September 4, 1955: Henry Aaron reaches 100-RBI milestone for the first time

Henry Aaron reached the 100-RBI milestone in 11 seasons and retired with the all-time mark of 2,297. (SABR-Rucker Archive)

For much of his early career, due in part to his natural shyness and not playing in a media center like New York, Henry Aaron seemed to fly under the radar. One of his greatest records, which still stood as of 2025, also seems to go unnoticed. Aaron holds the all-time major-league record for career RBIs at 2,297. Even Aaron was surprised by the lack of attention the milestone received when he broke Babe Ruth’s record (2,214) in May 1975, just over a year after breaking Ruth’s home-run record. “It seemed a little cockeyed to me that the RBI record would change hands so quietly after all the hullabaloo over my 715th home run,” commented Aaron in his autobiography, I Had a Hammer.1

Aaron had more than 100 RBIs in 11 seasons during his 23-year career. The first time he reached the milestone was in 1955, his second season with the Milwaukee Braves. In a classic Aaron understatement, and also reflecting his humility, he commented, “By 1955, I had begun to figure out major league pitching, and one of the things I figured out was that I’d have to do a lot more figuring before I’d be in the class of Stan Musial or Eddie Mathews or Willie Mays.”2

Aaron drove in his 100th run of 1955 on Sunday afternoon, September 4, against the Cincinnati Redlegs (Cincinnati was referred to as the Redlegs from 1953 to 1958) at Milwaukee’s County Stadium. Three days earlier, Aaron, who had knocked in 69 runs as a rookie in 1954, had recorded his 97th RBI of the season in a loss to the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Braves were second in the National League (74-61) but 14 games behind the first-place Dodgers; the Redlegs were in fifth (67-72), 23 games out.

After a scoreless top of the first, controversy developed in the bottom half of the opening frame. Bill Bruton led off with a single against Redlegs righty Johnny Klippstein. Milwaukee second baseman Danny O’Connell followed with a grounder up the middle. Cincinnati shortstop Roy McMillan and Bruton arrived at the bag at the same time. Bruton appeared to stumble over McMillan’s feet as the shortstop attempted to field the grounder. The ball deflected off McMillan’s glove and both runners were safe. Reds manager Birdie Tebbetts argued with second-base umpire Augie Donatelli for seven minutes claiming runner interference, but to no avail. The Redlegs played the game under protest.3

Cincinnati nearly got out of the first-inning jam when Eddie Mathews struck out and Bruton was caught trying to steal third. With two outs and a man on first, Aaron, batting cleanup, hit his 26th home run of the season. The two-run blast off Klippstein raised his RBI total to 99 and gave Milwaukee a 2-0 lead.4

Cincinnati cut the lead in half in the second. Center fielder Gus Bell led off with a double off Milwaukee starter Chet Nichols. A McMillan single with two outs drove in Bell.

It was still 2-1 in the bottom of the third. Bruton tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly by O’Connell. With the bases empty, Mathews connected on his 36th home run of the season to push the Braves’ lead to three runs at 4-1.5

The score remained unchanged until the bottom of the sixth inning. Jackie Collum had replaced Klippstein in the fourth, and now Joe Black was in for his second inning of relief.

Aaron stepped up to the plate to lead off the inning. He launched his second home run of the game, into the left-field bleachers,6 his 27th of the season, which gave him 100 RBIs for the first time in his career. Not bad for an “unconscious hitter,” the moniker some humorists hung on Aaron because of his loose and unconcerned appearance at the plate.7

The game’s final tally came in the top of the eighth inning on a solo home run by the Redlegs’ Wally Post, his 35th homer, which also gave him 100 runs batted in.8 Post’s home run also set a new team home-run mark for Cincinnati. With 14 games remaining on the schedule, the Redlegs’ total of 167 topped the team’s previous record of 166 for one season, set in 1953.9

After surrendering a leadoff single to McMillan to start the top of the ninth, Nichols got the next three Cincinnati batters to pop up, ending his complete-game victory and securing his ninth win of the season.

Aaron’s RBI achievement was itself secured two days later when National League President Warren Giles rejected Tebbetts’ protest of the first-inning play involving Bruton and McMillan, saying that the umpires’ decision could not be grounds for protest.10

Four of Milwaukee’s five runs against the Redlegs came on home runs by Aaron and Mathews. The home-run exploits of the youthful teammates Aaron (age 21) and Mathews (23) inspired Milwaukee Sentinel columnist Lou Chapman to describe them in the next day’s edition as the “Murderous Duo.” He speculated, “They may never approach the brilliant batting heroics of the most famous duet in baseball history – the late Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. But before they’re through, Eddie and Hank could easily rate as the most fearsome twosome on the diamond.”11 Chapman’s analysis proved prophetic. Aaron and Mathews hit 863 home runs as teammates, surpassing Ruth and Gehrig.

Aaron finished his sophomore season boasting a .314 batting average, 27 home runs, and 106 runs batted in. He was selected to the first of a major-league-record 25 All-Star Games. After the 1955 season, Aaron joined Joe Black, who gave up the home run that got him to 100 RBIs, on one of the best all-Black barnstorming teams ever assembled. The roster also included legends Willie Mays, Don Newcombe, and Ernie Banks.12

In January 1956 the Milwaukee chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America hosted a banquet at which Aaron was honored as the Braves’ Most Valuable Player, even over Mathews, who hit 41 home runs and had 101 RBIs. The Sporting News reported, “Aaron, who rarely shows emotion of any kind, admitted he was ‘thrilled’ by the honor.”13

In the 1980s Arby’s fast-food chain introduced the Arby’s RBI Award. Aaron had peripheral involvement with the award since he was the career leader in RBIs and the owner of three Arby’s franchises in the Milwaukee area. As stated in Howard Bryant’s Aaron biography, The Last Hero, “The RBI award was a lesser award, a trinket few paid much attention to.”14

By the turn of the century, Arby’s was no longer the official fast food of major-league baseball and the Arby’s RBI Award was also no more. In 1999, the 25th anniversary of Aaron breaking Babe Ruth’s home-run record, Commissioner Bud Selig announced the Hank Aaron Award, honoring the best hitter in each league. Aaron was ecstatic.15

SOURCES

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted the Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org websites for pertinent material and the box scores noted below.

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1955/B09040MLN1955.htm

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MLN/MLN195509040.shtml

NOTES

1  Hank Aaron and Lonnie Wheeler, I Had A Hammer: The Hank Aaron Story (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1991), 106.

2  I Had A Hammer, 294.

3  “Braves Whip Redlegs Under Protest, 5 to 2,” Chicago Tribune, September 5, 1955: 62.

4  “Aaron Hits Two as Braves Win,” Wisconsin State Journal (Madison), September 5, 1955: 29.

5  Bill Ford, “Braves Use Homers to Defeat Reds, 5-2,” Cincinnati Enquirer, September 5, 1955: 39.

6  Bill Ford, “Birdie Names Nuxhall to Oppose Cardinals,” Cincinnati Enquirer, September 5, 1955: 65.

7  Lou Chapman, “Aaron, Mathews Murderous Duo,” Milwaukee Sentinel, September 5, 1955: 6.

8  Ford, “Braves Use Homers to Defeat Reds, 5-2.”

9  Tom Swope, “Reds Set New Homer Mark,” Cincinnati Post, September 5, 1955: 38.

10  “Giles Rejects Tebbets’ (sic) Protest,” Kenosha (Wisconsin) News, September 7, 1955: 11.

11  Chapman, “Aaron, Mathews Murderous Duo.”

12  Howard Bryant, The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron (New York: Random House, 2010), 120-121.

13  The Last Hero, 113.

14  The Last Hero, 473.

15  The Last Hero, 473.