AARON, HANK

born Feb. 5, 1934, Mobile, Ala., U.S. Hank Aaron. byname of Henry Louis Aaron American professional baseball player who, during 23 seasons in the major leagues (1954-76), surpassed batting records set by some of the greatest hitters in the game, including Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, and Stan Musial. Aaron, a righthander six feet tall and weighing 180 pounds, began his professional career in 1952, playing a few months as a shortstop with the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro American League. His contract was bought by the Boston Braves of the National League, who assigned him to minor-league teams, first at Eau Claire, Wis., then at Jacksonville, Fla. He joined the Braves, who meanwhile had moved to Milwaukee, in 1954, thereafter playing mostly as an outfielder. In 1956 he won the league batting championship with an average of .328 and in 1957, leading his team to victory in the World Series, was named the league's Most Valuable Player. Before the Braves moved to Atlanta, at the end of 1965, Aaron had hit 398 home runs. In Atlanta on April 8, 1974, he hit his 715th, breaking Babe Ruth's record, which had stood since 1935. After the 1974 season, he was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers of the American League. After the 1976 season, Aaron retired as a player and rejoined the Atlanta Braves as an executive. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on Jan. 13, 1982. Aaron's batting records include totals of 755 home runs, 1,477 extra-base hits, and 2,297 runs batted in. His other career statistics include 2,174 runs scored (second to Ty Cobb) and 12,364 times at bat in 3,298 games (second to Pete Rose). His hits (3,771) were exceeded only by those of Ty Cobb and Pete Rose. Aaron's lifetime batting average was .305.