It was 50 years ago this hour in Atlanta, Georgia when Hank Aaron, with a swing of the bat off Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Al Downing, hit his 715th homerun surpassing Babe Ruth as MLB's all-time leader.
Aaron would hit 40 more HR over the next three seasons to finish with 755. His record would fall to Barry Bonds a little over 30 years later in 2007. Although Aaron appeared by video to congratulate Bonds, public sentiment was not with him given the means he took to attain the record. As such, Aaron's 715th HR will always be more meaningful than Bonds' 756th.
After all, it must be remembered that while many didn't want Bonds to surpass Aaron there were also many who didn't want Aaron to surpass The Babe as he was subject to a torrent of racist hate mail and death threats against himself and his family.
While the processing of chasing Ruth was not a pleasant one, but when Aaron surpassed The Bambino legendary Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully observed, "A black man is getting a standing ovation in the Deep South for breaking a record of an all-time baseball idol." However, the cheers which mattered to Aaron the most were the embrace of his father Herbert and his mother Estella.
Sadly, Aaron passed away in 2021. But many who witnessed the event are still among us including Downing as well as Braves teammate Dusty Baker who was on deck when Aaron hit the home run and Braves reliever Tom House who caught the ball in the Atlanta bullpen.
The term baseball history is grossly overused, but April 8, 1974 was truly a historical moment for baseball and America.
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