#170 Hank Aaron - Milwaukee Braves

Henry Louis Aaron
Milwaukee Braves
Outfield

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'0"  Weight:  180
Born:  February 5, 1934, Mobile, AL
Signed:  Signed as a free agent with the Boston Braves, June 14, 1952
Major League Teams:  Milwuakee Braves 1954-1965; Atlanta Braves 1966-1974; Milwaukee Brewers 1975-1976
Died:  January 22, 2021, Atlanta, GA (age 86)
Hall of Fame Induction:  1982

Henry Aaron was one of the best players of his era, and was baseball's career home run leader between the years 1974 and 2006.  Playing for 23 seasons from 1954 to 1976, Aaron was a National League All-Star 21 times making the squad in all but his first and last seasons.  He tallied a career .305 average with 755 home runs and 2,297 RBIs, which is still more RBIs than anyone in major league history.  He was the National League MVP in 1957, which is also the only year his Braves won the World Series.

Aaron won two batting titles, and led the league in home runs and RBIs four times each.  A true five-tool player, Aaron was a prolific slugger, a batter who hit for average, a three-time Gold Glove winner and he finished in the top 10 in the league for stolen bases eight times.  Late in his career, he chased and surpassed Babe Ruth's all-time career home run record, hitting his historic 715th home run on April 8, 1974 off Dodgers' pitcher Al Downing (#598).  Following his retirement as an active player in 1976, Aaron served as one of the game's best ambassadors.  The Brewers retired his #44 in 1976 with the Braves following in 1977.  Aaron was a first ballot Hall of Fame inductee in 1982.

On Aaron's page on the Hall of Fame's website, there's this quote from former Phillies pitcher Curt Simmons (#373) - "Trying to throw a fastball by Hank Aaron is like trying to sneak a sunrise past a rooster."

Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1956 Topps blog.

Building the Set
January 26, 2021 from Garden City, MI - Card #219
This was another impulse buy, and the second in a row following the purchase of the Phil Niekro Rookie Stars (#461) card.  I found myself browsing eBay the day Aaron passed away, specifically looking for his base card for our 1965 Topps set.  I had plenty of cards to choose from, in a variety of conditions and prices, and I landed on the card shown here from A to Z Cards, Comics & Coins located in Garden City, Michigan.  The card arrive safely a few days later and this represented my only purchase for our set during the first month of 2021.

The Card / Braves Team Set
Each of Aaron's Topps flagship set cards are iconic in some way, and I've seen this particular card hundreds of times in magazines, online and at baseball card shows through the years in display cases under glass.  It's a wonderful baseball card.  The back of the card contains lines of incredible statistics and highlights Aaron's MVP win in 1957.

Topps has reprinted the card several times over the years, beginning with a mini version present on the 1974 Topps Aaron retrospective that kicks off that year's set.  In 2000, Topps reprinted all Aaron's flagship cards and they reprinted his 1965 card again in both 2001 (Topps Through the Years reprints) and 2016 (Topps Berger's Best).  Aaron signed a reprinted version of the card for inclusion in the 2014 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs insert set.  Finally, Aaron, at card #59, is one of 72 players featured within the 1965 Topps Embossed insert set and one of four Braves in the set.  He's also in the harder to find 1965 Topps Transfers insert set.

1965 Season
Aaron enjoyed yet another All-Star season, appearing in 150 games for the Braves and leading the league with 40 doubles.  He batted .318 with 32 home runs and 89 RBIs in the team's final year in Milwaukee.  Those totals tied him for the team lead in home runs with Eddie Mathews (#500) and and gave him second place in RBIs to Mathews' 95.

1954 Topps #128

1957 Topps #20

1967 Topps #250

1974 Topps #6

1976 Topps #550

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1954 Topps #128
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (28):  1954-1976, 1979, 1989, 1994, 2000-2001
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2020 Topps x Super 70s Sports #12

2,498 - Aaron non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 2/8/21.

Sources: 

1956 Topps 
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
National Baseball Hall of Fame
SABR
The Trading Card Database

Wikipedia

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