A bad break for one, a great break for another
Hank Aaron during his rookie season in 1954
Hank Aaron starts his first spring training game for Milwaukee 70 years ago today, picking up three hits for the Braves in an exhibition game against the Cincinnati Reds in Tampa, Fla.
The 20-year-old Aaron gets his chance to start after left fielder Bobby Thomson fractures an ankle sliding into second base a day earlier against the New York Yankees in St. Petersburg, Fla.
“I started my slide too late.” Thomson later says from the hospital. “It was terrible luck. (Milwaukee manager) Charlie Grimm had told me he was going to take me out the next inning.”
Thomson’s bad break literally is a great one for Aaron.
“It was (an opportunity), no question about it,” Aaron decades later tells the MLB Network. “I was at the right place at the right time.”
And Aaron stays there for the next 20-plus seasons.
Aaron works his way into the starting lineup by Opening Day 1954, and finishes his rookie season hitting .280 in 122 games with 13 homers and 69 runs batted in.
He ends up fourth in the National League’s 1954 rookie of the year voting, trailing St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Wally Moon, Chicago Cubs shortstop Ernie Banks and pitcher – and Braves teammate – Gene Conley.
The rest of Aaron’s career, of course, turns out fairly well as he plays 23 seasons in the majors, finishing with a then-record 755 home runs and 2,297 runs batted in – a total that remains the most in baseball history.
The resume also includes three Gold Gloves, two National League batting championships, one National League Most Valuable Player Award and, of course, a first-ballot election in 1982 into the Hall of Fame.
“The pitcher has got only a ball. I’ve got a bat,” Aaron once says of his approach to hitting, “so the percentage in weapons is in my favor and I let the fellow with the ball do the fretting.”
Hank Aaron batting in 1969 against the Phillies in Philadelphia, five years before breaking Babe Ruth’s then-record of 714 home runs