YOUR 1966 BRAVES: #44 HENRY AARON
#44 HANK AARON
Outfield
What came before: For all of his accomplishments, it almost seemed as the city of Atlanta didn't realize what it was getting when the then-32-year-old arrived.
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We'll sum it up this way: while in Milwaukee, he had two batting titles, two home run crowns, seven 100-RBI seasons (three times leading the league) and three 200-hit seasons. He'd won one MVP, one Sporting News Player of the Year and three Gold Gloves.
That 1966 season: Aaron's greatness found a new audience and the '66 season set the stage for his pursuit of Babe Ruth's record in earnest. He came to town with 398 homers, but the stadium that would eventually earn the nickname the Launching Pad was made to order for his line drives. Aaron matched his career best with 44 home runs, driving in 127 runs to lead the league in both categories. He also scored over 100 runs for the 13th straight season.
What came next: Aaron made Atlanta his oyster for the next decade, earning all-star honors every seasons. In 1971, to accommodate his legs and the team's need, he transitioned to first base for two seasons and handled it just fine. His race to Ruth was controversial in some areas, but many Braves fans were shocked to hear about the volume and tone of Aaron's hate mail as he neared 714. It was not lost on people that the two fans who joined Aaron on his record-setting jog around the bases were white.
Brett Gaston and Cliff Courtenay were only 17 when they impulsively joined Aaron as he rounded second on the historic hit. Jumping onto the field along the first-base line, the teens caught up with a startled Aaron as he rounded second base, each giving him a quick pat before they peeled off and tried to make their getaway down the third-base line. They didn't get far -- Courtenay was caught by officers before he even got over the railing, while Gaston got about 10 rows up when he realized there was no escape. "They were at each end of the aisle, in force," Gaston recalled. "I just put my hands up and said, 'OK, let's go.'" They were bailed out of jail at about 3:30 a.m. by Gaston's father, and the charges were dropped when they appeared in court the next morning.
They and Aaron reunited in 2010, the first he'd seen them since 1994 on the 20thh anniversary of the homer. "It's wonderful to see them," Aaron said. "I often get asked, 'Whatever happened to those two guys?' It's nice to see them once again and know they're doing fine, doing well.
"The older you get, the more you think about it," Aaron said. "I'm just glad things worked out the way they did. It could have been a lot worse. They were having fun with it as kids. They didn't get beat up and all that. I think they spent two or three hours in jail. Other than that, it was a happy moment.”
Aaron has worked for the Braves since his retirement, overseeing player development. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982, getting 97.8 of the vote. Since 1989, he has been a senior vice president of the Braves.
Hank Aaron owns Hank Aaron BMW in South Atlanta. Each car sold comes with an autographed baseball.
