June 12, 1962: Aaron brothers lead Braves’ hit parade in 15-2 hammering of Dodgers

Henry Aaron and Tommie Aaron crossing bats at Bradenton, Florida on March 1, 1962. (SABR-Rucker Archive)

Henry Aaron was in his ninth season with the Milwaukee Braves in 1962 when his 22-year-old brother, Tommie, broke into the major leagues as his teammate. With Henry having already established himself as one of baseball’s premier sluggers, Tommie had big shoes to fill if he was to match his older brother. As it turned out, Tommie’s career as a home-run hitter didn’t come close to Henry’s. However, the two men from Mobile, Alabama, shared a game highlight against the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 12, 1962. The duo combined hitting efforts, including a homer by each, to help lead the Braves to a 15-2 drubbing.

Nicknamed Hammerin’ Hank, Henry was coming off a season in which he led the National League in total bases for the fifth time in six seasons with 358. He batted .327 with 34 home runs and 120 RBIs. He had been an All-Star in each season after his debut in 1954.

Like his older brother, Tommie began his professional career at age 18, in 1958. The right-handed hitter progressed through the low minors with relative ease, showing a propensity to hit for power.1 Yet he wasn’t considered a “can’t-miss” prospect like his brother. By 1961 Tommie was playing with Austin in the Double-A Texas League, where he slashed .299/.377/.443, with 15 home runs and 70 RBIs.

Tommie went to spring training with the Braves in 1962. Primarily a first baseman, he also saw action in the outfield. He and Henry appeared in a spring exhibition game together for the first time on March 11, and they both hit home runs in a 10-6 win over Detroit.2 Henry believed his brother was a legitimate slugger. He said, “He has really impressed me as a good hitter. He does not fall away from the plate either. He hangs right in there.”3

Tommie was one of eight rookies to make the Braves’ 28-man Opening Day roster.4 He and Henry became roommates on the road.

After an offday for both teams, the NL-leading Dodgers opposed the sixth-place Braves on June 12 in a night game at County Stadium in Milwaukee. The attendance was 10,376.

Two World Series veterans got the call as starting pitchers – Dodgers lefty Johnny Podres versus Braves right-hander Lew Burdette. Neither hurler had been particularly effective up to this point in the season. Podres had a 3-4 record and a 4.54 ERA, while Burdette was 3-4, 5.44. He had been hampered by a sprained ankle early in the season and spent three weeks on the sidelines.

Tommie Aaron drew the starting assignment at first base, batting leadoff. In previous games, he had been playing left field and sharing duties with veteran first baseman Joe Adcock, often as a defensive replacement. Henry was the starting center fielder, hitting in his normal cleanup spot.

The Dodgers were led by Tommy Davis and Maury Wills, who were in the midst of record-setting seasons.

Burdette got an immediate jolt in the first inning when the speedy Wills hit a leadoff triple to right field. Jim Gilliam followed with a line-drive double to right that gave the Dodgers a quick lead.

In the bottom of the inning, Podres retired the first two batters before yielding a single to Eddie Mathews. Henry Aaron walked and Mack Jones singled, driving in Mathews. Del Crandall drove in Aaron with a single. With two runners on, Gus Bell hit a home run to deep right field to make the score 5-1, Braves.

The Braves’ offensive onslaught continued in the second inning. Tommie Aaron, who had struck out in his first at-bat, doubled and stole third. Mathews slammed his 11th home run of the season, to deep right. A shell-shocked Podres was replaced with Phil Ortega by manager Walt Alston. But Henry Aaron gave Ortega an abrupt greeting with his 11th homer of the season, making the score 8-1.

Burdette settled in, as he threw his second straight perfect inning in the third.

The Braves’ hot hitting continued in the third. Ortega wasn’t any more effective than Podres. He loaded the bases on singles by Frank Bolling and Burdette and a walk to Roy McMillan. Mathews also drew a walk, scoring Bolling. Burdette and McMillan scored on Henry Aaron’s single. The game had the makings of a blowout, with the Braves leading 11-1 after only three innings.

Ortega gave up two more runs in the fourth inning on Bolling’s home run with Crandall on base. It was the fifth home run of the season for Bolling, who had been hitless in only eight of his first 35 games in 1962.

Burdette continued his mastery of the Dodgers with a perfect fourth inning. With a 13-1 lead in the fifth inning, he struck out the side.

Ortega put two runners on base in the fifth and loaded the bases in the sixth but escaped without giving up a run both times.

In the seventh Burdette gave up Wally Moon’s single, the Dodgers’ first hit since Gilliam’s first-inning double. The Dodgers scored a run in the next inning on Willie Davis’s double that drove in Frank Howard.

After Ortega was finally replaced in the eighth, by Ed Roebuck, Tommie Aaron hit his second home run of the season, with Burdette on base. The game ended with a final score of 15-2.

The Braves collected 17 hits. Every Braves starter except McMillan got at least one hit. Bolling and Henry Aaron led with three. The Aaron brothers accounted for five hits and five RBIs. Mathews joined Mickey Mantle for eighth place on the all-time home-run list with 381.5

Burdette ended up yielding six hits and a walk and striking out eight to record his second consecutive complete-game win. He said of his outing, “I had good stuff, good control and threw harder than at any time this season.”6 It was his first win over the Dodgers in County Stadium since July 13, 1956. He finished the season with 10 wins after having won 18 the year before.

Podres suffered his third consecutive loss but would end the season with 15 wins. The loss by the Dodgers and doubleheader wins by the San Francisco Giants cut the Dodgers’ lead over the Giants to one game. The Dodgers and Giants finished the regular season in a tie for first place. The Giants won a three-game tiebreaker and advanced to the World Series.

Wills set a major-league record with 104 stolen bases, breaking Ty Cobb’s previous record of 96 in 1915. Davis led the NL with 230 hits, 153 RBIs, and a .346 batting average. His RBI mark established a new franchise record, surpassing Roy Campanella’s 142 in 1953.

The Aaron brothers hit homers in the same game twice more – on July 12 and August 14. Tommie ended the season with 8 home runs and 38 RBIs, while Henry clubbed 45 homers (second in the NL) and had 128 RBIs (fourth in the NL). Henry enjoyed a 25-game hitting streak in August.

In no other year did Tommie Aaron hit more than two home runs. In all, he hit only 13 homers during his seven-year (437 games) major-league career. A utility player, he never held a full-time role with the Braves. In his autobiography I Had A Hammer, Henry said he believed his brother’s career might have been different had the two not been on the same team.7

Henry broke Babe Ruth’s home-run record of 714 in 1974 and ended his career with 755.

SOURCES

In addition to the sources in the Notes, the author consulted:

Finch, Frank. “Dodgers Blitzed by Braves,” Los Angeles Times, June 13, 1962: 1, 3.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MLN/MLN196206120.shtml.

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1962/B06120MLN1962.htm.

NOTES

1  Tommie Aaron hit 26 home runs with Eau Claire (Class C) in 1959 and 20 with Cedar Rapids (Class B) in 1960.

2  “Aarons Team Up First Time; Celebrate by Belting Homers,” The Sporting News, March 21, 1962: 34.

3  “Hank Aaron Nods Approval of Kid Brother as Slugger,” The Sporting News, April 4, 1962: 46.

4  “Braves Opened With Eight Frosh on 28-Player Roster,” The Sporting News, April 18, 1962: 30.

5  “Burdette and Braves Look Like Old Selves,” Atlanta Journal, June 13, 1962: 20.

6  “Burdette and Braves Look Like Old Selves.”

7  Hank Aaron and Lonnie Wheeler, I Had A Hammer (New York: Harper Collins, 1991), 163.