In 1958 after another contract Aaron was to be paid close to $40,000. The Braves breezed through Spring Training but there were concerns as Opening Day neared. Bill Bruton was still not healthy and Aaron was once again starting in center field. Wes Covington suffered injuries through one half of the season. Bob Buhl also had problems. Red Schoendienst also ended the season with tuberculosis.
Aaron got off to a horrible start. He was hitting only .230 at the end of May. He had a nagging toothache that seemed unimportant to him but even after it was removed his slump continued. Haney even had Paul Waner, the spring training batting coach come take a look. He said nothing was wrong and a little patience would help. Then after Waner left Aaron caught fire. It took nearly a half of a season but he was finally himself again. Without Aaron his normal self the Braves were not like they were the previous year. Buhl also could not win.
At the All-Star game the league was leaded by the Giants who had moved to San Francisco. The Dodgers were also in last place. But soon the Giants folded and the Braves took over. On September 21 the Braves clinched the pennant.
Aaron finished the season with a .326 average to finish fourth h in batting. He had 30 home runs and 95 RBIs. The home run total was the second best of his career and the RBIs was his third best season count.
In the World Series that year Aaron hit .333. The Braves had won the first two games only to lose the World Series.
In 1959 Everyone expected the Braves to win the National League, everyone except themselves. But the Braves got off to a good start, but then they fell back some. They ended up in a fight with the Giants, Dodgers, and Pirate. But even better was Aaron's average. For a while he was over .500. He did not drop below .400 until June 15. Even after that he continued to threaten but never quite did it. In 1959 Aaron got off to a fast start, unusual for him. He was badgered by reporters the entire season about his chance at .400.
That year he collected his 1000th hit of his career at the age of 25. The hit was a single off Sandy Koufax. Aaron was the second youngest ever to reach the 1000th hit plateau. Also that year Aaron had his first three home run game. After the first All-Star game that year the Giants took the lead in the standings. The Pirates then knocked themselves out losing 15 of 18 games. Then the Braves almost knocked themselves out losing seven in a row, but then they cam back wining 12 of the next 15 games. In September they lost a game to the Giants that put them four games back with only twenty games left. Only Aaron and Mathews had kept them in the race this long, so if they fell into a slump the Braves season would be over.
But with only two hitters hitting good consistently the Braves were in trouble. Spahn and Burdette were the only pitchers they could count on. Then some life appeared on the Braves club. Other hitters started giving help. And other pitcher like Bob Buhl started contributing. For the rest of the year the league's lead would change many times.
On the last day of the season the Giants were behind the Dodgers and the Braves by one game. The Giants had a double header that day so mathematically there could be a three way tie for the National League. But that did not happen because the Giants immediately lost the first game and ended up losing both. Both the Braves and the Dodgers won forcing a two way tie for the National League. The first game the Braves lost 3-2 without Aaron getting a hit but walking twice. In the second game the Braves lost in an extra inning effort and Aaron who had a double and a single.
That year Aaron won another batting title with a .355 average. He led the league in hits, total bases, and in slugging percentage. Aaron was third in home runs and RBIs.
Starting the 1960 season Aaron got another new contract. This time it was rumored to be around sixty thousand dollars. At the beginning of the year there was talk of moving Aaron to second base to fill in the gaps. Aaron was reluctant to move since he had not played second in over five years. But as it turned out he was only used to fill in for a couple of innings.
Aaron got off to a good start, but the Braves did not. By late May the Braves were .500 and six and a half games out of the division lead. Even though Aaron was hitting for power, he was not hitting for average. This was the first year since his rookie season that he failed to bat at least .300.
With Mathews and Adcock, the Braves middle lineup was awesome. That year the three of them hit over one hundred home runs, one hundred four to be exact. That was more than the entire Phillies team.
In 1960 Aaron's stats excluding his average were great. He led the league with 126 RBIs. He also led the league with three hundred thirty four total bases.
That year the Braves ended up in second place, and with attendance dropping. Less than one and a half million people showed up to watch Aaron, Mathews, Adcock, and company. Only winning would be expectable to the fans of Milwaukee.
In 1961 the Braves lineup changed drastically. A new middle infield and another new outfielder was hard on the team and on Aaron. Aaron had just received a contract worth near a reported sixty-five thousand dollars.
For two months Aaron had to play center field while his manager, Charlie Dressen continued to try to find a winning lineup. A new catcher, Joe Torre was inserted into the lineup. Also the Braves brought in another outfielder, Gino Cimoli. After the Braves got Cimoli Aaron could have his normal position back.
After all the changes the Braves finished fourth. They drew only one million one hundred thousand people the entire year. Highlights of the dismal season included a game in which Aaron, Mathews, Adcock, and Thomas hitting four consecutive home runs in the same inning of the same game. They were the first to do so, but it has been repeated.
Aaron's stats for the year included 39 doubles that he led the league in. He also hit for a .327 average, had 120 RBI's, and 34 home runs. In eight years of play he had 253 home runs. His lifetime average was .319.
In 1962 the Braves had another bad year while Aaron continued to shine. This would become the norm in the years ahead. In 1962 Aaron got a new friend on the team. His brother, Tommie Aaron, was brought up to the majors from the minors. Tommie was five and a half years younger.
On April 22 Aaron ran into the right field fence bruising several ribs and a knee. Tommie Aaron replaced Henry Aaron. When Aaron returned to the lineup Tommie ended up shuffling between left field, first base, and the bench.
The Braves ended the year in fifth
place and drew only 766,921 fans. Aaron batted .323, 45 home runs, and
128 RBI's. At the end of the year Aaron had 298 home runs.
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