June 27, 1967: Henry Aaron wallops record-breaking grand slam to beat Astros

Henry Aaron retired with an NL-record 16 grand slams. (SABR-Rucker Archive)

In late June of 1967, Grady Hatton’s Houston Astros rolled into Fulton County prepared to square off against Billy Hitchcock’s Atlanta Braves in a two-game set. As the series opened Atlanta was tied with the San Francisco Giants for fifth place in the 10-team National League (36-34) and Houston was in last place at 19 games below .500 (26-45).

The 1967 season was the Braves’ second in Atlanta,1 and this June series was the fifth trip for the Astros to Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. The Braves had dominated in those previous four matchups, with a 9-2-1 record.2 Atlanta’s Henry Aaron hit .214 in the 12 games, with 7 RBIs and 4 home runs.3 At 33 years old, he entered the day batting .322 and was tied with Houston’s Jim Wynn for the league lead in home runs (18). “When you get to my age you’re supposed to be slipping. You’re not supposed to be going up. So everything becomes that more enjoyable,” said the star right fielder. 4 “I’m still in top shape,” he added, commenting on the success he’d found even as an aging ballplayer.5

Toeing the rubber for Houston on June 27 was lefty Wade Blasingame, a former Braves teammate of Aaron’s, who’d been traded from Atlanta to Houston 12 days earlier. He’d face off against the Braves’ Tony Cloninger.

With the sun shining on a low-70s day6 and a crowd of 12,744 on hand at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, the game began with Sonny Jackson’s groundout to shortstop, the first out in a one-two-three first inning for Cloninger. The Braves also went down in order. Aaron’s first at-bat was uneventful: a grounder to shortstop.

Nobody reached base until the Braves’ half of the third when, after retiring the first two batters, Blasingame lost his command, walking Cloninger, Felipe Alou, and Mack Jones.

Aaron, the Braves’ number-three hitter, “[belted a] jackpot wallop,” giving Atlanta a 4-0 lead.7 On a 2-and-2 count, he hit a high fastball from Blasingame 423 feet into the left-center-field seats.

The grand slam was the 11th of Aaron’s career, making him the league’s active leader in the category. He had previously been tied with Chicago’s Ernie Banks at 10. Aaron mustered a simple “wow” when he learned of his accomplishment, responding, “I guess that’s one less record I can forget.”8 “I didn’t even know I had taken the lead in grand slams until I saw it on the message board,” he said.9

Although Aaron took the lead among active players, he still trailed Ralph Kiner (12), Rogers Hornsby (12), Gil Hodges (14), Babe Ruth (16), Ted Williams (17), Jimmie Foxx (17), and the all-time leader, Lou Gehrig (23). “I’ll never catch [Gehrig],” said Aaron. “There just isn’t enough opportunities.”10

After Aaron’s homer, Blasingame induced a Rico Carty groundout, ending the inning. The Astros remained hitless in their half of the fourth, only reaching base on a two-out walk to Jim Wynn.

The Braves continued their barrage on Blasingame in the fourth, with a leadoff homer by Mike de la Hoz. With one out, Woody Woodward singled, took second on a wild pitch, and scored on a single by Bob Uecker that chased Blasingame from the game. His replacement, Barry Latman, retired the side, leaving the score 6-0, Braves.

The Astros picked up their first hit on Eddie Mathews’ leadoff double in the fifth, but left him stranded. Mack Jones led off the bottom of the inning with a walk and stole second in an at-bat in which Aaron struck out. Jones scored on the next play, on an error by third baseman Bob Aspromonte. The Braves led 7-0 after five innings.

The sixth was a breakthrough inning for the Astros, with four runs scoring off Cloninger. Jackie Brandt (batting for Latman) led off with a single. Sonny Jackson walked and Joe Morgan doubled, scoring Brandt and moving Jackson to third. Jim Wynn’s grounder to shortstop plated Jackson, then Rusty Staub hit a two-run homer, making the score 7-4, Braves. Cloninger was driven from the game.

The Braves went down in order in the sixth. The Astros made it 7-5 in the seventh as Morgan scored on Staub’s double off Braves reliever Dick Kelley. The Braves’ seventh was scoreless, with Carroll Sembera holding Atlanta’s offense to a single by Aaron, his second hit of the day.

The Astros were scoreless in the eighth. Dave Eilers entered the game for Houston in the bottom of the eighth, looking to shut down Atlanta. He was unsuccessful, allowing two runs. Astros manager Hatton went to the bullpen, calling on Dan Schneider, who threw a wild pitch and surrendered a two-run triple to Mack Jones. Atlanta led 11-5. With a runner on third, Aaron stepped up to the plate for his fifth at-bat of the day and blasted a two-run homer off a curveball, his 20th of the season. “The ball wound up almost in the same spot as his grand slammer,” an Atlanta area newspaper wrote.11 Aaron told reporters, “I figured that the catcher remembered that I’d hit a fastball (for the grand slam), and he might try to cross me up and try to throw me a curve.”12 Thanks to Aaron’s blast the Braves led 13-5.

Trailing 13-5, the Astros went down one-two-three in the ninth. Aaron finished his 3-for-5 day with two homers and six RBIs.13 By season’s end he led the league with 39 home runs and was ninth on the all-time home-run leaderboard.14

There was no shortage of admiration for Aaron and his achievements, with various managers, players, and news agencies singing their praises. “Every day, it’s something new with [Hank],” commented Billy Hitchcock.15 “It seems almost every time the Braves’ Henry Aaron swings his bat, he breaks a record,” said The Sporting News.16 “He does everything so well,” said Roberto Clemente, who chose Aaron as the best player in the league aside from himself in 1967.17

Aaron’s third-inning grand slam wasn’t the last of his career and wasn’t the last grand slam record he broke. His 15th, which came in 1974, made him the all-time National League leader.18 He ended his career with 16 and as of 2025 was eighth among all-time grand-slam leaders. But Aaron was unconcerned about his failure to be the all-time leader. He “[paid no] attention to that.”19 In fact, he said, “I don’t know anything about records. That’s for the front office to keep up with.”20

SOURCES

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Baseball-Almanac.com, BacktoBaseball.com, and Retrosheet.org.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/ATL/ATL196706270.shtml

https://www.baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/schedule.php?y=1967&t=ATL

https://www.backtobaseball.com/game/ATL196706270/atlanta-braves/versus/houston-astros/1967/june/27/lineups-and-summary/

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1967/B06270ATL1967.htm

NOTES

1  The Braves called Milwaukee home prior to the 1966 season.

2  The Astros-Braves game on July 16, 1966, featured heavy rain and was called off after the top of the sixth with the score tied. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1966/07/17/82838692.html?pageNumber=155 The game was to be replayed from the start later.

3  Data was compiled using baseball-almanac.com. In those 13 games Aaron went 9-for-42.

4  “Aaron Getting Older but Enjoys Homers More,” Long Branch (New Jersey) Daily Record, June 6, 1967: 11.

5  “Aaron Makes Big Noise with Bat in Braves Victory,” Rome (Georgia) News-Tribune, June 28, 1967.

6  Weather information from wunderground.com. https://www.wunderground.com/history/daily/us/ga/atlanta/KATL/date/1967-6-27.

7  “How They Stand,” The Sporting News, July 15, 1967: 35.

8  “Aaron Is No.1 With 11 Grand-Slams,” The Sporting News, July 15, 1967: 23.

9  “Aaron Makes Big Noise with Bat in Braves Victory.”

10  “Aaron Hits 2 Homers Including Grand Slam,” Waukesha (Wisconsin) Daily Freeman, June 28, 1967: 18.

11  “Aaron Makes Big Noise with Bat in Braves Victory.”

12  Wilt Browning, “Aaron Authors an Astro O(r)bit,” Atlanta Journal, June 28, 1967: 40.

13  “How They Stand.”

14  Aaron hit his 34th homer of 1967, his 476th all time, in the bottom of the seventh in a September 3 game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Stan Musial was displaced with the blast, and Aaron became ninth on the all-time home run leaderboard.

15  Wayne Minshew, “Hank Aaron Passes Idol, Feels Funny,” Atlanta Journal, September 4, 1967: 68.

16  “Aaron Is No.1 with 11 Grand-Slams.”

17  Lester J. Biederman, “The Scoreboard,” Pittsburgh Press, December 26, 1967.

18  Aaron’s 15th slam came off the Cubs’ Ray Burris on April 26, 1974. It broke a three-way tie with Gil Hodges and Willie McCovey for the top spot on the National League list.

19  “Aaron Makes Big Noise.”

20  Wilt Browning, “Aaron Authors an Astro O(r)bit,” Atlanta Journal, June 28, 1967: 46.