Stats: More to Aaron than homers

Hank Aaron, whose death at 86 was announced Friday, was the home run king for 33 years. His final total of 755 can be quoted by nearly anyone who follows baseball; it is a number considerably more well known than the actual record, 762, which is held by Barry Bonds. But Aaron’s accomplishments on the field extended far beyond his home run total:

3,771

Career hits, trailing only Pete Rose and Ty Cobb. He had so many that if you removed all of his home runs, he would still have 3,016 hits — enough to place him between Rafael Palmeiro and Wade Boggs for 29th on the MLB list.

2,297

Aaron is the career leader in runs batted in, a record that it appears will be safe for quite some time. Second place belongs to Babe Ruth, with 2,214; and the active leader, Albert Pujols of the Los Angeles Angels, is 197 short with 2,100. At 41, Pujols appears to have little left in the tank. The same goes for

Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers (1,729) and suspended New York Met Robinson Cano (1,302). Next on the active list after those three is Edwin Encarnacion, who is 37, isn’t signed for 2021 and is more than 1,000 behind Aaron.

6,856

Aaron’s record for total bases is even more secure. The statistic, in which a player earns one total base for a single, two for a double and so on, was once a dominant measure of a player’s power. No one in major league history comes close to touching Aaron, who is, not coincidentally, also the all-time leader in extra-base hits. In addition to Aaron’s home runs, he had 2,294 singles, 624 doubles and 98 triples. Second place belongs to Stan Musial, with 6,134, putting him 722 short.

12,364

Career at-bats, second on the MLB list. While Aaron has just a few career records, his name is a near constant toward the top of batting categories. He is seventh in Baseball Reference’s wins above replacement formulation with 143.1.

20-20

Aaron was as consistent as he was great. He topped 20 home runs a record 20 times in his 23 seasons. In eight of those seasons he had 40 or more. His first 40-homer season (44 in 1957) came 16 seasons before his last one (40 in 1973). He is one of just two players (along with Bonds) to have a 40-homer season after turning 39.

13

Top-10 finishes in most valuable player voting. He was MVP once, in 1957, when he led the league in home runs (44), RBIs (132) and runs scored (118).