Hank Aaron Breaks Babe Ruth's Record for Most Home Runs with One Club

On August 6, 1972, Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves hit his 660th career home run off Cincinnati Reds pitcher Wayne Simpson, breaking Babe Ruth's long-standing record for the most home runs hit with a single franchise. Ruth had slugged 659 with the New York Yankees. Aaron accomplished the feat wearing the same Braves uniform he had worn since joining the Milwaukee Braves as a 20-year-old in 1954.

Aaron was not finished for the afternoon. Later in the game, he launched his 661st home run, this one off left-hander Don Gullett, a two-run shot in the tenth inning that broke a 2-2 tie and lifted the Braves to a 4-3 victory over the Reds. The Atlanta crowd, already buzzing from the milestone earlier in the game, erupted again as Aaron circled the bases.

At 38 years old, Aaron was producing at an elite level. He finished the 1972 season with 34 home runs and a .265 batting average, numbers that would have been career years for most players but represented a typical summer for a man who had hit at least 24 home runs every season since 1955. His consistency across nearly two decades, rather than any single spectacular stretch, had carried him past Ruth's franchise mark.

The record Aaron set that day was a precursor to the larger chase. He entered the 1972 season with 639 career home runs, putting Ruth's all-time record of 714 within realistic reach. Aaron would break that record on April 8, 1974, in Atlanta, hitting number 715 off Al Downing of the Dodgers.

Aaron played 3,076 games for the Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves across 21 seasons, hitting 733 of his 755 career home runs in a Braves uniform. His franchise record remains unbroken.