Sadly, we lost Hank Aaron last week. He broke the all-time record when I was ten years old and to me, he was always be the home run king.
The card you see here is for Aaron’s 1957 season. I featured his Great Teams of the Past (GTOP) version of his 1957 card a few years ago but this is the 1986 reprint of his 1957 card. Don Smith shared it in our league chat when we all heard the news.
Appropriately, Aaron hit 44 homers in 1957 matching his uniform number. That led the NL. So did his 132 rbis. He was two hits shy of 200 and hit .322, fourth in the league.
His league-leading 118 runs shouldn’t be a surprise. He actually batted second for the Braves in 51 of their games that season.
Aaron’s prowess with the bat came in handy for Milwaukee. He even hit a game-winning homer to clinch the pennant for the Braves.
| Split | G | GS | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1957 Totals | 151 | 150 | 675 | 615 | 118 | 198 | 27 | 6 | 44 | 132 | 1 | 57 | 58 | .322 | .378 | .600 |
If you compare this 1986 reprint to his GTOP version, you won’t find too many differences. Aside from the placement of 12 and the two 13s (yes, the homerun leader had only two 13s!), they are almost identical.
You won’t find many cards past or present with three first column 5s. As he was in real life, Aaron’s APBA is clutch! He has power numbers 1-5-5-5!
Aaron’s .322 batting average warrants a 55-7 and a 42-9. And did I mention Aaron ’57 has only two 13s? Yeah, I think I did. Wow.
Hank Aaron was actually drafted in the Illowa APBA League before I was a member. By my best guess, he was 40 years old at the time. We’re all pretty shrewd general managers but how can you not draft Hank Aaron even in his golden hour?
In the “what does it take?” department, one thought. In this day and age when the media makes a big deal about whether a player is inducted into the Hall of Fame with a unanimous vote, consider that some BBWAA members did not vote for Aaron’s induction.
715
The video of Vin Scully’s call of Hank Aaron’s record-breaking homerun in 1974 is very much worth the watch.
The months leading up to homerun 715 were not easy for Henry Aaron. He had a secretary named Carla Koplin who read through the 900,000 letters he received over the off-season. Many were filled with hate simply because of the color of his skin. It was Koplin’s job to report these letters to the authorities. Even Koplin herself, received threats.
Aaron kept in touch with Koplin throughout his life and as recently as last year, they corresponded.
Aaron was a great ballplayer and more importantly, a class act.
He was truly one of the best hitters and ambassador for the game of baseball. Those three 5s say something about him. He wasn’t just a slugger, he amassed a colossal hit total that includes over 3,000 non HRs and 6500 total bases.