“I always thought  
that record would  
stand until it  
was broken.”   
Yogi Berra

After yesterday’s blog post, I thought I’d write about something a little lighter today.

On August 6, 1972, just two months after I graduated from high school, Hank Aaron, of the Atlanta Braves, beat Babe Ruth’s record for the most home runs with a single team. On that date, he hit his 660th and 661st home runs in a game against the Cincinnati Reds at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Aaron’s second home run of the night came in the top of the 10th inning to break a 3-3 tie. The Braves shut down the Reds in the bottom of the 10th to secure the victory.

Aaron put together one of the greatest careers in baseball history. He hit a total of 755 home runs, a record which stood for over 33 years. He holds the all-time records for runs batted in (2,297), total bases (6,856), and extra base hits (1,477). He was the first player in Major League history to record both 3,000 hits and 500 home runs. Aaron finished his career with 3,771 hits, ranking third all-time.

In recognition of his consistent excellence, Aaron was selected to the All Star Game every year from 1955 to 1975. His .305 career batting average puts him among the elite in MLB history.

In his retirement years, Aaron was known to play a lot of golf, which led him to share this thought about the difference between baseball and golf: “It took me seventeen years to get 3,000 hits in baseball. It took one afternoon on the golf course.”

Gotta love that guy! Aaron died on January 22, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia.