23, 1957: The Milwaukee Braves had a five-game lead on the second-place St. Louis Cardinals with six games to play in the 1957 National League season. With the game tied at 2-2 in the bottom of the 11th, Milwaukee shortstop Johnny Logan singled off St. Louis pitcher Billy Muffett. The rookie reliever retired Eddie Mathews for the second out of the inning, but Aaron connected for a home run over the center-field fence at County Stadium to clinch the pennant for the Braves. His teammates carried him off the field, and Aaron later would say the home run was the best moment of his baseball career.
Oct. 6, 1957: This home run didn’t count among Aaron’s 755 because it came in the World Series. Aaron was the National League’s Most Valuable Player after he led the league in home runs and RBIs in 1957. Aaron already had a World Series homer (in Game 3) when he came to bat against Tom Sturdivant at County Stadium with Braves trailing the Yankees 2-1 in the World Series and 1-0 in the fourth inning of Game 4. With two on, Aaron drove a long homer to left field to give the Braves the lead. Milwaukee won the game 7-5 in 10 innings and took the series in seven games. Aaron hit three homers and batted .393 in the series.
June 21, 1959: In the seventh inning against the Giants’ Gordon Jones, Aaron sent a home run deep over the left-field fence at Seals Stadium in San Francisco. The home run was the 19th of the season and 159th of his career for Aaron. But it also was his third two-run homer of the game. The Milwaukee Braves’ 13-3 victory over the Giants was the only game of Aaron’s career in which he hit three home runs. Aaron had connected off Johnny Antonelli in the first inning and Stu Miller in the sixth inning. Aaron came to the plate in the ninth, but Joe Shipley retired the Milwaukee right fielder on a fly ball to center. Aaron hit two home runs in 61 games.
June 18, 1962: Aaron connected for what is considered the longest home run of his career. The hit was only the third to reach the Polo Grounds’ distant center-field bleachers, which were 483 feet from the plate. One of the three was smashed by Milwaukee strongman Joe Adcock, a teammate of Aaron’s since the Mobilian broke into the big leagues. The other had been hit just the previous day by future Hall of Famer Lou Brock. Aaron’s home run came off Jay Hook, already 4-8 on his way to an 8-19 record for the woeful first-year New York Mets. Fellow Mobilian Frank Bolling led off the third inning for the Braves with a game-tying homer and, five batters later, Aaron launched a grand slam in Milwaukee’s 7-1 victory.
July 14, 1968: In the third inning in Atlanta, Aaron cracked a deep home run to center off San Francisco Giants pitcher Mike McCormick with two on to send the Braves on the way to a 4-2 victory. The home run made Aaron the eighth player in Major League history with 500. The 500 Home Run Club has swelled to 28 players since Aaron reached the milestone. Three of the first seven players to reach 500 home runs also were playing in 1968. Willie Mays, who played as a pinch-hitter against the Braves on July 14, had 577 home runs, Mickey Mantle had 529 and Eddie Mathews had 512. Mathews, Aaron’s old teammate with the Braves and future manager in Atlanta, was finishing his career with Detroit Tigers in 1968 and had hit all of his homers. Mantle also was in his final season with the New York Yankees and had seven home runs left in his bat. Mays played into the 1973 season and hit 83 more home runs. Babe Ruth hit 714 home runs from 1914 through 1935, Jimmie Foxx hit 534 home runs from 1925 through 1945, Ted Williams hit 521 home runs from 1939 through 1960 and Mel Ott hit 511 home runs from 1926 through 1947.
Sept. 17, 1969: Major League Baseball expanded in 1969, adding the Montreal Expos and San Diego Padres to the National League and the Seattle Pilots and Kansas City Royals to the American League. The new 12-team leagues were split into divisions, and the Braves were in a dogfight with the San Francisco Giants in the NL West when Aaron led off the top of 12th inning of a 5-5 game against the Los Angeles Dodgers with a home run off reliever Ray Lamb. Atlanta won the game 6-5 to take a one-half-game lead over the Giants, who lost 2-1 to the Houston Astros that day. The victory launched a hot streak during which the Braves won 11 of their final 13 games to finish three games ahead of the Giants in the NL West and advance to the first National League Championship Series.
June 10, 1972: Aaron hit his 10th home run of the season on his way to 34 in 1972. More significantly, the homer was the 649th of Aaron’s career, lifting him past Willie Mays into sole possession of second place on the all-time home run list and symbolically stamping Aaron, and not Mays, as the player hunting Ruth’s record. The homer off Wayne Twitchell was a grand slam in Atlanta’s 15-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies, tying Aaron with Gil Hodges and fellow Mobilian Willie McCovey for the National League grand-slam record, which was 14 at the time.
July 25, 1972: Aaron thrilled 53,107 hometown fans as he homered in the All-Star game at Atlanta Stadium. In one of his record 25 All-Star games, Aaron started in right field and batted third for the National League, behind Willie Mays and in front of Willie Stargell. With the National League trailing 1-0 in the sixth, Aaron hit a two-out, two-run homer off future Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry of the Cleveland Indians. The National League went on to a 4-3 victory, the start of an 11-game winning streak for the NL in the Mid-Summer Classic.
Aug. 6, 1972: Aaron hit the 660th home run of his career off Cincinnati Reds pitcher Wayne Simpson in the fourth inning to break Babe Ruth’s record for the most home runs hit for one team. Ruth had hit 659 homers for the New York Yankees from 1920 through 1934. The Reds were on their way to the National League pennant in 1972, but Aaron pinned a 4-3 loss on them with his second homer of the game — a 10th-inning four-bagger off Don Gullett at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.
Sept. 29, 1973: Aaron hit his 40th and final home run of the 1973 season — a three-run shot off Jerry Reuss in the fifth inning of the Braves’ 7-0 victory over the Houston Astros at Atlanta Stadium. The homer was the 713th of Aaron’s career. When the regular season ended the next day, a winter of waiting, scrutiny and hate mail started for Aaron with Babe Ruth’s career home run record just a couple of good swings of the bat away.
Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.