The Braves laid out a red carpet along the “715” cut into the center-field grass to introduce their lineup for the 2014 season. It’s the kind of revelry this franchise was lucky enough not to have to manufacture on an otherwise overcast and chilly night for their home opener at Turner Field.
Tuesday night’s brisk weather served as a fitting backdrop for a home run king, who turned a chilly home opener in Atlanta magical 40 years ago. Hank Aaron waited out three rain delays the night he hit his 715th homer over the left-field fence at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium to pass Babe Ruth for the all-time home run lead, on April 8, 1974.
Those 40 anniversaries represent one year more than Ruth’s record of 714 homers held up, for 39 years, as the emcee of the pregame ceremony Pete Van Wieren pointed out.
“He is still recognized as baseball’s true home run king,” said Van Wieren, without saying a word about Barry Bonds or the seven more home runs he finished his career with than Aaron’s 755.
Al Downing threw out Tuesday’s ceremonial first pitch — the former Dodgers left-hander got the ball safely into the catcher’s mitt this time. Downing, who threw the pitch Aaron hit, was one of the seven former players to take part in Tuesday’s ceremony, along with one of the young men who ran around the bases with Aaron that night (Cliff Courtenay), other dignitaries, Braves officials and baseball commissioner Bud Selig.
Selig, a close friend of Aaron’s from his playing days in Milwaukee, called it the “most famous and treasured record in American sports” and a “transcendent moment.”
The man of the hour took it all in with grace and a smile, even at 80 years old, coming off hip surgery, when he needed a walker to get to the podium.
“I want to say thank you so very much for all your kindness these 40 years,” Aaron said. “For 23 years, I gave baseball everything that I had, every ounce of my abilities to play the game. I tried to play to make you the fans appreciate me more.”
Falcons owner Arthur Blank, former Georgia football coach and athletic director Vince Dooley, former Georgia Tech player and coach Bill Curry and others representing Atlanta’s major sports teams and programs all took part in the ceremony, unveiling framed No. 44 jerseys in Aaron’s honor.
“Hank’s part of our family,” Braves president John Schuerholz said. “He’s the face of this franchise, let’s face it. Always has been. And a face of baseball greatness. It’s big. You don’t get a chance to honor someone of this magnitude who’s part of your family, part of your organization, very often in our business.”
