Major League Baseball legend and one-time home run leader Hank Aaron has died.
Tim Kephart of CBS46 reports that Aaron passed away early Friday morning. He was 86.
Aaron, a 25-time All-Star, is one of the greatest baseball players to ever lived. He belted 755 home runs in his Hall of Fame career, which was the most in MLB history until Barry Bonds surpassed him. Aaron remains baseball’s all-time RBI leader with 2,297, total base leader with 6,856 and extra-base hit leader with 1,477.
Aaron, whose nickname was “Hammerin’ Hank,” overcame a great deal of racial tension in the 1970s as he pursued and eventually surpassed Babe Ruth as MLB’s all-time home run leader.
Many will always consider Aaron to be baseball’s home run king, as the latter part of Bonds’ career was tarnished by allegations that he used performance-enhancing drugs. Aaron was very outspoken about his opinions on cheating and advocated for harsh penalties for those who used PEDs.
More recently, Aaron took an extremely harsh stance against the Houston Astros over their sign-stealing scandal.
Aaron had an incredible run in the majors from 1954 to 1976. He won a World Series with the Braves in 1957 and was named the National League MVP that season. Between his death, Tommy Lasorda’s, and a few others, this has been a rough few months for MLB.
