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Mobile Ala. saw the birth of Hammering Hank Aaron on Feb. 5, 1934. Though unorthodox, his batting as a high school player was already outstanding. He then played third base.
He was bought by the Braves in 1952 after playing briefly in the Negro League in Indianapolis. He was a stellar hitter in 1953 for Jacksonville where he was moved to second base. Though he had to suffer the southern racism of the times his hitting gave Jacksonville the pennant that year and Hank Aaron was MVP not of his team but of the entire league. Small wonder, he had the best title in most every aspect of the game. He had been best in just about every facet of play that year.
He made it to the Atlanta Braves lineup the very next spring, replacing the injured Bob Thomson at left field.

Hank 's crowning moment was quite naturally a home run. He hit his 715th homer that day bettering the Bambino's famous homer record which had lasted so long.

Hank Aaron's first homer had come in April 1954. In 122 games that year he batted .280 and managed thirteen home runs before an injury in Sept. ended his season. He would soon do much better.
Hank Aaron moved to right field in 1955, his career position which would result in three Gold Gloves. 1955 saw him hit 27 homers with 106 RBI and an average of .314. He would soon do better yet. !956 saw Hank win the National League batting title, the first of two. His average was .328 which he bested in 1959 with a career high .355.
In 1957. Hank lead the National League with 44 homers (his jersey number) and a career high 132 RBI's while batting .322. That same season Hank Aaron drilled a two run homer in the 11th inning of a game in late September. It clinched the Braves ' first pennant in Milwaukee and Hank Aaron was carried off the field by his teammates. Aaron , 23 , won his lone MVP that year.
Great Hank Aaron hitting gave the Atlanta Braves the pennant again in 1957 yet it was not enough to win the world series that the New york Yankees took in 7 . Aaron was never was a heavy man. The key to his hitting exploits seemed to be his powerful wrists that allowed him to crack his bat like a whip.
Hank Aaron's quest to beat the Bambino's record was tainted with racism. He lived in fear for his life and received countless threats and hate mail. Hank Aaron end the 73 season at 713 home runs one shy of the Babe's historic record. He had hit 40 homers that season in only 392 at bats.
With a home run on his first at bat in 74 he tied the Babe's historic title . It was hit off Jack Billingham of Cincinnati.
The large Braves crowd waited impatiently that April 8th 1974. Hank Aaron was ready. It was the 4th inning. Al Downing threw and it was gone and with it the Babe's old record. The new homer king was crowned and his teammates mobbed him at home plate.
Was he the best ever? Consider this; Apart from the home run record Hank also hit his way into the record books by knocking in the most runs (2 ,297), total bases ( six,856) and extra base hits (1 ,477). He alone has hit thirty homers plus fifteen times and twenty homers plus 20 times. He hit 40 homers or more eight times with a career best of 47. Additionally he was again first to reach 3,000 career hits. Topping it all, he led the National in homers and RBI's four times playing in a title 24 All Star games
A lifetime .305 hitter , Aaron performed most of his magic for the Atlanta Braves before ending his twenty three year career with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1975-76.
His 755 career homers were the most by a major leaguer for some 30 years. Thirty years later, Hank Aaron still had the record.