Leapfrogging the Babe

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"A black man is getting a standing ovation in the Deep South for breaking a record of an all–time baseball idol. ... And for the first time in a long time, that poker face in Aaron shows the tremendous strain and relief of what it must have been like to live with for the past several months."

Vin Scully
Dodgers broadcaster

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Jackie Robinson was long before my time.

I've heard stories about him. I've read books about him. I admire his accomplishments, and I would have to say that my generation's Jackie Robinson was Hank Aaron. They both broke barriers.

I guess few people realized it at first. When I was a child, it seemed that most people assumed Willie Mays would be the one to break Babe Ruth's career home run record. That was to be expected, I guess. Mays' major–league career began a couple of years before Aaron's, so Mays got off to an early statistical lead, but Aaron kept plodding along.

At some point, Aaron passed Mays. I don't know precisely when. But I do know that 40 years ago today, he passed the Babe, too.

Compared to some contemporary sports heroes, Aaron must seem hopelessly quaint. He never took steroids. He never resorted to bluster or bragging. In fact, my memory is that Aaron was very soft spoken. He let his accomplishments speak for themselves.

(Speaking of which, Aaron had a somewhat meager postseason record. He appeared in the World Series twice, winning it once, before he was 25. He also appeared in the National League Championship Series the first year that major league baseball was broken up into divisions. That was it.

(But he made the most of his opportunities, batting .362 and clubbing six home runs in 69 official postseason at–bats.)

I can only imagine the stress he must have been under in the offseason between the 1973 season and the 1974 season. You see, he came within one home run of tying the Babe's all–time mark in 1973, and he had to go through an entire offseason knowing that he only needed two more home runs to become the all–time home run king.

During those months, he was subjected to the most vile and hateful treatment imaginable. Threats were made against his life. Unsupported, slanderous rumors were spread about him and his family. At times, he must have wondered if it was worth it.

Jon Friedman writes in TIME that Aaron "got off easy" because he didn't have to contend with social media.

That's a debatable point, I think. It may not have been an as technologically advanced time, but, as Ben Nightengale writes in USA Today, "it was an often joyless and lonely pursuit" for Aaron.

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Still, he persevered — in spite of the threats and the glare of the public spotlight.

And on April 4, in the first game of the season, Aaron hit a three–run homer off Jack Billingham at Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium, tying Ruth. In hindsight, it is easy to presume that he was impatient to get the record chase behind him, but he did nothing in his other three at–bats that day.

The Braves were forced by the commissioner to play Aaron once more in Cincinnati; he went three for four but didn't break Ruth's record so the home run chase returned to Atlanta.

In 1974, NBC ordinarily did not broadcast a baseball game on Monday nights until summer, when the rest of the networks' schedules were in reruns, but NBC made special arrangements to televise Aaron's first home game of the season — and, hopefully, history as well.

Everything played out perfectly.

It might not have. Aaron hit only 20 home runs all year — his lowest output since his rookie season 20 years earlier — and he could have gone a couple of weeks before he hit another one. But NBC was fortunate.

Al Downing was on the mound for the Dodgers. The Braves trailed, 3–1, when Aaron came to bat in the bottom of the fourth. Third baseman Darrell Evans was on first following an error by Dodgers shortstop Bill Russell. Aaron drilled his record–setting home run and ignited a four–run inning that gave the Braves the lead — and, eventually, the win.

Aaron's parents came out to greet him at home plate as he rounded the bases. His mother held tightly to her son and refused, for the longest time, to let go. I heard later that she was afraid he would be shot; there had been threats made that he would be shot at home plate if he broke Ruth's record.

He wasn't shot, of course, but I don't think he got off easy.

It should be a much more relaxed atmosphere for Aaron at Turner Field tonight, though. A ceremony commemorating the 40th anniversary of his record–setting home run is planned before the start of the game. The first 45,000 fans will receive commemorative posters, and "[e]very 40th person to check–in will receive a $40 Racetrac giftcard."

And Aaron will be applauded and cheered by all tonight.

The Say Hey Kid Turns 80

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When I was a kid, there was a raging debate among baseball fans.

Who would be the first to surpass Babe Ruth on the all–time home run list, Hank Aaron or Willie Mays?

My money was always on Willie, and he got a considerable jump on the somewhat plodding but steady Aaron early in their careers.

I always felt Mays was more charismatic, and I guess I gravitated to him because of that in those days ... but Aaron caught up with him and passed him on the home run list. I don't remember which one made it to 600 homers first, but Aaron went on to exceed Ruth's career total (which Mays never did) and become the all–time home run champion for the next three decades.

Even so, Mays left his mark — many of them — on major league baseball:

• Nearly four decades after he retired, only three men have hit more home runs in their careers than Mays — and only one played his entire career after Mays left the scene.


• And none of those guys ever hit four home runs in a game — which Mays did 50 years ago last weekend in a game against Aaron's Milwaukee Braves.


• Only half a dozen players have scored more runs than Mays. His closest competition among active players is Alex Rodriguez, who needs to score more than 250 times to equal Mays.


• Rodriguez may well outscore Mays before his career is over. If he does, it seems to be a cinch that he will pass Mays on the all–time RBI list. He trails Mays by fewer than 50 in that category — and, if he does pass him, he will be in the all–time Top 10.


• Mays led the National League in batting average once and finished as the runnerup three times.


• Only 10 players have more career base hits than Mays — and his most serious competition among active players, Derek Jeter, needs more than 300 hits to pass him.


• He was the first major league baseball player to hit 30 home runs before the All–Star break — an achievement that became much more commonplace during the steroids era.

Anyway, as hard as it is to believe, Mays is 80 years old today.

I guess it shouldn't be so hard to believe. And it isn't, really. I mean, I know when he retired, and I know when he was born.

It's just hard to accept that so much time has gone by since he graced the baseball fields of America.

'The Catch,' 55 Years Later

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Unless you are at least in your 60s, you have no memory of Willie Mays' over–the–shoulder catch of Vic Wertz's drive to deep center field at New York's Polo Grounds in the first game of the 1954 World Series.

It happened on this date, which may seem strange to modern baseball fans. It has been decades since a World Series game was played in September. And the game was played during the day, which became increasingly rare after the first night–time game was played in 1971.

And, as iconic as "The Catch" has become, the chances of it being duplicated have been rendered virtually nil, given that the dimensions of modern ballparks have shrunk dramatically in comparison to those of the past. Actually, in most of the ballparks in existence at the time, Wertz's shot would have been a home run. But the Polo Grounds (which was demolished about 10 years later) was cavernous, and the ball remained in play.

Mays' catch is widely credited with propelling the New York Giants to a sweep of the Cleveland Indians. It was the last time the Giants (who moved to San Francisco a few years later) won a World Series — and it looks like they won't have the opportunity to end their drought this year. Mathematically, they are still in the race — but just barely — for the National League's wild card berth.

By the way, baseball's playoffs begin next week, and the playoff field has begun to take shape.

In the American League, the Yankees and the Angels already have won their divisions. Detroit and Minnesota meet in a four–game series this week that should go a long way toward deciding which team will represent the AL Central in the playoffs. And the Boston Red Sox appear all but certain to be the AL's wild card team.

In the National League, the Cardinals and Dodgers are on their way to the playoffs. St. Louis has clinched its division. The Dodgers probably will represent the NL West, but, at the moment, the only thing Los Angeles is assured of is a playoff spot. It is still possible that the Dodgers will be overtaken by the Colorado Rockies, who are 4½ games out with six games to play. Likewise, Philadelphia leads the NL East but could lose it to Atlanta, which has won seven in a row.

Unless something truly unexpected occurs, it seems likely the NL's wild card team will be either Colorado or Atlanta.