In Aaron's major league debut Aaron struck out twice, grounded out, hit into a double play, and fouled out. On April 23, 1954 , Aaron's first home run was hit. It was off a Vic Raschi fastball into the left-field seats.
Aaron's biggest problem that year and the next was curve balls. Warren Spahn and Lew Burdette, two pitchers on the Braves, worked with Aaron to solve this problem. The patience of both worked out and the problem was fixed after one and a half years.
Later in 1954, Aaron was hitting again in the ninth. He hit the pitch into deep left center field between two outfielders. As he rounded first base he saw he could make third base. He went around second, then went into third. The throw came in a little late, and as Aaron slid into third base, he slid straight into third base. His leg did not give, and Aaron broke his ankle. As he was being carried off the field teammates were saying, "there goes the pennant." They were right as the Braves ended up in third place.
In 1955 Aaron's second year was great. He had fully recovered from the ankle injury sustained the year before. Pitchers were by this time afraid to intentionally walk him. Aaron could hit any ball wherever he wanted.
In 1955, Aaron played in his first All-Star game. The American League was leading in the bottom of the seventh as the National League came to bat. Aaron walked and eventually scored the first of two runs. Later in the game he singled in the tying run. Later on the National League won in the twelfth as Stan Musial hit a home run.
That year he also filled in for Danny O'Connell when he got hurt. In 27 games he had 176 chances, making six errors, and assisting in 23 double plays. Aaron had a .966 fielding average during the period of time.
The season ended with Aaron sixth in batting with a .314 average, and tied with teammate Johnny Logan for the league lead in doubles with 37. Aaron led the team in most areas of batting including batting, hits, and RBIs, while second in home runs only to Eddie Mathews.
Spring training 1956 Aaron started with a new contract and in the batting cage hitting the first three pitches over the left field fence for home runs. Stepping out of the cage he said, "Old Hank is ready."
In 1956, Aaron was again torture on all opposing pitchers. He hit .442 against the Dodgers in '56. But at the beginning of the year he had a short hitting streak then went into a slump, one of the worst he had ever in his career. Before the slump he was hitting over .400, but then dropped all the way down to .167. At the same time the Braves went into a deep slump too. It got so bad that the manager, Charlie Grimm had to resign. He was succeeded by Fred Haney. It got bad, but by the All-Star game, which even though Aaron was not hitting was picked to play in, the Braves started picking it up again. After the All Star game the Braves shot into orbit faster than rockets do.
In 1956, he also had a streak of games where he hit safely in 25 games. The man who stopped the streak was Herman Wehmeier. Most people would be unhappy about a streak like that ending but all Aaron did was shrug it off and say, "No [I am not happy about the streak ending]. A streak is just luck. And you can't control luck."
Among all this was a pennant race going on. A three way race among the Braves, the Dodgers, and the Reds was starting to heat up. Around Milwaukee talk about a pennant was going on, while around the league it was about Aaron. Wally Moon and Aaron were battling for the league batting title.
Aaron one day that year told a writer that he did not worry about a pitcher unless he had a knuckle ball. Soon the story appeared in the newspaper. Then the Pirates manager told his pitcher, Vernon Law to throw nothing but knuckle balls to Aaron. The first one he saw he hit out of the park for a home run.
On Labor Day weekend Aaron propelled the Braves to a three and a half game lead. Aaron also passed Moon in the batting title race. Slowly after that the Reds slowly dropped from the race while the Dodgers slowly creeped up on the Braves until they were one half games behind the Braves in the standings. The Dodgers then won a doubleheader putting themselves half game in front of the Braves. That night the Braves had a night game that they lost putting them one game out. They knew that the only thing that would make it possible to win the pennant was if they won and the Dodgers lost the next day. Then the next day the Braves won but the Dodgers also won, winning the pennant.
Even though he won the batting title, Aaron was still disappointed. Aaron's final average was .328 and he became the second youngest ever to win the batting title. Aaron was the only man with 200 hits also led the hit department, and the doubles. But he would have rather have won the pennant than the batting title.
In 1957 Aaron got another new contract. For the next season he was to be paid a reported $28,500. That year once again he had a great spring training. Even a sprained ankle could not slow him down. He batted .390 and had eleven home runs while missing seven exhibition games. For 1957, Aaron had three goals. One was to hit .350, two was to hit thirty home runs, and his third was to drive in a hundred runs.
Haney started Aaron in the second spot in the batting order that year but quickly moved him to the cleanup spot. He killed the league's pitching. He hit over forty home runs that year. Aaron also made a change. He hit with a 34-ounce bat unlike the 36-ounce bat he had been using. The only regretful people around were opposing pitchers.
Following Mathews, Aaron had great production. This lineup also helped Mathews with increased production, since no pitcher would walk Mathews to get to Aaron. The two passed the great Yankee combination of Ruth and Gehrig.
Even intimidating Aaron did not work. One example was when Johnny Antonelli of the Giants yelled to Aaron, "Hey, Henry, you can afford to lose some teeth." Aaron yelled back, "Yeah, but can you?" Then Antonelli threw a chin music ball and Aaron sent it 450 feet into the upper deck of New York's Polo Grounds.
In 1957, the league lead changed ten times just after the All-Star game. Also the Braves traded for Red Schoendienst for Bobby Thomson, Danny O'Connell, and Ray Crone. Then almost immediately Joe Adcock broke his right leg sliding into second base. Then Bill Bruton, the centerfielder, tore cartilage in his knee ending his season. Then the Braves moved Aaron to center field for the rest of the year. The Braves put a rookie, Wes Covington in right. They also had another rookie for relief of Andy Pafko. Then Pafko got hurt, and the Braves put Hazle in.
Then in August Aaron was batting against Philadelphia with the Braves down by three. He drove in Schoendienst and Aaron saw he could get to third. He had to slide to make it. His foot then hooked into the bag and the players in the dugout all gasped. Aaron was helped off the field and into the locker room. The doctor determined that Aaron had sprained ankle tendons. The Braves did not like this, but Aaron welcomed the layoff so he could help his wife to move into a new house in Milwaukee. By this time the Aarons' had four children. After only eight days off Haney put Aaron back into the lineup.
With Aaron back the Braves began to pull away from the league. By Labor Day the Braves had a six and a half game lead. Then the Braves went into the biggest tailspin ever. Many predicted they would blow the pennant. Then with Aaron leading the way again the Braves brought themselves out of it. The Braves clinched the pennant on Aaron's 43rd home run of the year. Aaron's 44th home run was a grand slam off Sam Jones of the Cardinals.
Aaron finished the year with a .322 average, tied for third place. He had 44 home runs and 132 RBIs. He also scored 118 runs and had 369 total bases. And for the second of eight straight years he had a home run in every National League park.
The Braves played New York that year in the World Series. They had to open the Series on the road in Yankee Stadium. This was the time when the Yankees were the pride of New York. The Braves lost the first game 3-1. In the second game Aaron once again led the Braves to a 4-2 victory. In the third game the Yankees crushed the Braves with a 12-3 triumph. In the fourth game behind an Aaron home run and another by Eddie Mathews the Braves won 7-5. In the fifth game the Braves won 1-0. The Yankees then won 3-2 in the sixth game. Then in the seventh game behind Lew Burdette the Braves won the easiest game of the series 5-0. For the entire series Aaron was 11 for 28, three homers, seven RBIs, 22 total bases, and a .393 average. He also collected at least one hit in each of the games.
In midwinter Aaron received the
National League's MVP. He beat Stan Musial by nine votes. Musial said,
"He deserved it. I've had my share of honors and I have nothing but praise
for him." Aaron at this time was only 23 years old with lots in front of
him.
| Back |