Henry Aaron by the Numbers
Hugh Atkins
February 5 is practically a holiday in the Atkins household; it’s Henry Aaron’s birthday.
Henry Louis Aaron was born in Mobile, Ala. in 1934. He went on to hold more major league batting records than any other player in the history of the game.
In honor of his birthday, I’ve put together the following list to highlight some of his accomplishments. Aaron wore uniform number 44. So for each number, beginning with 1 and going through 44, I’ve given a significant fact in Aaron’s career associated with the number. Here goes:
|
1 |
Number of Most Valuable Player Awards. |
|
2 |
Number of times he led the National League in batting average. |
|
3 |
Number of Gold Glove Awards. |
|
4 |
Number of seasons he led the National League in home runs. |
|
5 |
Uniform number in his rookie season (1954). |
|
6 |
Total number of games missed 1957-1963. |
|
7 |
Number of games played at third base in his career. |
|
8 |
Number of seasons with 40 or more home runs. |
|
9 |
Number of hits in the 1958 World Series. |
|
10 |
Number of home runs in his final season. |
|
11 |
Number of seasons with 100-plus R.B.I.s. |
|
12 |
Number of seasons with the Milwaukee Braves. |
|
13 |
Number of home runs hit by his brother, Tommie. Together they combined to hit the most home runs by brothers – 768. |
|
14 |
Number of seasons in which he hit at least .300. |
|
15 |
Number of seasons with at least 100 runs scored. |
|
16 |
Number of grandslams. |
|
17 |
Number of home runs hit off Hall of Fame pitcher, Don Drysdale. |
|
18 |
Uniform number of his brother, Tommie. |
|
19 |
Age at which he was Most Valuable Player of the Sally League. |
|
20 |
Number of consecutive seasons with 20 or more home runs (1955-1974). |
|
21 |
Uniform number of Hall of Fame pitcher and teammate, Warren Spahn. |
|
22 |
Number of home runs Babe Ruth hit the year Aaron was born. |
|
23 |
Number of major league seasons. |
|
24 |
Number of All-Star Games played (they played two games from 1959-1962). |
|
25 |
Age at which he hit a career-high .355. |
|
26 |
Number of home runs in 1956. |
|
27 |
Number of home runs in his first complete season. |
|
28 |
Number of walks in his rookie season. |
|
29 |
Number of homer runs in 1968, the Year of the Pitcher. |
|
30 |
Number of home runs the year I was born. |
|
31 |
Number of stolen bases in 1963, making him the third player in baseball history to hit 30 homers and steal 30 bases in the same season. |
|
32 |
Number of home runs in 1965, his last season in Milwaukee. |
|
33 |
Average number of home runs per season for his career. |
|
34 |
Number of home runs in baseball’s first strike-shortened season (1972). |
|
35 |
Uniform number of Hall of Fame teammate, Phil Niekro. |
|
36 |
Uniform number of Hall of Fame pitcher, Gaylord Perry, Aaron’s victim for home run number 600. |
|
37 |
Age at which he hit a career-high 47 home runs. |
|
38 |
Number of home runs in 1970. |
|
39 |
Age Babe Ruth turned the day after Aaron was born. |
|
40 |
Number of home runs he hit in 1973, joining Dave Johnson (43) and Darrell Evans (41) as the first three teammates to hit 40 or more homers in the same season. |
|
41 |
Uniform number of Hall of Famer, Ed Mathews, who combined with Aaron to hit a record 863 home runs as teammates. |
|
42 |
Number of home runs he hit after turning 40. |
|
43 |
Number of games he played at second base in his career. |
|
44 |
Number of home runs he hit in four separate seasons (1957, 1963, 1966, 1969). |
- Hugh and Sean
Maybe some of these numbers are not very significant, but it is an impressive and fun list nonetheless. I’ll leave you with two more impressive numbers: Aaron drove in 2,297 runs, the most in major league history and he hit 755 home runs without the aid of performance-enhancing drugs, which is also the most in major league history.
That’s 1 dead horse I’ll stop beating one of these days; but I don’t see it happening anytime soon.
CheapHill44 
Great story! Can’t hear enough about Hammerin’ Hank!
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Thanks. Hope you are getting settled in down at City Hall. I saw Billy Sexton the other day and he said he has already called to harass you.
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