50 years ago April 4: Hank Aaron tied Babe Ruth’s home run record at Riverfront Stadium
Reds Opening Day 1974 had an extra dose of excitement.
Sure, Cincinnati was in the middle of the Big Red Machine’s run, so there was anticipation of another great season. But the opponent for that April 4 opener 50 years ago, the Atlanta Braves, had a 40-year-old slugger named Hank Aaron, who was on the cusp of reaching one of baseball’s most revered records.
Aaron finished the 1973 season with 713 career home runs, one shy of the all-time record held by baseball idol Babe Ruth. Throughout the season and offseason, Aaron endured racist letters and death threats if he didn’t give up the chase to match Ruth’s total. “I had threats all day long, all night,” Aaron later said. The FBI got involved. His family was protected by armed guards.
But extraordinary players play extraordinary ball when their moment comes.
'A clout over the 375 marker'
The visiting Braves were first up to bat at Riverfront Stadium that afternoon. The buildup all winter had every eye on Aaron as he stepped up to the plate in the first inning with two runners on base. He didn’t budge on the first four pitches he saw from Reds starter Jack Billingham, three balls and a called strike.
But he swung on the fourth pitch.
In the Reds’ broadcast booth, Marty Brennaman had joined Joe Nuxhall as his new radio partner on WLW 700. Brennaman’s call in the first inning of his first Reds game was historic. “Swung on, long shot, into deep left field. Rose is back and that ball is gone! A home run. Henry Aaron has just tied Babe Ruth’s home-run record of 714 with a clout over the 375 marker in left field.”
The game paused as Vice President Gerald Ford, on hand to throw out the first pitch, joined baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn to present Aaron with a plaque.
“Tying the record is great, but breaking it is another thing,” Aaron said after the game. “I thought tying the record would mean a great deal to me but it’s just another home run.”
Billingham described his most notorious pitch as a fastball meant to be low and away, but it slipped and got over the plate.
“A good pitch,” Reds catcher Johnny Bench said, “but not good enough to get Henry Aaron.”
“The record didn’t bother me. That it was a three-run homer did,” Billingham admitted.
The Reds, incidentally, won the game, 7-6, in the 11th inning when Pete Rose scored on a wild pitch.
Four days later, Aaron homered in Atlanta against the Los Angeles Dodgers to become the new home run king. On his own.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Hank Aaron tied Babe Ruth's home run record on this day 50 years ago
