There's a New All-Time HR King - And His Name is Henry Aaron

Last month I wrote about Hank Aaron’s 715th home run, 50 years ago this past April, that made him the career home run leader, passing the legendary Babe Ruth.

Aaron finished his career with 755 home runs, a total that seemed out of reach for generations to come. But the steroids era and the resulting inflated home run totals in the late 90s and early 2000s led to an unanticipated assault on the all-time home run chart. Barry Bonds inexplicably hit 73 home runs in one season in 2001, and finished his career with 762 in 2007, just barely topping Aaron’s total.

Yesterday however things changed.

Major League Baseball announced that Negro League statistics will be officially integrated into the MLB records.

My great friend Glenn alerted me this morning of this monumental decision by MLB.

That instantly got me thinking that if Hank Aaron hit at least 8 home runs in the Negro Leagues then he would once again become the all-time HR king.

A quick look on the internet shows that Hank Aaron had only 5 HRs for the Indianapolis Clowns in the Negro Leagues in 1952.

However I figured that Negro League stats might not be as well documented as MLB stats were. So, I started searching in the newspaper archives - which is what I do as The Sports Time Traveler™.

And check out what I found.

Below is a newspaper clipping from the Salisbury Post in Salisbury, NC on June 16, 1952 on page 6, that shows that Henry Aaron had 8 HRs for the Clowns in 1952 shortly before he was sold to the Boston Braves and played in their minor league system.

Those 8 home runs would give Aaron 763 and put him back as #1 all-time on the home run list.

There are other newspaper accounts that indicate Aaron only had 5 home runs for the Indianapolis Clowns in 1952, his only year playing in the Negro Leagues.

But just the fact that at least one newspaper account I have found so far indicates Aaron had 8 home runs, tells me that there is at least a case to be made that Hank Aaron now officially is the all-time career home run leader again.

Thanks to my friend Glenn I may have unearthed one of the biggest sports discoveries ever.

For anyone interested in my story on Aaron’s 715th home run that I originally posted last month here is the link:

Thanks for reading.

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