August 21, 1971: Henry Aaron hits two homers, drives in six runs against Cardinals

Henry Aaron hit at least 20 home runs in every season from 1955 through 1974. (SABR-Rucker Archive)

Six times in his great career, Henry Aaron drove home six runs in a game.1 He accomplished that feat for the final time on August 21, 1971, against the St. Louis Cardinals. The Atlanta Braves slugger hit two home runs in the game, an 8-5 victory at Atlanta Stadium. Braves beat reporter Wayne Minshew wrote, “Hank Aaron had a good week Saturday night.”2 Hammerin’ Hank, according to Minshew, put together “his most productive night of the season as he personally destroyed the Cardinals” in front of 22,451 fans.

Aaron, who made his big-league debut in 1954, now had 1,935 career RBIs and was less than 300 behind the leader, Babe Ruth, who had 2,214.

With that pair of homers, Aaron had 627 for his career, putting him 87 behind Ruth’s major-league-record 714. In his autobiography I Had A Hammer, Aaron wrote, “It was somewhere along in 1971 that everybody realized this might be serious.” Willie Mays, another great hitter, was slowing down. The Say Hey Kid was 40 years old – nearly three years older than Aaron – and had 644 home runs. He had not reached the 30-homer mark in a season since 1966. “It became increasingly obvious that if anybody was going to challenge Ruth’s record,” Aaron wrote, “it would be me.”3

With much hyperbole, Ed Wilks of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote, “There were one or two moments Saturday night when the thought arose that Henry Aaron was going to catch Babe Ruth all in one game.”4

Syndicated sports columnist Mel Durslag had asked Aaron a few days earlier about reaching 715. Aaron liked his chances if he could get within 80 or so by season’s end. “I’ll be 38 next season,” he said. “If my health holds, I should be able to hit, say, 82 over three years.”5

Besides Aaron, the Braves’ offense counted on catcher Earl Williams, outfielders Ralph Garr and Mike Lum, and young third baseman Darrell Evans. Both Garr and Evans were playing their first full seasons in the majors. The Braves were 66-62 and in third place in the National League West Division, nine games behind the first-place San Francisco Giants.

The Cardinals, meanwhile, had a record of 67-58 and stood in third place in the National League East, six games behind the front-running Pittsburgh Pirates. Joe Torre, en route to NL MVP honors, led the St. Louis offense. The third baseman was in his third year with the Cardinals after spending nine seasons, including five All-Star campaigns, as a Brave. Veteran outfielder Lou Brock provided speed and occasional power, while young catcher Ted Simmons had begun menacing opposing pitchers with his sweet line-drive swing.

One night earlier, the Braves had knocked off the Cardinals, 6-5, in the series opener. Atlanta took a 5-1 lead after three innings before St. Louis climbed back to tie the score. Marty Perez hit a game-winning sacrifice fly for the Braves in the 12th. Aaron homered in the first inning off Reggie Cleveland, his 77th career homer against St. Louis.

Ed Wilks gave the Braves a tepid review: “Fact is, the Braves don’t seem sufficiently endowed to take ANYTHING – even when somebody wants to give it away. The Cardinals tried their best to give away last night’s game to the Braves. It took Atlanta a dozen innings to get the idea.”6

Steve Carlton, a 6-foot-4-inch left-hander with a good fastball and a devastating slider, started for St. Louis in the middle game of this three-game series. The 26-year-old from Miami boasted a won-lost record of 16-6 with a 3.46 ERA. Carlton and 35-year-old Bob Gibson (11-11 but a 3.34 ERA) gave the Redbirds a tough one-two starting pitcher duo.

Opposing Carlton was 25-year-old right-hander George Stone from Rustin, Louisiana, with a record of 5-4 and a 2.76 ERA. Minshew had recently called him “a bona-fide future ace.”7 Stone competed in a pitching rotation led by knuckleballer Phil Niekro, who was putting together a comeback season of sorts after suffering through a subpar 1970 campaign. Niekro won 23 games in 1969 and posted a 2.56 ERA but slipped to 12-18 in 1970 with a 4.27 ERA.. Thus far in 1971, he was 12-10 with a 3.17 ERA.

The game was scoreless through the first three innings with Stone racking up three strikeouts and allowing two singles. Carlton had one strikeout and had given up a base hit.

St. Louis broke out on top with a three-run rally in the fourth. Matty Alou hit a one-out single and Torre followed with a base hit, his second of the game. Simmons drove home Alou with a single to left field. Torre scooted to third base on left fielder Garr’s error. Joe Hague’s triple gave the Cardinals a 3-0 advantage.

Garr, atoning for his miscue, doubled to lead off the Braves’ half of the fourth. Aaron, who grounded out in the first inning, singled him home before Carlton retired the next three batters.

After Perez flied out to start the bottom of the sixth, Garr once again got the best of Carlton, hitting another single. That brought up Aaron, who homered to left field, tying the score.

Stone retired the Cardinals in order in the top of the seventh. The Braves knocked out Carlton in the bottom of the frame. Sonny Jackson and Gil Garrido hit one-out singles, putting runners on first and third. Stone reached on an error by first baseman Alou that allowed Jackson to score, while Garrido tied the game on a successful sacrifice bunt.

Garr followed with his third hit of the game and scored his second run when Aaron homered the opposite way to right field. The Braves now had an 8-3 lead and Aaron had six RBIs. It was his fifth two-homer game in 1971 and the 54th of his career.

Carlton’s evening ended after he allowed a two-out double to catcher Earl Williams. Reliever Frank Linzy came in and got Zolio Versalles to fly out. (This was the final season of Versalles’ 12-year career. He won the American League MVP in 1965 with the Minnesota Twins. The Braves had acquired the Cuban-born shortstop on May 31 after he played part of 1971 in the Mexican League.)

Stone recorded another one-two-three inning in the eighth, his third straight and fourth of the game. New St. Louis pitcher Daryl Patterson retired Atlanta in order in the bottom of the eighth.

Torre began the Cardinals’ ninth by grounding out; Simmons flied out. At this point, Stone had retired 12 straight batters. Hague halted that streak by hitting a single to left field. Maybe tiring, Stone allowed a two-run homer to José Cruz, a rookie outfielder who went on to enjoy a solid 19-year career in the majors, mostly with the Houston Astros. Jim Beauchamp ended the game by striking out.

About his big night, Aaron told reporters, “I get that like that sometimes. It’s something, what a day off can do. … [Carlton] just got a change-up and a curve up to me. Anytime you have that kind of night against a guy like that, you have to be thankful he made a mistake or two. He had good stuff.”8

Since mid-July, Aaron had posted a .325 batting average with 11 home runs and 26 RBIs over 30 games. Willie McCovey, the San Francisco Giants’ hard-hitting first baseman, may deserve at least some credit for that hot streak. Aaron had suffered a right-knee injury in 1970, and the “gimpy-kneed” McCovey suggested at the All-Star Game in Detroit that he try wearing a knee brace.9

Stone, who struck out six Cardinals and scattered nine hits but did not walk a batter, seemed in awe of Aaron’s incredible talent. “I kept running around the dugout all night,” he said, “[s]aying, ‘That guy is unreal.’ I’ll tell you, I’m glad to be playing with a guy like that. How ’bout you, Mike?”10 Stone was talking to teammate Mike Lum.

“Yeah, he’s something,” said Lum, the outfielder from Hawaii. “I just want to be around when he hits his 715th.” Stone answered, “Right. Then we can tell people we played with the greatest.”11

Columnist Durslag had asked Aaron whether he felt any pressure over chasing that coveted mark. “The worst pressure is behind me,” Aaron said. “That was proving myself as a player. All the other pressure I’m used to. I’ve been living with it for years.”12

Aaron finished the 1971 campaign with a career-high 47 homers and drove in 118 runs. He broke Ruth’s home-run record on April 8, 1974, and went on to hit a total of 755. He retired with 2,297 RBIs, also first on the all-time list.

SOURCES

In addition to the sources cited, the author accessed Baseball-Reference.com.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/ATL/ATL197108210.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1971/B08210ATL1971.htm

NOTES

1   Besides August 21, 1971, Aaron drove in six runs in a game on September 2, 1957; June 21, 1959; June 8, 1966; June 27, 1967; and August 28, 1969.

2  Wayne Minshew, “Aaron Powers Braves’ Win,” Atlanta Constitution, August 22, 1971: 61.

3  Hank Aaron with Lonnie Wheeler, I Had A Hammer: The Hank Aaron Story (New York: Harper Paperbacks, 1992), 294.

4  Ed Wilks, “Aaron’s Blasts Demolish Cards, 8-5,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 22,1971: 99.

5  Mel Durslag, Columbia (Missouri) Daily Tribune, August 22, 1971: 15.

6  Ed Wilks, “Blessed to Give, Cards Convince Braves,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 21, 1971: 5.

7  David E. Skelton, “George Stone,” SABR biography at https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/George-Stone/

8  Minshew.

9  Wilks. “Aaron’s Blasts Demolish Cards, 8-5.”

10  Minshew.

11  Minshew.

12  Durslag.