Hank Aaron, who played major league baseball from 1954 to 1976, and who held the major league career home run record, has died at age 86. No cause of death has yet been disclosed, but he reportedly died while asleep. One source below mentions a stroke, but this has not yet been confirmed.
Henry Louis Aaron was born in Mobile, Alabama to Herbert Aaron Sr. and the former Estella Pritchett, and had seven siblings. His high school did not have a baseball team, so he played for the semi-pro Mobile Black Bears while still a teenager. In 1951, Aaron played with the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro American League, after which he received offers from the New York Giants and the Boston Braves. He accepted the latter because it offered a slightly higher salary. The Braves assigned him to the Eau Claire Bears of the Northern League, where he won Rookie of the Year honors. He was promoted to the Jacksonville Braves of the South Atlantic League in 1953, where he became the league's Most Valuable Player. He joined the major league Braves, who had moved to Milwaukee, in 1954. He endured racism during his early career, and again later while closing in on Babe Ruth's career home run record.
In 1955, Aaron had a good enough season to be named to the National League All-Star team, the first of 21 such selections. He won his only major league Most Valuable Player award in 1957, and three straight Gold Gloves from 1958 to 1960. In 1963, he became the third player to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases in a single season. After the Braves moved to Atlanta ahead of the 1966 season, Aaron hit his 500th career home run in 1968 and his 3,000th career hit in 1970. He hit his 600th home run in 1971 and finished the 1973 season with 713 home runs, one shy of Babe Ruth's record. In April 1974, he tied and then surpassed Ruth, eventually finishing the 1974 season with a career total of 733. He played for the Milwaukee Brewers in 1975 and 1976, ending his career with a total of 755 home runs. He also amassed career totals of 2,297 runs batted in, 1,477 extra base hits, and 6,856 total bases, all of which are still major league records.
After retiring as a player, Aaron rejoined the braves as an executive, eventually becoming a senior vice president. He was inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame in 1982, the first year he became eligible.
Hank Aaron married Barbara Lucas in 1953. They had five children before divorcing in 1971. He married Billye Suber Williams in 1973 and had one child with her. His brother Tommie Aaron also played for the Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves between 1962 and 1971.
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On a personal note, yours truly got to see Hank Aaron play twice, in 1971 in Atlanta against the San Francisco Giants, and in 1973 in Cincinnati against the Reds.
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