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ESPN Remembers Hank Aaron

ESPN mourns the passing of Henry Louis “Hank” Aaron, the Hall of Fame slugger whose 755 career home runs long stood as baseball’s golden mark. He was 86.

He was a star with the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves throughout a major league career that spanned from 1954 to 1976. Aaron still holds major league records for RBIs (2,297), total bases (6,856) and extra-base hits (1,477), and he ranks among MLB’s best in hits (3,771, third all time), games played (3,298, third) and runs scored (2,174, fourth).

On April 8, 1974 in Atlanta, Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s hallowed career home run mark, slugging his record 715th off Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Al Downing. In 2014, ESPN.com recreated the historic moment.

Aaron played two more seasons and finished with 755 career home runs, a mark that stood as the major league record until Barry Bonds broke it in 2007. Aaron was inducted into Baseball’s Hall of Fame in 1982.

Off the field, the Mobile, Ala., native was an activist for civil rights who endured hate mail and death threats even as he pursued Ruth’s home run mark. In 2017, he told ESPN’s The Undefeated why he was helping Historicially Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) via his Chasing The Dream foundation.

ESPN commentators, including some of whom worked with Aaron on ESPN telecasts such as the June 2018 tribute to him during a New York Mets-Atlanta Braves telecast, remember the American icon.

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