Aaron was an NL batting champion twice!
Aaron hit.314 with 27 home runs and 106 runs batted in (RBI) in 1955. He received his first NL All-Star roster award as a result. Aaron repeated the feat a year later in 1956 with a successful hit of.328! He won his second NL batting title as a result of this! These accomplishments also allow Aaron to be named the Sporting News National League Player of the Year. With a.328 average and third place in the NL MVP voting in 1956, he earned the first of his two National League hitting crowns, a position he would hold six times over the course of his career. Hank was nominated for the MVP award 13 times, including the 1957 NL MVP honor. That season, Hank missed capturing the coveted and elusive Triple Crown as he finished third in batting average (.322) – 29 point less than St. Louis Cardinals Stan Musial – while leading the NL in home runs (44) and RBI (132) as well as runs (118) and total bases (340).
Regrettably, he had to deal with racism, hate mail, and even death threats during the off-season over the possibility that he, a black man, may surpass Ruth's total. Aaron equaled The Babe on his opening swing of the 1974 season against Cincinnati Reds pitcher Jack Billingham, proving that he was still undefeated at the age of 39. Then, on April 8, 1974, during the Atlanta Braves' home opener in front of a record-breaking 53,000+ spectators at Fulton County Stadium, Aaron topped the mighty Babe Ruth’s home run record of 714, which stood for 39 years, when he took Los Angeles Dodgers Al Downing’s 1-0 pitch over the left field wall for his 715th career home run. As he rounded the bases, he was greeted between second and third by two white college students who congratulated the slugger all the way to home plate.
