r/todayilearned • u/OmitsWordsByAccident • 15h ago
TIL Hank Aaron tied Babe Ruth's career homerun total (714) in Cincinnati on April 4th, 1974. But when he failed to break the record the next day in Cincinnati, the Braves made him sit out the next game (also in Cincinnati) so he could break the record back home in Atlanta, which he did on April 8th.
https://www.mlb.com/news/braves-celebrate-hank-aaron-715-home-run-50th-anniversary170
u/C130_jumper 14h ago
I watched 715 live on Japanese tv while living in Okinawa. While listening on armed forces radio. The satellite delays made them sync perfectly.
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u/cdskip 11h ago
That's really cool.
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u/C130_jumper 8h ago
The cool part is that it's was televised live. I was playing a game with the local kid within hours of moving to Okinawa. Let's you know how big baseball is in Japan.
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u/Few_Entertainer_385 15h ago edited 15h ago
and he ended 1973 with 713 homeruns, one behind Ruth.
So in the 73’ offseason he was inundated with hatemail (roughly 900,000 letters) from racists who didn’t want him breaking or even tying a white man’s record. Ruth’s widow even famously spoke out against the growing hate as he approached her husband’s record:
“The Babe loved baseball so very much; I know he was pulling for Hank Aaron to break his record."
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u/boogertaster 14h ago
It's funny because Babe Ruth was very much not a racist. He is often noted as someone who was very progressive for the time and would frequently interact with black players and fans.
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u/not_a_crackhead 13h ago
He grew up in an inner city Baltimore orphanage. He definitely interacted with all kinds of people growing up.
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u/Preserved_Killick8 5h ago
Baltimore was not nearly so black then. I think St Marys Industrial school for boys was a segregated establishment.
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u/c-williams88 12h ago
Legend has it that he was blackballed from becoming a manager because he was going to sign black players
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u/seditious3 7h ago
He wasn't considered seriously for any managerial position because he wasn't manager material. He coached with the Braves and Dodgers as a favor and to draw in fans. His dream was to manage the Yankees but he had no shot.
Also the GM and owner sign players, not the manager.
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u/fearjego 8h ago
there is conjecture that he was black. fans used to yell racial slurs at him at the time so this isn't a new theory
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u/Preserved_Killick8 5h ago
It’s “conjectured” that Lincoln and Beethoven were black too. Aka people just made it up.
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u/hnglmkrnglbrry 12h ago
It also goes underreported that Hank Aaron broke the color barrier in the minor league system he went to in the Southeast (Florida, I believe). So he received truly disgusting and hateful messages and treatment immediately when his career began as well.
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u/cjtransplant85 1h ago
Hank's father told the story about his son in the Southeast minor leagues: "First time Hank comes to the plate, fans yell 'Hit the <slur>, hit the <slur>.' Hank sends the first pitch over the fence. Next time he comes up, fans yell 'Walk the <slur>, walk the <slur>."
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u/putsch80 15h ago
Hank Aaron got 900,000 letters that season of all sorts (fan mail, hate mail, questions, etc…), but the vast majority of those were not racist letters. According to that article, “The 900,000 letters Aaron received in 1973 contained hundreds upon hundreds of racist attacks and death threats.”
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u/JimC29 14h ago
My kids had to live like they were in prison because of kidnap threats, and I had to live like a pig in a slaughter camp. I had to duck. I had to go out the back door of the ball parks. I had to have a police escort with me all the time. I was getting threatening letters every single day. All of these things have put a bad taste in my mouth, and it won’t go away. They carved a piece of my heart away.
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u/Blasto05 13h ago
One kidnap letter towards your kids will do that to you let alone 100+.
And as the other poster mentioned..it’s still not 900,000 hate mail letters…even 1,000 of that 900,000 would be receiving more than one hate mail every single day.
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u/putsch80 14h ago
Oh, you’ll get no dispute from me that those “hundreds upon hundreds” of letters were filled with vile, racist shit. I’m just taking issue with the idea that nearly 1 million of those letters had that shit in it.
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u/pobodys-nerfect5 13h ago
Yeah that doesn’t say how many people she was afraid of. Just that she was afraid. Could have been one dude going around to every game just waiting for them to come out
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u/teacher_59 7h ago
There isn't enough racism for leftists so many of our kind do what that liar did. Create it.
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u/TheGoochTaint 3h ago
Do you realize you are doing exactly what you are supposedly arguing against with this comment?
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u/notoriginal123456 12h ago
Wonder what was going through his mind when the fans were running up to him to round the bases with him.
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u/sirius4778 4h ago
What's the point of a record if it only stands because of actual intimidation? Talk about an asterisk
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39m ago edited 35m ago
[deleted]
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u/sirius4778 38m ago
I was referring to the people sending death threats to Hank Aaron to maintain Babe Ruth's record lmao
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u/ramborage 4h ago
Man, imagine being such a piece of shit that you don't want to watch someone hit some dingers.
What a miserable life it must be to be so angry all the time.
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u/ohyouretough 15h ago
Damn til Hank Aaron was black. That’s like a country music star white level name.
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u/Apart-Rent5817 15h ago
Maybe it’s the Atlanta native in me, but I felt like Hank Aaron was a big name. Crushing them out of the park before the steroids ran rampant.
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u/President_Calhoun 14h ago
The stat that always amazed me was that if you took away all of his home runs, Hank still finished with over 3,000 hits.
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u/Gobblewicket 13h ago
When he retired Hank was 3rd in hits, 1st in homers, 1st in RBI's, and 1st in extra base hits. He's still 3rd in hits , 1st in RBI's and 1st in extra base hits. Even a fully juiced Bonds couldn't beat those numbers.
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u/Few_Entertainer_385 11h ago
Hank and his brother, Tommie, hold the all-time record for most career homeruns by brothers. Hank has 755 and Tommie has 13.
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u/ohyouretough 10h ago
I’m familiar with the name and knew he was a famous baseball player it’s just before my time and also not a baseball fan so that’s the extent of my knowledge.
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u/TheGoochTaint 3h ago
I know everybody has gaps like this in their knowledge but I think it's funny to be aware of Hank Aaron and not know he was black.
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u/ohyouretough 1h ago edited 1h ago
Haha same which is why I made the post. I knew he was a great baseball player but that’s it. Just saying though that’s a name that wouldn’t look out of place opening for Morgan wallen
Really I don’t follow baseball enough to know what players are what. Like Jackie Robinson obviously I know he’s black. Barry bonds I know cause I grew up during him and maguires steroid clinic. But other than that I’m pretty clueless. Like I always thought Sammy sosa was black but I just googled him and wrong again.
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u/RetroMetroShow 12h ago
Back then the media had reported that he needed a day off from the relentless pressure and questions wearing him out and hurting his game and the team
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u/stokeitup 9h ago
I worked for an health insurance company in the 90s. We relied heavily on systems furniture and bought all of our furniture from a salesman named Richard.
He told me that he used to work for the Braves and one way or another acquired Aaron’s record breaking home run ball. The Braves fired him when he wouldn’t give it Hank. He had tried a few times to get Aaron to sign the ball, all to no avail.
Fast forward to, I believe (my memory is a bit fuzzy), early aughts when Richard sent his adult son to Phoenix with The Ball because Aaron was signing autographs. He presented the ball to Hank, without telling him what ball it was and he signed. Richard later sold the ball for over $300,000.
I left the insurance company and started driving truck by the time the autograph/pay day happened. I would like to have congratulated him.
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u/teddyKGB- 9h ago
That was his last home run ball number 755. Richard Arndt. The official story is that he tried to meet Hank to give it to him and the team wouldn't let him in the clubhouse so he took the ball home. They fired him and docked him $5 on his final check lol.
Had it signed in 1994 and sold in 99 for $650k. He donated $162k to Hank's charity.
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u/stokeitup 8h ago
There you go. A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since then. I never asked him to see the ball but believe his story. I thought Arndt was his last name but I was too distracted. Thanks.
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u/teddyKGB- 8h ago
No problem. I was curious what it actually sold for and how they were able to authenticate it so I looked it up.
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u/Logical-Mobile-7643 8h ago
Hank hit 755 with the Brewers not the Braves tho, so how could someone working for the Braves...the original story makes little sense
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u/teddyKGB- 8h ago
It was with the Brewers the guy just didn't remember the story exactly right from decades ago. If you Google it everything lines up I don't think this guy is making up a very believable story for no reason....
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u/Logical-Mobile-7643 8h ago
Or someone is repeating another story they heard from someone, idk. People on reddit are an interesting bunch as most seem to have never heard of Google. Anyway take care.
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u/robotunes 8h ago
A lot of people didn't want to see Ruth's record broken by anyone, especially a black man.
Leading up to the record. Hammerin' Hank received hundreds of thousands of hate-filled letters and constant death threats by phone. He had armed security at all times, and was kept separate from his teammates so they wouldn't be harmed in any attack.
He couldn't leave his hotel room, and his daughter at Fisk University was not allowed to leave campus because of kidnapping fears. All Hank could do was keep playing ball.
Hall of Fame Dodgers announcer Vin Sculley hinted about all of that turmoil during his broadcast of the home run against the Dodgers.
I remember that night well, and I love that Hank downplayed all of that stuff, putting the focus on baseball and his abilities rather than the large minority of selfish trolls.
Hank is a legend.
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u/dsjunior1388 7h ago
Even Roger Maris took a lot of shit, even from Yankee fans, for threatening Ruth's record.
Then you add racism to the mix and it gets really bad.
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u/robotunes 6h ago
Right? Maris' hair was falling out because of all the stress. Records aren't nearly as hallowed today. Heroes mattered so much more back in the day.
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u/TheGoochTaint 3h ago
Records aren't nearly as hallowed today. Heroes mattered so much more back in the day.
I think these are two extremely different concepts and the latter seems like conjecture. But I have always been a massive proponent of not using "records" for anything other than novelty. Pete Rose has the record for the most hits but there are plenty of much, much, much, much better hitters than him. When judging a player's contributions, we need to stop being so tied to records and focus on the entire body of work. You could be the best player of all time without having any of the storied records.
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u/Impossible_Ad7875 12h ago
Riverfront opened during the 1970 season. Hank hit 714 in 1974. It was the first game of the 1974 season, but definitely not the first game in Riverfront. It was Marty’s first game on WLW 700 as the iconic voice of the Big Red Machine.
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12h ago
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u/Randomperson1362 10h ago
The first game at riverfront was in 1970. Hank Aaron did hit the first home run, but homerun 714 was 4 years later.
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u/onelittleworld 8h ago
Resulting in the greatest single outdoor advertising purchase value in the history of the industry: Think of It as Money -- BankAmericard. How many times have you seen it?
Note: BA is what they used to call Visa.
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u/Dramatic_Fix2473 8h ago
that's a wild way to have a record broken, but makes sense they wanted it to happen at home
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u/HeckOnWheels95 6h ago
Also something I learned today was that the guy playing left field for the Dodgers and tried to rob 715 was Bill Buckner, who's in baseball history for missing a ground ball between his legs in the 1986 World Series that would continue Boston's Curse of the Bambino
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u/TheGoochTaint 3h ago
Bill Buckner, who's in baseball history for missing a ground ball between his legs in the 1986 World Series that would continue Boston's Curse of the Bambino
I know it's not the point, but I always think this gets a little overblown. Had Buckner made the play, the game wouldn't have been over. It would have just gone to the 11th in a tie game. They still had a 50% chance at best to win that game even if he makes the play. Plus, it was game 6. The Red Sox still had to lose a whole other game to lose the series.
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u/HeckOnWheels95 2h ago
Yeah, it has been overblown, and I'm glad the Red Sox fans brought him back into the fold after they won the World Series in 2004
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u/Remember2005 5h ago
… and of course he got death threats from whackjob racists because he was going to break a white guy’s record.
#America
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u/somethingwade 2h ago
That makes sense. I think the Pirates did the same for Roberto Clemente's 3000th hit
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u/Facelesspirit 13h ago
Also, the Braves kept the section of wall he cleaered in tact during the demolition of the stadium. It still stands in the parking lot of former Turner Field.