Hank Aaron

High school

Central High School

Pro team(s)

Milwaukee Braves, Atlanta Braves, Milwaukee Brewers

Hall of Fame

⭐ National Baseball Hall of Fame

Henry Louis "Hank" Aaron was born on February 5, 1934, in Mobile, Alabama, and grew up in the Toulminville neighborhood of Mobile, attending Central High School. He began his professional career in the Negro American League at age 15, playing for the Mobile Black Bears and then the Indianapolis Clowns. The Boston Braves purchased his contract in 1952, and he reached the major leagues with the Milwaukee Braves in 1954 at age 20 — the same year Jackie Robinson had broken baseball's color barrier just seven years earlier. What followed was a 23-year career of almost incomprehensible consistency and excellence. Aaron hit 30 or more home runs in 15 different seasons, was named to 25 All-Star teams, and won three Gold Gloves as a right fielder. He drove in 100 or more runs in 11 seasons. He batted .305 lifetime. He won two batting titles and the 1957 NL MVP award, leading the Milwaukee Braves to the World Series championship over the New York Yankees. But the number that defines him — the number that defined his entire final decade in baseball — is 755. On April 8, 1974, playing for the Atlanta Braves, Henry Aaron hit career home run number 715 off Al Downing of the Los Angeles Dodgers, surpassing Babe Ruth's record of 714. He had spent two years receiving death threats and hate mail from people who did not want a Black man to break the most celebrated record in American sports. He endured it with dignity, class, and courage that went far beyond athletics, and he finished with 755 career home runs — a record that stood until 2007. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982 in his first year of eligibility. Born and raised in Mobile, Alabama.