Hank Aaron dies at 86; legendary ballplayer broke Babe Ruth's home run record

Hank Aaron dies at 86; legendary ballplayer broke Babe Ruth's home run record: Aaron was more relieved than happy, saying he felt that “the weight of a stove” had been taken off his shoulders. By then 40, Aaron hit only 18 more home runs that season, then was traded to the Brewers, a struggling team in a Milwaukee market still soured by the Braves’ move to Atlanta. The Brewers needed a drawing card, and Aaron fit the bill nicely for two seasons, ending his big league career where he’d long ago started it. President Carter meets with Hank Aaron in the Oval Office. President Carter meets with Hank Aaron in the Oval Office. (Jimmy Carter Library) Henry Louis Aaron was born Feb. 5, 1934, in a segregated neighborhood in Mobile, Ala., the son of a shipyard laborer, the third of Herbert and Estella Aaron’s eight children. Hank’s younger brother Tommie also became a major leaguer. As youngsters, Hank, Tommie and friends played their version of baseball, using mop and broom handles as bats, bottlecaps as balls. With no formal coaching, Aaron grew up batting cross-handed, not that it much mattered. He still was a fearsome hitter who, as a teenager, was playing for the Mobile Black Bears, a semipro team that paid him $10 a game. Jackie Robinson had broken organized