TODAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY

April 8, 1974, Atlanta Braves superstar Hank Aaron makes baseball history when he breaks Babe Ruth’s career record for home runs with a blast off Al Downing of the Dodgers.

Hank Aaron’s Historic Climb to Home Run King

On July 30, 1969, Hank Aaron hit his 537th home run, surpassing Mickey Mantle for third on the all-time list. Over the next five seasons, he continued his assault on the record books, becoming the first player with both 500 homers and 3,000 hits, setting NL records for consecutive 30- and 40-homer seasons, and finishing in the top three of MVP voting multiple times.

By 1973, Aaron was within striking distance of Babe Ruth’s record. But with the chase came an overwhelming wave of racist hate mail and death threats, revealing the ugly side of America’s pastime.

Aaron received so much hate mail it took an entire room in the Braves clubhouse. Despite the backlash, he pressed on, finishing the season with 713 home runs, just 2 shy of the record. If he was feeling the pressure it was not on the diamond, Aaron hit .426 in September with 7 homeruns and a whopping 1.302 OPS, his 21 RBI’s tied July for his highest out put in a single month and in his last series against the Astros he went 6 - 7.

During the start of the 1974, Aaron tied the mark in Cincinnati, hitting his 714th (Listen here). The Braves wanted to sit Aaron so he had the chance to set the mark at home in Atlanta. However the commissioner Bowie Kuhn forced had previous notified the Braves, they had to play Aaron. After going 1-3 in game one, Aaron went 0-3 with 2 strikeouts in game 3.

On April 8, 1974, before a record Braves crowd, Aaron stepped up in the 4th inning with a man on first and no outs, Dodgers up 3-1 at the time and he launched a 1-0 pitch from Al Downing that landed in the glove of Tom House over the left center field wall. (Read Tom House’s remember that night). As he rounded the bases, two fans joined him (Craig Sager was one of them), and his mother embraced him at home plate (trying to protect him) —as part celebration, part relief. Hank Aaron had not just broken a record; he had triumphed over hate.

The Braves would win the game 7-4. Aaron held onto the feelings that built up over time. He refuse an invite from Bowie Kuhn to celebrate his HR mark. And Terence Moore, details his feelings when comparing his chase to Cal Ripken, Pete Rose and other stars from the game.

You can listen here to 715 here.

At the 2025 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, right after the sixth inning, a special tribute to Aaron's 715th home run was played, featuring special effects and a projector screening clips from the original NBC broadcast of the milestone on the field, featuring audio from both Vin Scully of that network, and Milo Hamilton from radio station WSB. A firework was shot through out of the ballpark at left field, with Hamilton calling out the milestone calls, while one of the mini scoreboards projects a recreation of the number "715" that was used at the old Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium. A spotlight was used as a special tribute afterward. This tribute was originally scheduled in 2021.

The awards and accolades for Aaron after his baseball career are here, they alone are 5 paragraphs long. The tributes after his passing start President Biden and at the time all but one living President gave tribute. Sports teams, politicians and many more honored Aaron.

Above all, when I think about Aaron and how he carried himself on and off the field he embraced every aspect of the game good and bad, but he was all that was good about the game, sportsmanship and humanity. for the record my Dad, a Boston Braves fan was sorely disappointed he never played in Boston, even though they were the Boston Braves when he signed.

April 8, 1916 Outfielder Tris Speaker is still a holdout as a reaction to Boston Red Sox owner Joseph Lannin’s proposal to cut his salary from $11,000 to $9,000. Speaker wants $15,000. The Red Sox, in anticipation of resolving the contract dispute by trading Speaker, purchase OF Tilly Walker from the St. Louis Browns.

April 8, 1927 - Four days before the season opens, recently-traded Rogers Hornsby breaks the impasse by selling his stock in the St. Louis Cardinalsfor $112,000. He receives $86,000 from owner Sam Breadon, $2,000 from each of the other seven National League clubs, and an extra $12,000 from the New York Giants, his new team.
This was a complicated situation. Hornsby was the second largest stockholder in the Cardinals behind owner Sam Breadon, who had loaned Hornsby the money to buy the stock from Branch Rickey, at 43.00 a share in 1925. At the time Hornsby was traded to the Giants, Breadon offered the same 43.00 per share, but Hornsby knew as World Champions the stock was worth far more. He had it appraised at over 100.00 per share, and insisted on receiving it. After it got settled, but it was situations like this that caused MLB to make rules that players and on-field personnel could not own team stock while active.

April 8, 1946, future Hall of Famer Catfish Hunter is born in Hertford, North Carolina. Hunter will make his debut in 1965 he was a 8X All-Star, won the AL Cy Young Award in 1974 (318 IP, 23 CG, 6 shutouts, league-leading 25 wins & 2.49 ERA), pitched a perfect game in 1968, won 20 games 5 straight years, and was a member of 5 World Series champions (1972-74 Oakland A’s, 1977-78 New York Yankees). His uniform #27 is retired by the Athletics. Jim was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1987 (76.2% on the 3rd ballot). Jim passed away in 1999 at the age of 53 (from ALS).

April 8, 1954 Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter was born in Culver City, California in 1954 to Jim Carter, an aircraft worker, and his wife, Inge. Athletic at a young age, Carter - along with four other boys - won the 7-year-old category of the first national Punt, Pass, and Kick skills competition in 1961. He will make his debut September 16, 1974.

Nicknamed the Kid, he is one of the greatest catchers in MLB history. He was a 11X All-Star, won 3 Gold Glove Awards, won 5 Silver Slugger Awards, and was a key member of the 1986 World Series champion New York Mets. Defensively, Carter led NL catchers in putouts 8X, assists and DP 5X each, caught stealing pct. 3X, & fielding pct. twice. His uniform #8 was retired by the Montreal Expos. Gary was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2003 (78% on the 6th ballot).

In his 19-year career (1974-1992), Carter had 2,092 hits, 324 HR, 1,225 RBI, .262 BA, .335 OBP, .439 Slg., & .773 OPS.

Carter passed away in 2012 at the age of 57

April 8, 1966 -- At the Astrodome, the Astros and Dodgers play baseball's first game on synthetic grass. Thanks to the Monsanto chemical company, who proposed using an experimental playing surface of nylon grass, the plan to play on an all-dirt field, necessitated by the need to paint the dome's glass panes to reduce the glare which prevented natural grass from growing, was alleviated by the use of 'AstroTurf.'

April 8, 1969 After a long recovery following a 1967 beaning, Tony Conigliaro starts his first game for the Boston Red Sox. His dramatic two-run 10th-inning home run gives the Red Sox a brief lead, and his 12th-inning run wins it, 5 – 4, over the Baltimore Orioles home team. Tony C, will struggle throughout his comeback and miss the entire 1972 -74 seasons, before making a final attempt on this day in 1975.

April 8, 1969 – At Shea Stadium, the Montreal Expos defeat the New York Mets, 11 – 10, to keep the Mets winless for openers. Pitcher Dan McGinn hits the Expos’ first home run as the key hit, a three-run home run by Coco Laboy, is given up by Canadian-born Mets reliever Ron Taylor.

Jim “Mudcat” Grant was the starting pitcher for the Montreal Expos on the franchise’s first MLB game Grant had a no-decision as he was removed in the second inning.

April 8, 1975, future Hall of Famer Frank Robinson makes his debut as major league baseball’s first black manager. Rachel Robinson, the widow of Jackie Robinson, throws out the ceremonial first pitch before a crowd of 56,204. As the player-manager of the Cleveland Indians, Frank Robinson hits a home run in his first at-bat, helping Cleveland to a 5 – 3 victory over the New York Yankees. For Robinson, it is his eighth Opening Day home run, setting a major league record which will later be tied by Ken Griffey and Adam Dunn.

April 8, 1986 -- Will Clark homers in his first major league at-bat, facing future Hall of Fame right-hander Nolan Ryan. The 22 year-old Giants rookie first baseman's first inning-solo round-tripper contributes to the team's Opening Day 8-3 victory at the Astrodome.

April 8, 1987, the Los Angeles Dodgers fire vice-president Al Campanis after he made racial remarks on national TV two days earlier. Campanis suggested that blacks lacked the “necessities” to become managers

April 8, 1989,  One-handed pitcher Jim Abbott makes his major league debut for the California Angels. Born without a right hand, Abbott bypassed the minors completely after starring at the University of Michigan, heading directly to the Angels' starting rotation. He lasts only four and two-thirds innings in a 7 - 0 loss to the Seattle Mariners, but will finish his rookie season with 12 wins and a 3.92 ERA, the most major league wins in a first pro season since St. Louis Browns pitcher Ernie Wingard won 13 in his first professional season, in 1925. (Listen below)

April 8 , 2005 -- Roger Clemens wins for the 329th time in his career - tying Steve Carlton for ninth on the all-time list - using his bat as well as his arm. Clemens' infield hit in the sixth scores two for a 3-2 squeaker over the Reds. Luke Scott and Willy Taveras, two rookies making the jump from AA ball, score runs with Scott pounding a triple for his first major league hit - just 16 behind Clemens on the all-time hit list.

TRIVIA

TRIVIA: Bill Russell makes his major league debut, he will be the games played all time leader for the Dodgers at shortstop and be part of the Dodgers infield that set the record for games played together.

Name the other 3.

IF you think you know the answer and bonus points for how many respond with details and if you are right I will give you a shut out! No Googling!

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 ANSWER TO YESTERDAY’S TRIVIA

YESTERDAY'S TRIVIA: Bill Russell makes his major league debut, he will be the games played all time leader for the Dodgers at shortstop and be part of the Dodgers infield that set the record for games played together.

Name the other 3.

Answer: From 1973 to 1981, the Los Angeles Dodgers played a majority of their games with a starting infield consisting of four players: Steve Garvey at first base, Davey Lopes at second, Ron Cey at third, and Bill Russell at shortstop. Beginning on June 23, 1973, and lasting until Game 6 of the 1981 World Series, the quartet set a record in Major League Baseball for the length of time the same four players were designated as starters at those positions—eight-and-a-half years.

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