More Than a Home Run

HISTORY This Week

The HISTORY® Channel | Back Pocket Studios

Society & Culture, History

4.5 • 4.2K Ratings

🗓️ 5 April 2021

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

April 8, 1974. On a humid night in Atlanta, Hank Aaron is poised to make history. On the all-time home run leaderboard, Aaron is tied with the legendary Babe Ruth. With one swing of the bat, he can break Ruth’s record. But not everyone in America wants to see this happen; the threats against Aaron’s life have warranted FBI protection. Yet in front of 54,000 people in Atlanta and millions more watching at home, Aaron steps up to bat. What was it like to be a Black baseball superstar twenty-five years after Jackie Robinson broke the sport's color barrier? And what is the real story—of threats, fear, and danger—behind Aaron’s record-breaking game?

Special thanks to Howard Bryant, senior writer for ESPN and author of The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron, and Bob Kendrick, President of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The History Channel, original podcast.
0:07.2	History this week, April 8th, 1974.
0:12.6	I'm Sally Haum.
0:19.0	It's a damp evening in Atlanta.
0:21.6	Not great weather for baseball, but nevertheless,
0:25.1	almost 54,000 people have come out to watch the home team,
0:29.1	the Atlanta Braves play the Los Angeles Dodgers.
0:33.3	It's a sell-out crowd, and it's likely to be a good game.
0:36.6	The Dodgers will make the world series later this year,
0:39.3	but the fans are really there because of a single player.
0:44.0	Henry Aaron or as the fans call him Hank.
0:47.3	Baseball is a numbers game, so let's do some numbers.
0:59.2	This was Aaron's 24th season playing for the Braves.
1:03.2	He's played 2,966 games.
1:07.0	He's been up to bat more than 11,000 times.
1:10.0	And at the start of this particular game, he has 714 home runs.
1:17.5	714 is a very important number.
1:21.6	At this moment, on April 8th, 1974,
1:25.3	it is the most home runs ever hit by a single major league baseball player.
1:30.3	But two players have reached that number.
1:33.3	Hank Aaron is tied with the legendary Babe Ruth.
1:37.3	They've each hit 714 home runs.
	...

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