Hank Aaron was honored by the Atlanta Braves before the game against the New York Mets on Tuesday night. They held a ceremony commemorating the 40th anniversary of Aaron’s 715th home run, the home run that surpassed Babe Ruth to become the new home run king. Aaron eventually ended his career with 755 home runs, that was later surpassed by Barry Bonds, who had 762. So by all accounts, Bonds should be the home run king right? I mean he has the most home runs right? Wrong. Because of Bond’s PED allegations, fans do not accept Barry Bonds as the king. Even Bud Selig had a hard time calling Bonds that.
During the ceremony Braves chairman Terry McGuirk said Aaron “set the home run record the old fashioned way.” He also went onto say that “You will always be the home run king of all time.”
Peter Van Wieren, a retired broadcaster for the Braves earned a big ovation when he said Aaron is “still recognized as baseball’s true home run king.”
Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s record on April 8, 1974, off the Dodgers pitcher Al Downing. Downing attended the ceremony and threw out the first pitch. Some of Aaron’s teammates from the 1974 team were also in attendance. One of them was Dusty Baker, who was on deck when Hank hit the homer that broke the record. The other teammates who attended the ceremony were Ralph Garr, Phil Niekro, Ron Reed, Marty Perez, and Tom House who ended up catching the homer in the bullpen.
Statistically the home run king is Barry Bonds, but don’t tell that to the fans. Take a bow Hank, your still it.
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