Hank Aaron "Hammerin' Hank"

Hank Aaron passed away on January 22nd at the age of eighty-six. He was named to the All-Star team all but two of his playing seasons, the first, which he won the rookie of the year award, and his last. He holds the major league records for runs batted (2,297) and total bases (6,856).

Aaron’s WAR total is a staggering 143.1 placing him fifth on the career leaders list. Aaron’s career WAR total is greater than the WAR totals of Hall of Famers Ken Griffey Jr. and Willie Stargell combined to put it in perspective. Aaron was awarded the President’s Citizens Medal by Bill Clinton and the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George W. Bush.

The moment Hank Aaron is best remembered for is passing Babe Ruth to become baseball’s home run leader in 1974. A couple of things stand out when watching the video that we’ve all probably seen dozens of times. The first is the two young men running behind Aaron and patting him on the back. Britt Gaston and Cliff Courtenay were teenagers at the time and ended up spending several hours in jail, charged with disorderly conduct and trespassing, before Gaston’s father bailed them out of jail on $100 bonds. The charges were later dropped, and in 2010, at Aaron’s request, the two were invited to meet with him for about an hour at Turner Field.

Britt Gaston had this to say about Aaron after meeting him, “He’s just an unbelievable guy. He’s a true gentleman in every sense of the word, and it was great to finally sit down and have a conversation with him. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of current players who would have taken the time to do what he did with me and Cliff. The Atlanta Braves and Hank were just fantastic.”

The other moment occurs during the celebration at home plate with Aaron’s teammates surrounding him. You can see a guy in a light tan trench coat mixed in among the players. That was a young Craig Sager, early in his career as a sportscaster. If you are a fan of basketball, you’ve probably seen Sager in an array of outlandish sport jackets he would wear during player interviews. Sager managed to get past security and be the first to interview Aaron with a tape recorder after the record-breaking home run. The recording now plays on a loop at an exhibit in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

With the Cleveland Indians committed to change their team name, there is speculation that the Atlanta Braves will likely be the next team to change theirs. A few opinion articles written in recent days have suggested that the Braves change their name to the Atlanta Hammers in honor of Hank Aaron. I hope it happens and think it would be a fitting tribute to one of baseball’s greatest players.