July 11, 1976: Brewers’ Henry Aaron hits his ninth and final career walk-off home run

“There’s no comparison with the one in 1957. That one won the pennant. But of all the thrills I’ve had and homers I’ve hit in Milwaukee, this is the next big thrill here.” — Henry Aaron, July 11, 19761

On November 2, 1974, Henry Aaron received a phone call from Milwaukee Brewers President Bud Selig and Atlanta Braves executive Bill Bartholomay informing him that the two clubs had just finalized a trade and he was returning to Milwaukee.2 Aaron, who was in Japan when he got the call, had just defeated Sadaharu Oh 10-9 in a home-run contest.3 “I am thrilled to come back to the city where I started my baseball career,” Aaron told reporters.4

Aaron, 42 years old and well past his prime, entered the 1976 season hoping to give Milwaukee Brewers fans one last glimpse of greatness. “Last year was a wasted year for me. I thought I would’ve had a better year,” he admitted after a disappointing season in 1975 in which he hit just 12 home runs and batted only .234.5 Now he was playing out the final year of a two-year contract that brought him back to Milwaukee, the place where he began his illustrious career 22 years earlier as a 20-year-old rookie with the Milwaukee Braves.

The attendance was 28,149 on a hot Sunday afternoon in July as the Texas Rangers and Brewers played the final two games of a five-game series. Texas entered the day with a 44-36 record, holding on to second place in the American League’s West Division. The Brewers were in sixth place, dead last in the AL East Division with a 32-44 record, 15 games behind the division-leading New York Yankees.

Milwaukee exploded for five runs in the seventh inning of game one and held on for a 6-3 come-from-behind win. It was the Brewers’ fourth straight win as they looked to complete the series sweep of the Rangers in game two.

The thermometer was pushing 94 degrees when the Brewers took the field for the second game. Milwaukee sent Jerry Augustine to the mound. The 23-year-old southpaw came into the game with a 2-6 record and a 4.19 ERA. Used primarily as a reliever the first half of the season, Augustine was making just his eighth start after moving into the Brewers’ starting rotation on June 10.

Starting for Texas was Steve Barr. The 24-year-old left-hander entered the game with a 2-4 record and a 5.44 ERA. Barr had just three starts and one relief appearance combined in 1974-75 with the Boston Red Sox before being traded to the Rangers after the 1975 season.6 He had pitched so poorly earlier in the 1976 season that he was nearly demoted to the minor leagues.7

Texas struck first when Augustine surrendered a walk to Toby Harrah leading off the second inning and Tom Grieve followed with his 11th home run of the season for a quick 2-0 Rangers lead.

Barr held the Brewers hitless with four walks through five innings. Robin Yount ended the potential no-hit suspense with a single to lead off the bottom of the sixth. Trailing 2-0, the Brewers finally got to Barr in the bottom of the seventh inning. Gorman Thomas led off with a single. Bernie Carbo was the next hitter. The left-handed-hitting Carbo was acquired from the Boston Red Sox on June 3 to help bolster Milwaukee’s offense against right-handed pitching.8 Using the opposite-field batting stroke he developed during his days of playing sandlot baseball in the Detroit suburb of Nankin Township,9 Carbo tagged Barr for an opposite-field home run to deep left field, tying the game at 2-2.

After Grieve’s home run in the second inning, Augustine settled in and allowed Texas just a pair of singles over the next five innings. After he got Juan Beníquez on an infield popout to begin the eighth inning, Jim Sundberg singled to right. Milwaukee manager Alex Grammas brought in right-hander Danny Frisella, who walked Gene Clines but then struck out pinch-hitter Roy Howell for the second out of the inning. Grammas went back to his bullpen for left-hander Ray Sadecki, who faced just two hitters. Pinch-hitter Mike Hargrove singled in Sundberg and Dave Moates followed with a single that scored Clines. Bill Castro relieved Sadecki and got a groundout to end the inning.

With a 4-2 lead, Texas manager Frank Lucchesi stuck with his starter and was rewarded. Barr retired the side in order in the bottom of the eighth inning. Castro did the same for Milwaukee, inducing three groundouts in the top of the ninth inning.

Barr started the bottom of the ninth by retiring left fielder Sixto Lezcano on a groundout. He seemed to have regained his composure by retiring seven in a row since allowing Carbo’s home run in the seventh inning. But Thomas tripled to center field and Carbo singled to right, cutting the Rangers’ lead to 4-3 and chasing Barr from the game. Jeff Terpko replaced Barr and retired pinch-hitter Von Joshua on a fly ball for the second out. Pinch-hitter Darrell Porter worked Terpko for a base on balls before Yount came through with a two-out single that scored Bill Sharp, who had entered the game as a pinch-runner for Carbo. With the game knotted at 4-4, Steve Foucault replaced Terpko and got the final out, sending the game to extra innings.

After Castro pitched a scoreless top of the 10th inning, the Brewers had the heart of the order coming up in the bottom half. Foucault quickly retired Scott on a popup to start the inning. That brought up Aaron, who was hitless in his first four trips to the plate. Aaron played in the first two games of the series, collecting a double and home run in game two. He sat out the next two games, including the first game of the doubleheader.

The legendary Bob Uecker was calling the game on Milwaukee radio station WTMJ. On the fifth pitch of the at-bat, according to Uecker’s call, Foucault hung a curveball. Aaron told reporters after the game, “I was looking for a fastball inside and I got it.”10 Whether it was the fastball Aaron was looking for or the hanging curve Uecker thought Foucault served up, Aaron barreled up the pitch and hit a no-doubt home run to deep left. “I knew it was gone as soon as I hit it,” he told reporters after the game. “The wind was blowing out and all a guy had to do was hit the ball decent.”11

After Aaron’s teammates mobbed him at home plate, they rushed into the dugout and down the tunnel to the clubhouse. The crowd was going nuts and could be heard chanting, “We want Henry, we want Henry,” as they refused to leave the ballpark until Aaron came back out for a curtain call. On the radio, Uecker and his broadcast partner, Merle Harmon, were pleading for Aaron to come back out. Harmon said, “Well, Henry, if you’re listening in the clubhouse, come on out. You’ve got to get out here, Henry, come on. They’re waiting on you. They’re not going to leave until you come out.”12

The fans chanted and cheered for 10 minutes after the game until Aaron finally made his appearance on the dugout steps, waving to the crowd with one hand and holding a shower sandal in the other. “I heard on the radio the fans were still out there cheering for me,” he said. “You can’t imagine what a great feeling that was. They’ve always been great to me here. But I’ve got a homer or two left even though for seven years some people have been saying I’m through.”13

The home run was Aaron’s ninth of the season and the final walk-off homer of his career, number 754 all-time. Aaron wasn’t through; nine days later he hit his 755th and final homer, off Angels pitcher Dick Drago.

On this warm night in Milwaukee, Henry Aaron gave Brewers fans one last glimpse of greatness.

SOURCES

In addition to the sources shown in the Notes, the author used Retrosheet.org and Baseball-Reference.com.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIL/MIL197607112.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1976/B07112MIL1976.htm

Thanks to Dennis D. Degenhardt for assistance with Milwaukee newspapers.

NOTES

1  Lou Chapman, “Hitting a Big Home Run Is Still a Thrill for Hank,” Milwaukee Sentinel, July 12, 1976: 1.

2  Dennis Kois, Associated Press, “Aaron Traded to Milwaukee,” Scottsbluff (Nebraska) Star-Herald, November 3, 1974: 13.

3  “Hank Aaron Out Slugs Japanese Hitting Star,” Evansville (Indiana) Press, November 2, 1974: 14.

4  Dennis Kois, “Aaron Traded to Milwaukee.”

5  Dave Anderson (New York Times), “Not the Same,” New London (Connecticut) Day, April 1, 1976: 27.

6  Associated Press, “Red Sox Acquire Ferguson Jenkins From Rangers,” Bridgeport (Connecticut) Post, November 18, 1975: 26.

7  “Lucchesi Has Hoorahs for Ranger Underdogs,” Brownsville (Texas) Herald, July 7, 1976: 30.

8  Associated Press, “Brewers get Carbo for Murphy, Darwin,” Daily Northwestern (Neenah Menasha, Wisconsin), June 4, 1976: 13.

9  Andrew Blume, “Bernie Carbo,” SABR BioProject, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/bernie-carbo/, accessed February 19, 2025.

10  Terry Shepard, “Shoutout Caps Brewer Sweep,” Milwaukee Journal, July 12, 1976: 9.

11  Lou Chapman, “Two Much! Aaron Caps Sweet Sweep With Homer,” Milwaukee Sentinel, July 12, 1976: 6.

12  “Bob Uecker calls a Hank Aaron walk-off HR – July 11, 1976. HR #754,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWQ5v8BTga0, accessed February 20, 2025.

13  “Aaron Stars Again in Milwaukee,” St Louis Post-Dispatch, July 12, 1976: 10.