Henry Aaron in the All-Star Game
This article was written by Robert Grant Price
This article was published in Henry Aaron book essays (2026)
Henry Aaron and Stan Musial, two perennial All-Stars, talk hitting. (SABR-Rucker Archive)
In Henry “Hank” Aaron’s 23-year career in the major leagues, he earned 25 nominations to the National League All-Star team and played in 24 of those games – among the most games played by a single player in baseball history.1
Aaron’s astounding regular-season statistics made his ticket to these midsummer classics an easy bet. He retired with a career batting average of .305, an OPS of .928, and the all-time home-run crown. He was named National League MVP in 1957, won the NL batting title twice, and was a popular choice in All-Star voting, winning the largest share of votes two years in a row. He was in every respect an All-Star.
But Aaron looked like a different player in those games played with baseball’s best. In his All-Star outings, he managed a batting average of just .194 and an OPS of .506. In 1972, when his All-Star batting average dipped to .186, Aaron told the press he was “embarrassed.”2 “You might liken it to the only blemish on a masterpiece,” mused Milton Richman, a sportswriter for the wire service United Press International, of Aaron’s dim average. The uncharacteristic metric “stood out like a pimple on Miss America.”3
Even more puzzling for fans and frustrating for Aaron was his power hitting, or lack of it. Baseball’s mightiest slugger since Babe Ruth hit only two home runs in his 67 All-Star at-bats, and the first one didn’t come until 1971 – 16 years after he first stepped onto an All-Star diamond.
SUBDUED ’50S, QUIET ’60S
The 1950s and 60s proved to be a quiet All-Star run for a quiet man who was usually loud at the plate.
Aaron made his All-Star Game debut in 1955 at the age of 21. He was in his second season with the Milwaukee Braves. He entered the game midway through the contest and contributed two hits, a run, and an RBI in a 12-inning National League 6-5 victory. In 1956 Aaron, who went on to win the NL batting title with an average of .328, replaced an injured Stan Musial but flied out in his only at-bat. In 1957 Commissioner Ford Frick placed Aaron and Mays on the team after it came to light that zealous Cincinnati fans had stuffed the ballot box.4 Aaron, who was named NL MVP for 1957, managed just one hit in four at-bats. The following year, Aaron started the All-Star Game in right field and drove in a run with a sacrifice fly but otherwise had a quiet game.
From 1959 to 1962, the two leagues staged two All-Star Games per season to help raise money for the players’ pension fund. These additional games gave Aaron extra chances to prove his All-Star mettle. He almost did in 1959 when his performance in an All-Star Game rivaled his regular-season performance. On July 7, the first game of 1959, Aaron, who won the NL batting title that year, started in right field for the National League at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. After a slow start – striking out in the first and lining out in the third – he singled in the sixth inning and again in the eighth, driving in Ken Boyer and then scoring on a triple by Willie Mays. Thanks to Aaron’s late-game contributions, the National League overcame the American League’s lead to win 5-4 in front of 35,277 fans.
The second All-Star Game of 1959, held on August 3, saw the American League trump the National League, 5-3. Aaron hit a sacrifice fly to bring in a run but otherwise failed to reach base.
The National League nearly accomplished a decade-long sweep of the American League during the 1960s, winning 11 of 13 games, losing one and tying the other. Aaron played in every game but one and contributed good defense but otherwise put up subdued batting numbers and not a single home run.
The NL secured victories in both All-Star contests of 1960 – 5-3 in Kansas City and 6-0 in New York. Despite having seven at-bats across the two games, Aaron went hitless.
The following year, Aaron finally broke through. In the July 11 game at Candlestick Park, he pinch-hit in the 10th inning, singled to center, and was driven home by Willie Mays in a 5-4 win. But in his second appearance that month, at Boston’s Fenway Park, he went hitless again.
In 1962 Aaron was sidelined because of an injury in the first All-Star Game that year and went 0-for-2 in the second as the AL won 9-4. His 1963 outing included a run scored, but no hits. In 1964 he struck out in his one at-bat and in 1965 he struggled again, getting a single in his five turns at the plate. In 1967’s 15-inning marathon, Aaron collected one hit in six at-bats. In 1968 and 1969, he added a hit and a stolen base, and later a run scored, but his overall All-Star stats through the 1960s remained modest. He was Hammerin’ Hank Aaron everywhere except at the midsummer classic.
“THE GREATEST THRILL”
Fans voted Aaron onto the National League All-Star team in 1970. Even though he won more votes than any other player, sportswriter George Lapides argued that “Hank Aaron had no business playing in it.”5
The reason: Aaron’s failing health.
“Hank Aaron is hurting something awful these days,” lamented Lapides. “Aaron’s knees are killing him.”
Yet Aaron played the game at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, pain and all. He went hitless in two at-bats before being replaced in the fifth inning by hometown hero Pete Rose, who made that game famous when he collided with catcher Ray Fosse at home plate and left him with a separated shoulder.
Aaron’s quiet All-Star performance continued a trend: Despite his career excellence, he could hardly hit the ball in the All-Star Game, let alone a home run. Still, the fans loved him, awarding Aaron the most All-Star ballots in 1970 and 1971.6
For those fortunate fans, Aaron’s All-Star home-run drought ended on July 13, 1971, at Tiger Stadium in the “Night of the Home Run.”7 The game saw a record-matching six home runs that night, including Aaron’s first in an All-Star Game.
Facing American League ace Vida Blue, Aaron stepped to the plate in the third inning.
“The All-Star game has not been Henry Aaron’s bag,” remarked Curt Gowdy, the play-by-play man on the TV broadcast.8 “He’s played in a lot of ’em, but he’s hit only .175. He’s had 10 hits and they’ve all been singles. Tonight, he wants his first extra-base All-Star hit.”
“If his knee holds up and his health continues good, he might have a chance,” said Gowdy.
With a 1-and-2 count and two out, Aaron launched a homer into the upper deck, delivering what fans had long hoped to see. Despite his heroics, the AL beat the NL, 6-4.
A year later, in front of a TV audience of 50 million, Aaron had the chance to repeat the feat. At first it looked as if it wouldn’t happen. Aaron struck out in the first inning and flied to right in the fourth.
On his third and last at-bat, Aaron wiped that blemish away. He homered to left-center off a splitter by Gaylord Perry to bring home César Cedeño. His two-run shot helped the National League edge out the American League, 4-3.
“I couldn’t believe it. I just couldn’t,” Aaron told reporters afterward. “It was the greatest thrill I ever had.”9
The next year, at the 1973 All-Star Game at Royals Stadium in Kansas City, Aaron started at first base and hit an RBI single that brought home Joe Morgan in the National League’s 7-1 trouncing of the American League. In 1974, the year Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s home-run record and cemented his status as baseball’s mightiest batter, he went hitless in his two All-Star at-bats.
STANDING-O
Aaron’s final All-Star Game appearance came in 1975 at Milwaukee’s County Stadium. This marked his 24th selection, tying the record held by Willie Mays and Stan Musial. He was 41 years old and, according to the press, “a bit paunchy” and “no longer the graceful outfielder or the fleet baserunner.”10
Now representing the American League as a Milwaukee Brewer, Aaron received a two-minute standing ovation from the home fans that made him “tingle all over.”11 He pinch-hit in his only turn at the plate and shattered his bat on a line drive to short. The AL fell, 6-3.
The All-Star Game proved a struggle for Aaron and a strange bit of baseball history. The home-run king couldn’t put on the show he wanted to – for fans or for himself. His muted All-Star Game performances are footnotes to an otherwise legendary career.
ROBERT GRANT PRICE lives in Burlington, Ontario, with his wife and their son. His career includes stints as a report- er and managing editor for national trade publications in Canada’s retail and biosciences sectors. Currently, he lectures at the University of Toronto Mississauga and spends summers coaching house league baseball.
NOTES
1 Unless otherwise indicated, the author used Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org as the primary sources.
2 Milton Richman (United Press International), “All-Star Game Was Dream Game for Some,” Sanford (North Carolina) Herald, July 26, 1972: 2.
3 By comparison, Willie Mays’ All-Star Game performance mirrored his success in the regular season. Over 24 All-Star appearances, Mays managed a .307 batting average, a .533 slugging percentage, and a .366 on-base percentage – numbers close to his career totals of .302 batting average, .557 slugging average, and .384 OBP. Similarly, Stan Musial, who played in 24 All-Star Games, looked like much the same player in those outings, but with a notable surge in power. While his averages were comparable (.331 batting average vs. .317; .417 on-base percentage vs. .394), his slugging jumped 76 points, from .559 in the regular season to .635 in All-Star Games.
4 Alan Cohen, “July 9, 1957: Stengel’s ‘Replacements’ Do Well to Give AL a Win in All-Star Game,” SABR Games Project, https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/july-9-1957-stengels-replacements-do-well-to-give-al-a-win-in-all-star-game/.
5 George Lapides, “So Who Was the All-Star Numero Uno?,” Memphis Press-Scimitar, July 15, 1970: 36.
6 Tom Stanton, Hank Aaron and the Home Run That Changed America (New York: William Morrow, 2004), 121.
7 Hal Bodley, “N.L. Streak Gone With the Wind,” Wilmington (Delaware) Morning News, July 14, 1971: 25.
8 “Hank Aaron HR 1971 All Star Game,” YouTube, April 29, 2021, 2:02, https://youtu.be/uQzB5rO3IRA?si=BPjqESso_m2B86Sz.
9 Richman, “All-Star Game Was Dream Game for Some.”
10 “Aaron Still Most Valuable .239 Hitter in Baseball,” Marshfield (Wisconsin) News-Herald, July 15, 1975: 9.
11 “A Thrill for Henry,” Kenosha (Wisconsin) News, July 16, 1975: 29.