Flirtation with destiny
Aaron nearly made home-run history vs. Astros, settled for Nos. 712, 713
Everyone can envision Hank Aaron’s home run trot — and Milo Hamilton’s home run call — of No. 715 that broke Babe Ruth’s record, but the Astros had a chance to be the team that went down as a footnote in Aaron’s run at history.
As Aaron tried to chase down Babe Ruth’s career home run record at the end of the 1973 season, he and the Braves had the Astros on the schedule for four of their final six games.
Aaron hit career home run No. 712 — two shy of Ruth’s milestone — off Astros starter Dave Roberts on Sept. 22, 1973. Even though he hit it on the road, the Astros still celebrated the moment by flashing “712!” on the Astrodome’s giant outfield scoreboard, adding “Aaron is now two away from tying mark + 3 from 715!”
Aaron got one more atbat that night but fouled out to Astros first baseman Lee May.
That left Aaron five games to tie or break Ruth’s mark, but the Braves gave their superstar the next day off in Houston.
The Braves finished the season with four home games — two against the Dodgers and two against the Astros — and had high hopes that Aaron could tie or break the record in front of the home crowd and not have to extend the chase into the next season.
Aaron went homerless against the Dodgers but cranked up the excitement by hitting No. 713 in the fifth inning of the season’s penultimate game off Astros’ starter Jerry Reuss.
Aaron singled in his final at-bat of that Braves’ 7-0 win, leaving him one final game in 1973 to tie the record.
With history in sight, the Braves drew a crowd of 40,517, which was a huge feat since they averaged just 9,885 fans per game that season, ranking in the bottom four of the league.
With Don Wilson on the mound for the Astros, Aaron had a big game, ripping three straight singles before popping out in the eighth inning in his final at bat of the season.
The Braves opened the 1974 season with four games in Cincinnati and didn’t want Aaron to break the record on the road so they had talked about sitting the slugger until the team returned to Atlanta.
Commissioner Bowie Kuhn stepped in and required Aaron to play in at least two of the Braves’ first three games. Aaron probably gave Braves’ ownership heartburn when he homered in his first at-bat of the season to tie Ruth’s mark and set the stage for him to make baseball history in Cincinnati instead of Atlanta.
Aaron didn’t homer in his next three at-bats on Opening Day, sat out the next day and went 0-for-3 before being removed for a defensive replacement in the seventh inning of the series finale, sending the Braves back to Atlanta where history awaited.
Aaron didn’t make the sellout crowd of 53,775 wait long. In his second at-bat, he took Al Downing deep over the left-field wall for homer No. 715.
Even though it didn’t happen with the Astros in town, they do own a small part in history. Hamilton, the former Astros legendary broadcaster, was on the call that night — “There’s a drive to left-center field, that ball is gonna beeeeeeeee … outta here! It’s gone. It’s 715. There’s a new home run champion of all-time and it’s Henry Aaron.”
Current Astros manager Dusty Baker was in the ondeck circle and greeted Aaron at home plate.