July 14, 1968: Henry Aaron’s 500th career home run is no ‘cheap’ shot

Henry Aaron hit his 500th career home run against the Giants’ Mike McCormick. (SABR-Rucker Archive)

For a fourth day in a row, the stage was set for Henry Aaron’s dream to come true.

After hitting two homers in the last game before the All-Star break on July 7, 1968,1 Aaron needed one more to become the eighth member of the major leagues’ illustrious 500-home run club. The man teammates had recently dubbed “Henry The Eighth”2 told reporters he hoped the milestone round-tripper would come in an Atlanta Braves victory in front of a home crowd at Atlanta Stadium – just like the 34,283 fans who had gathered for a Sunday afternoon game against the San Francisco Giants on July 14.3

Aaron, the two-time defending National League home-run champion,4 failed to hit a home run during a three-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers coming out of the All-Star break. But in his second at-bat against reigning National League Cy Young Award winner Mike McCormick5 the next day, he laced the milestone home run off the Fan-O-Gram video board in left-center field. Aaron’s three-run homer made the difference in Atlanta’s 4-2 victory that snapped San Francisco’s three-game winning streak in the first meeting of a two-game series against the Giants.

“I’m glad I hit it off a good pitcher like Mike,” the 34-year-old Aaron said of his 19th homer of the year,6 which traveled an estimated 400 feet. “Somehow it means a little more when you hit it off a Cy Young winner.”

“I’m also glad I hit it good. It wasn’t a cheap home run.”7

After a thunderstorm delayed the game for 55 minutes in the second inning, the 29-year-old McCormick looked to be in line for a quick third inning after inducing Marty Martínez and Ron Reed into groundouts, but Felipe Alou and Félix Millán8 followed with back-to-back singles. McCormick fell behind 3-and-1 in the count to Aaron, starting a mental chess match between two players who had faced each other 89 times in the past.9

“Last year he struck me out three times in a game on fastballs,”10 Aaron said, “so that’s what I was guessing. I figured he’d think I would be looking for a screwball.”11

But the left-handed McCormick never threw his signature pitch. Instead, Aaron’s eyes widened when he saw a fastball that stayed up in the strike zone. The right-handed-hitting Aaron later said he “knew it was gone once I hit it.”12

Teammates streamed from the dugout to meet Aaron at home plate as Atlanta’s largest crowd of the season gave him the most thunderous ovation he had ever received.13 Braves President Bill Bartholomay presented a three-tiered trophy to mark the milestone, and the ball – retrieved by groundskeeper Phillip Arthur14 – was given to Aaron during the brief celebration. It had been clobbered so hard that it was misshapen.

“I don’t mind telling you I got a tremendous thrill out of it; I’m proud to be the manager of a great ball player and see him hit his 500th,” said the typically reserved Luman Harris, who was in his first season as Braves manager. “It tickles me that it won the game. Hank wanted it to be an important one, and it was.”15

McCormick had faced Aaron 76 times during his first tenure with the Giants between 1957 and 1962.16 He spent the next four years in the American League, and many in baseball suspected his once-promising career and blazing fastball had been derailed by a shoulder injury he suffered late in the 1962 campaign.17

But McCormick reinvented himself as a reliable control pitcher in the AL and returned to the Giants in 1967 to lead the NL with 22 victories. Coming into this meeting with the Braves, McCormick had won only one of his past six starts – and Aaron’s blow prevented him from snapping his personal skid.

“I hate that it was me he hit it off. But he had to get those other 499 off somebody, too, didn’t he?” said McCormick, who had surrendered eight of those other homers. “Honestly, I congratulate Henry for his milestone achievement. He’s a great hitter, and he deserves it. As good as he is, eventually he’s gonna hit it out on you.”18

“I meant to get the ball low and on the inside of the plate,” he added. “Instead, it was up and right over the middle. And I don’t know why.” 19

Aaron’s home run doubled as his 2,700th career hit,20 making him the 27th player in major-league history to reach the mark. He also became the fourth active member of the 500-home run club (joining former teammate Eddie Mathews,21 Mickey Mantle, and Willie Mays).

Joe Torre and Tommie Aaron – Henry’s brother – followed the home run with singles to chase McCormick from the game in his second-shortest start of the season to date,22 but reliever Bobby Bolin got Deron Johnson to pop up to end the threat.

The next inning, Atlanta added another run when Sonny Jackson – in his first season with the Braves23 – doubled to right and advanced a base after right fielder Dave Marshall misplayed the ball. Martínez punched a single to left for a 4-0 lead.

San Francisco finally cut into its deficit in the eighth. Bob Schroder, who had entered the game as a defensive replacement in the sixth, lashed his only career triple to center and scored when former Brave Ty Cline24 grounded out to second.

In the top of the ninth, Jesús Alou led off with a single, but it looked as though Reed would secure his sixth complete game of the season after getting Marshall to fly out and striking out Jack Hiatt.25 But Mays stepped in as a pinch-hitter and singled to center, prompting Harris to pull Reed from the game. Reliever Cecil Upshaw allowed an RBI single to pinch-hitter Dick Dietz26 but retired Schro der to close the game.27

Reed, a rookie who spent the 1965-66 and 1966-67 seasons with the NBA’s Detroit Pistons, had brief stints with the Braves in 1966 and 1967 before pursuing his baseball career full-time in 1968. The All-Star28 improved to 9-4 with his second win of the season over the Giants. McCormick – who was also named Comeback Player of the Year by The Sporting News in 1967 – took his third straight loss, falling to 6-12.

Atlanta’s fourth straight victory marked its longest winning streak of the season to date.29 With six wins in seven games, the Braves improved to 47-40 but still trailed the eventual pennant-winning St. Louis Cardinals by 9½ games.30 The Giants fell to 45-43 and dropped into fourth place.31

Henry Aaron’s native Mobile, Alabama, declared the week of July 15-22 as “Hank Aaron Week,”32 and the Braves celebrated “Henry Aaron Night” on August 23. Aaron homered that evening as part of Atlanta’s 6-0 win over the Philadelphia Phillies.

The only thing missing from the 500-home run celebration?

Aaron’s parents – especially his 67-year-old father, Herbert, who left Atlanta earlier in the day.

“After I hit those two home runs just before the All-Star break, I called [my father] and mother in Mobile and asked if they could come,” Aaron said. “I wanted them to be here so bad. Mother was a little under the weather, but Dad said he’d come. When he left this morning, he said he knew I was going to get it today.

“I guess he knew what he was talking about.”33

Milestone home run moments continued for Aaron, who hit his 600th home run on April 27, 1971, and his 700th on July 21, 1973. He became the all-time career home-run leader when he slugged his 715th home run on April 8, 1974.34

SOURCES

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted the Baseball-Reference.com, Stathead.com, and Retrosheet.org websites for pertinent statistics and the box scores noted below. He also used information obtained from the Atlanta Journal, Atlanta Constitution, San Francisco Examiner, Oakland Tribune, and The Sporting News.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/ATL/ATL197205310.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1972/B05310ATL1972.htm

NOTES

1  In his 2,200th career game, Aaron hit two homers for the 42nd time. He had a chance to hit a third home run for the second time in his career but instead singled in the bottom of the seventh and doubled in the bottom of the ninth, giving him four hits in a game for the 43rd time.

2  Ron Speer (Associated Press), “Homer No. 500 Coming Up for Rejuvenated Aaron,” Columbus (Georgia) Ledger, July 8, 1968: 17.

3  The crowd was the largest of the season for the Braves to date, and only two games later in the season against the eventual NL champion St. Louis Cardinals drew larger crowds – Friday, August 9, when 41,267 fans turned out to see a matchup of future Hall of Famers Bob Gibson and Phil Niekro, and Sunday, August 11, when 34,874 fans attended.

4  Aaron led the NL in home runs in 1966 with 44 and in 1967 with 39, which marked his fourth and final home-run title (also 44 in 1957 and 39 in 1961).

5  Commissioner Ford C. Frick introduced the Cy Young Award for the 1956 season following Cy Young’s death on November 4, 1955. The award was designed to honor Young’s legacy as the winningest pitcher in major-league history by recognizing the top pitcher in the major leagues. In 1967 a Cy Young Award was given to the top pitcher in each league for the first time. No Giants pitcher had won the award before McCormick.

6  Coming into the game, Aaron stood behind San Francisco’s Willie McCovey (22) and Jim Ray Hart (19) in the NL home-run chase. McCovey ultimately won his second career home-run crown with 36, while Aaron finished fifth in the NL with 29 – his lowest single-season total since he hit 24 in 1964. McCovey was also the only NL player with more than 100 RBIs in 1968 (105).

7  Teague Jackson, “Giants Praise Henry,” Atlanta Journal, July 15, 1968: 4-C.

8  Atlanta’s Millán, Mike Lum, and Cecil Upshaw each earned $5,000 contract incentives because July 14 marked their 90th day on the major-league roster.

9  Aaron’s 500th home run was his eighth off McCormick. At the time, only Don Drysdale (17) and Don Cardwell (9) had allowed more homers to Aaron. Aaron hit a ninth home run off McCormick on September 11, 1969, making him one of eight pitchers to allow that many homers to Aaron. Others were Drysdale (17), Claude Osteen (14), Bob Friend (12), Cardwell (10), Roger Craig (10), Larry Jackson (9), and Robin Roberts (9).

10  McCormick did not strike out Aaron during the 1967 season. Aaron could have been referring to a game on August 14 when he went 0-for-4 and fouled out twice.

11  Charlie Roberts, “500th ‘Best’ to Hank,” Atlanta Constitution, July 15, 1968: 35.

12  Associated Press, “Aaron Beats Giants With 500th Homer,” Macon (Georgia) News, July 15, 1968: 7.

13  Wilt Browning, “Aaron Glad He Didn’t Hit 500th Too Hard,” Atlanta Journal, July 15, 1968: 5-C.

14  Roberts.

15  Wayne Minshew, “Aaron Joins ‘Club’ in 3rd Braves Win Again 4-2,” Atlanta Constitution, July 15, 1968: 35.

16  The Giants signed McCormick as a $50,000 “bonus baby” in 1956 when he was 17 years old. He first met Aaron as an 18-year-old on June 19, 1957.

17  As a 24-year-old in 1962, McCormick experienced serious shoulder pain while pitching and did not pitch in the World Series against the New York Yankees. The Giants traded him to the Baltimore Orioles as part of a six-player deal on December 15, which Baltimore’s general manager Lee McPhail admitted was “a gamble” because of the uncertainty of McCormick’s health. Lou Hatter, “Stu Miller, McCormick Come Here,” Baltimore Sun, December 16, 1962: 1D.

18  Jackson.

19  James K. McGee, “Mike Can’t Explain Defeats,” San Francisco Examiner, July 15, 1968: 45.

20  Aaron later singled in the seventh inning, which left him 12-for-23 over his last six games and raised his batting average from .231 to .251. He eventually hit in 10 straight games.

21  Mathews, who played with the Braves from 1952 to 1966, also joined the 500-home-run club in a game against the Giants. On July 14, 1967, the Houston Astros slugger sent a Juan Marichal pitch over the right-field wall at Candlestick Park to reach the milestone.

22  After winning 22 games in 1967, McCormick’s follow-up to his Cy Young season was a disappointment. On July 27, his start lasted only 1⅓ innings, and 10 of his final 15 appearances came out of the bullpen.

23  The Braves acquired Jackson in a trade with the Houston Astros after the 1967 season. They sent Denny Lemaster and Denis Menke to Houston and received Jackson and Chuck Harrison.

24  The Giants purchased Cline from the Braves on May 31, 1967.

25  Reed completed three of his first five starts of the season and had back-to-back complete games on June 19 and 25. He also pitched 8⅔ innings of his start on May 9 and threw 8⅓ innings on May 24.

26  Dietz did not start due to a sprained ankle. Ten days earlier, he had homered and doubled against the Braves at Candlestick Park.

27  Saves did not become an official statistic until 1969, but Upshaw would have been credited with his sixth save.

28  Reed pitched two-thirds of an inning in his lone All-Star Game appearance. He struck out one batter as the NL beat the AL, 1-0.

29  The winning streak ended at six games after a 4-2 win the next day to sweep the series and a 6-2 win on July 16 at Houston. Atlanta had two other four-game winning streaks later in the year – from July 24-26 and August 28-30. Both included sweeps of a doubleheader.

30  By season’s end, the Braves fell to fifth place with an 81-81 record.

31  San Francisco closed the season 88-74 and second in the standings, finishing nine games behind the Cardinals.

32  United Press International, “Aaron Week Proclaimed at Mobile,” Columbus (Georgia) Enquirer, July 17, 1968: 17.

33  Browning.

34  Aaron closed his career with 755 home runs, a major-league record that stood until Barry Bonds surpassed his total on August 7, 2007.