Born Henry Louis Aaron on February 5, 1934, in Mobile, baseball icon Hank Aaron first honed his baseball skills while growing up in Alabama. He is best known for breaking Babe Ruth’s record of 714 home runs, ultimately hitting 755, a record that stood from 1974 to 2007. During his career Aaron was a member of the Milwaukee and then Atlanta braves for 21 seasons and made the National League All-Star team every year, from 1955 to 1974. He won three Gold Glove awards for outfield, and his lifetime records for most runs batted in and most extra base hits still stand. Aaron was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982, with 97.8 percent of the votes cast. In 2002, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.

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Encyclopedia of Alabama

Photos courtesy of: Alamy, Archive.org, Alabama Department of Archives and History, Getty Images