Hank Aaron was born February 5, 1934, in Mobile Alabama. Hank was a quiet boy who just had one or two friends in the neighborhood. When Hank was eight he saw his first major league game. After the game he knew he wanted to be a major league baseball player which is a good dream because it makes you work hard to make it come true. Hank Aaron had a brother, a father, and mother. Hank's brother's name was Herbert Aaron. Sometimes Hank would play catch with his brother and father. His father didn't play catch most the time because he was at work trying to keep the family together. Hank would sometimes skip school and go down to the baseball bleachers and liked watch players like Joe Dimagio, and Micky Mantel. When his parents found out that Hank was skipping school they scolded him and told Hank that it was important to get an education. His father said that the reason he gave Hank fifty cents to take to school and he took twenty five cents to work was because it was more important to see that Hank got an education than it was for him to eat. In school Hank got some very good grades like A's, and B's. When Hank played baseball in the major's later on in his life he always weighed 180 pounds, and was six feet tall. When Hank was young he lived in a very poor environment his father was bringing in about ten dollars a month. In the later years Hank himself was bringing in about $200,000 a year.
Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's homerun record on April 8, 1974 by hitting his 715th homerun. At the end of his career, which ended in 1975, Hank had hit 755 homers. Babe Ruth's homerun record had remained untouched until Hank Aaron came along. He was a Master Blaster. He was one of the few people to hit over 3,000 hits in major league baseball. In fact he hit 3,771 in his major league career. Hank Aaron was also one of the first black men in the Sally League. The Sally League wasthe last step before the majors. Of crouse it doesn't existnow. In one of the cities he always got called nigger because they thought black players shouldn't be able to play baseball. But Hank just answered with his homerun bat. After Hank retired he became vice president of the Atlanta ball club. In 1982 Hank Aaron was elected in to the Babeball Hall of Fame. Seven years after he retired from baseball.
This stamp commemorates Hank Aaron. Hank Aaron's number in his first year in baseball was 5. The next year he asked to have a double number like 22, 33, and 44. Hank picked 44 and that was his number the rest of the twenty three seasons he played in baseball. When Hank hit his 600th homerun at SanFrancisco Stadium he came even closer to Babe Ruth's record. Even though he had already conqured Willie May's record of 559 homeruns Hank just kept on hitting them. I used these colors because they are the colors of the 1970 Braves.
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