What Was Hank Aaron's Net Worth and Salary?
Hank Aaron was a legendary American baseball player and businessman who had a net worth of $25 million at the time of his death. Hank Aaron died on January 22, 2021, at the age of 86. "Hammerin' Hank" Aaron played an impressive 23 seasons in Major League Baseball from 1954 through 1976. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982, his first year of eligibility, with 97.8% of the vote from baseball writers who made the selection.
Hank is probably best-remembered for breaking Babe Ruth's all-time home run record. On April 8, 1974, he hit his 715th career home run, topping Babe's 714. Hank ultimately retired with a total of 755 home runs. That record was topped decades later by Barry Bonds. Barry is the current leader in terms of career home runs. Bonds retired with 762, although his name is accompanied by an asterisk due to the fact that he is widely believed to have used performance-enhancing drugs. Hank is the only player in baseball history to hit over 30 home runs in 15 seasons. He finished his career with a lifetime batting average of .305, 3771 hits, and 2297 RBIs. He won a World Series in 1957 and was a 24-time All-Star.
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Early Life
Hank Aaron was born Henry Louis Aaron on February 5, 1934, in Mobile, Alabama. He spent most of his youth in Toulminville, Alabama. He was one of eight children who grew up amid rigid segregation.
As a teenager, Hank played for the Mobile Black Bears semipro team. He was eventually signed to the Negro American League team the Indianapolis Clowns. In June 1952, he was signed by the Boston Braves.
Success
With the Braves, Aaron played for a farm team in Wisconsin, where he was named rookie of the year. He made his professional debut in 1955 after outfielder Bobby Thompson broke an ankle in an exhibition match. During the 1955 season, he hit .314. The next season, Hank hit .328. He was voted National League MVP in 1967. The Braves defeated the Yankees that year in the World Series.
Aaron was a right-field mainstay for the lion's share of his MLB career, although he would occasionally make appearances as an infielder. During his last two seasons, he moved over primarily to the designated hitter spot.
He finished his career with a lifetime batting average of .305, 3771 hits, and 2297 RBIs. His RBI total still stands as the all-time record. He won three Gold Gloves and is in the top five all-time slot for career hits (3,771) as well as runs (2,174). Aaron is also one of only four players to have at least 17 seasons with 150 or more hits. He ranks third all-time as far as games played (3,298). By the time Hank retired, he held most of the MLB's key career power-hitting records.
(Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
Aaron tended to downplay his Babe Ruth home run "chase" while the rest of baseball (as well as baseball enthusiasts) grew increasingly interested and excited as he closed in on the 714 HR record. He went through thousands of letters each week during the summer of 1973, which included a sizable amount of hate mail. The Braves organization actually ended up hiring a secretary to help Hank sort through his letters.
After retirement, Aaron held various positions in the front office for the Atlanta Braves, including his role as a senior vice president for the organization. In 1988, he was inducted into the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame as well as the Baseball Hall of Fame. In 1999, MLB organizers introduced the Hank Aaron Award, which recognizes the top offensive players in both the National and American leagues. Aaron was also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2002 and was also named a 2010 Georgia Trustee by the Georgia Historical Society as a way of recognizing his accomplishments and how those accomplishments reflect the overall ideals of the state of Georgia's founders. Hank was a long-time resident of Atlanta.
MC Hammer Connection
A teenage boy named Stanley Burrell served as a batboy for the Oakland A's from 1973 to 1980. At that age, Stanley looked like a young Hank Aaron, so the players started calling him "Hammer." Decades later, he became known as the "Master of Ceremonies," M.C. Hammer.
Salary and Endorsements
During his career, Hank's largest salary was $240,000, which he earned in both the 1975 and 1976 seasons. That's the inflation-adjusted equivalent of $1.2 million per year in today's. He earned a total of $2.12 million during his career. That's the same as around $10 million after adjusting for inflation.
Hank famously didn't have a single endorsement in the run-up to his home run record. Clarence Avant, a powerful music executive and entertainment executive, was upset to learn that Aaron had no endorsements while living in Atlanta just a few blocks down from the world headquarters of Coca Cola. According to legend, Clarence stormed into the Chairman of Coca-Cola's office and demanded that the company make Hank a wealthy man. And that's exactly what they did. During his lifetime, Aaron gave away more of his Coca-Cola endorsement money than he ever earned playing baseball. These donations have primarily happened through The Hank Aaron Chasing the Dream Foundation.
After baseball, Hank launched a successful business career, notably in the auto industry. He owned several car dealerships and sold BMWs, Land Rovers, Toyotas, Hyundais, and Hondas all across Georgia.
