You only need to ask many of the current Braves how grateful they are to have known the famous slugger, and you’ll immediately learn how fortunate they were to be able to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Hank Aaron’s epic 715th home run.

Ronald Acuña Jr. expressed that “it fills you with pride, especially being in the same organization.” “Seeing how it all unfolded, with his teammates and Dodgers players congratulating him, just makes you feel overwhelmed.” It was simply such a wonderful occasion.

Before the Braves play the Mets on Monday, they will commemorate Aaron’s epic long ball’s 50th anniversary. On April 8, 1974, several of Atlanta’s players’ parents weren’t even born. However, throughout their childhood and the childhoods of their offspring, pictures of Aaron smashing Bаbe Ruth’s home run record were often seen.

Austin Riley remarked, “I got to meet the guy, and it’s one of the greatest sports moments in history.” “Even just thinking about it gives me chills. He’s an icon because of what he’s meant to the game and beyond it. It’s similar to the saying from “The Sandlot” that goes, “Legends never Ԁie, but heroes are remembered.”

Since making his major league debut on April 13, 1954, as a 20-year-old with the Milwaukee Braves, Aaron’s iconic presence has been felt. A year later, he was selected for the first of 25 All-Star games, and three years later, he helped the Braves win the World Series and was named the National League MVP.

However, twenty years after his debut, no one could have guessed what he would do. At the beginning of the 1954 season, Ruth (714), Jimmie Foxx (534), Mel Ott (511), Lou Gehrig (493) and Joe DiMaggio (361) were the top five home run hitters in MLB history.

400 home runs was considered a significant achievement. It didn’t seem possible to surpass 714 before Aaron finished his career with 755 home runs.

Riley is one of the Braves players who was around on August 7, 2007, when Barry Bonds shattered Aaron’s record.

“It’s exciting to watch those records being chased, but because of Aaron’s significance to the game, there was a part of me that didn’t want [Bonds] to catch him,” Riley remarked. “I think Hank should have been the only person standing there on a pedestal.”

Riley claims that not having a photo with Aaron, who passed suԀԀenly in January 2021, ten months before the Braves won the World Series, is his biggest regret.

Michael Harris II remarked, “I always heard growing up here in Atlanta how much better of a person he was than he was a player.” I’ve had the opportunity to see him a few times at various occasions. I now have the opportunity to carry on his legacy by walking in his footsteps.

Manager Brian Snitker will always be appreciative of Aaron’s 1980 opportunity, which ended Snitker’s stint as a backup Minor League catcher and awarded him his first coaching position with the Braves.

Snitker doesn’t recall being somewhere in particular on April 8, 1974, when the historic home run was Һit because he was playing collegiate baseball at the time. However, he recalls being аmаzed by the renowned slugger when they happened to cross paths a few years later.

“You’re stretching while he’s posing as the farm director, and you can’t believe it’s Hank Aaron,” the person said. said Snitker. It resembles one of those fantastical, enormous objects. There are guys that are like that.

Over the decades that followed, Snitker had many more chats with Aaron.

“It was never about him when we used to sit in the clubhouse at Spring Training and listen to him tell stories,” Snitker said. Everybody had inquiries. We were youthful managers and coaches. We all wаnted the best for him since he was so personable.