Top 106 Baseball Players: #9 - Hank Aaron

Hank Aaron

Hank Aaron was the all-time MLB home run king for 33 years, and still is the all-time home run leader among those who have not been credibly accused of steroid use.

Aaron reached the major leagues with the Milwaukee Braves in 1954, after short stints in the minor leagues and the Negro Leagues. By the time he retired, he would be the final former Negro League player in pro baseball. In his third season, he won the batting title with a .328 average.

Aaron won his only MVP award in 1957, when he led the league in runs, home runs, and RBI, and fell just short of the Triple Crown, finishing third in batting average. That was also the first of 4 seasons in which he would hit exactly 44 home runs, which also happened to be his uniform number. He also led the Braves to the World Series that year, where they upset the defending champion Yankees in 7 games behind Aaron's .393 average, 3 homers, and 7 RBI.

The next season ended in disappointment when his .333 average wasn't enough for a repeat title, as the Yankees won the rematch in 7 games. In 1959, he had his only career 3-homer game, each one good for 2 runs, and he set career highs in hits and batting average, with 223 and .355 respectively, both best in the league, but he finished only third in the MVP voting.

He had another close brush with a Triple Crown in 1963, when he again led the league in runs, homers, and RBI, but came in third in batting. That was also his second time with 44 home runs, and his 4th time finishing 3rd in the MVP race, though it should have been his 4th MVP by that time.

The Braves moved to Atlanta after the 1965 season, and in his first season there, he hit 44 home runs again, his third time leading the league with that exact total. In 1968 he hit his 500th home run, the second-youngest at the time to reach that milestone, behind only Jimmie Foxx, and the next year moved into third place on the all-time list behind Ruth and Mays.

In 1969 he hit 44 home runs in a season again, though this time is was not enough to lead the league, but it was enough to get the Braves into the playoffs for the first time in Atlanta. During the NLCS, he hit .357 with 3 home runs and 7 RBI, but the Braves were swept by the Mets despite his best efforts.

In 1970, he reached the 3000 hit plateau, then broke the NL record with his 12th season of at least 30 home runs, a record he would extend to 15 seasons by 1973. In 1971 he reached 600 home runs, and set the NL record for most seasons with 40 home runs, when he did it for the 7th time with a career high of 47. He would add another 40-homer season later as well.

In 1972, he passed Willie Mays to take over 2nd place on the all-time home runs list, reached 2000 RBI's, and became the all-time leader in total bases, a record he still holds today. The spotlight was on him throughout the 1973 season, as he approached Babe Ruth's all-time home run mark, and he ended up finishing the year one short of Ruth's record.

He said that his greatest fear was that he wouldn't live to see the 1974 season, as he received numerous death threats for his pursuit of the record, many of them racially motivated. He hit the record-tying home run on his very first swing of the season, then broke the record in the first home game of the season. The record would eventually reach 755, and would stand until 2007, when Barry Bonds surpassed him.

After the season he did not want to retire, so the Braves traded him to the Brewers, where he broke Ruth's all-time RBI record the following year, another record which is still his. He also holds the record for most consecutive seasons of 100 runs scored, with 13 from 1955 to 1967.

In addition to his all-time records for RBI's and total bases, he is #3 on the all-time hit list, #4 in runs scored, and #2 in home runs. He won an MVP early in his career, but should have won 6 others. He did finish #3 in the MVP voting 6 times, and in addition to being a great ballplayer, was also a great person, never causing any controversy and always being graceful in breaking records and in relinquishing them when they were surpassed. There is no way that a list of the very best players of all time can't include Hank Aaron.

Top 106 Baseball Players: #58 - Warren Spahn

Warren Spahn

Warren Spahn is one of the greatest left-handed pitchers of all time, and he was able to change up his game enough over his long career that he was still a star players in his 40's.

Spahn first pitched for the Boston Braves in 1942, but didn't perform well in 4 appearances and was sent back to the minors. At the conclusion of the season, he joined the Army and was shipped out to Europe, where he fought in the Battle of the Bulge and was awarded a Purple Heart.

When he returned from war in 1946, he joined the Braves again and finished the season off solidly. Many feel that he lost precious years from his career by fighting in World War II, but he felt that the war helped prolong his career, by allowing him to come back more mature and stronger.

He pitched his first full season in 1947, and he led the league with 7 shutouts and a 2.33 ERA while also winning 21 games, the first of 13 times he would reach the 20-win plateau. The following season the Braves reached the World Series, and Spahn pitched well, striking out 12 in 12 innings of work while giving up only 4 runs, but the Braves lost the Series to the Indians.

Over the next 2 seasons he led the league in both wins and strikeouts, falling just one category short of the Triple Crown. He would lead the league in strikeouts in the next 2 seasons as well, making it 4 in a row. The next year, he led the league in wins and ERA, but not in strikeouts, missing one category for the Triple Crown for the third time in 5 years.

After a couple of down seasons, Spahn experienced a career renaissance in 1957, when he won his only Cy Young. That season also started a streak of 5 straight seasons leading the league in wins and 7 straight seasons leading in complete games, a streak that was still active when he was 42. He finally earned his World Series title in 1957, although he struggled in that season's Series.

The Braves returned to the World Series in 1958 to face the Yankees again, and this time Spahn pitched very well, pitching 2 complete game wins and recording 18 strikeouts, but the Yankees got revenge on the Braves that year. It would be his best and final postseason.

Spahn threw his first no-hitter in 1960, at the age of 39, becoming the oldest ever first-time no-hit pitcher, and he repeated the feat again the next season. He also won his only 2 Player of the Month awards in those two seasons, both coming in August, and both times after amassing a 6-0 record for the month. Spahn truly got better with age.

His most famous pitching performance came at age 42, when he and 25-year-old Juan Marichal each pitched a complete 16-inning game that was scoreless until Willie Mays hit a home run in the bottom of the 16th. At one point late in Spahn's career, Stan Musial said that Spahn would never reach the Hall of Fame, because he would never stop pitching.

Spahn did eventually retire, and when he did, he was #6 on the all-time wins list, a position he still holds. He is also the winningest left-handed pitcher of all time, and holds the NL record for home runs hit by a pitcher, with 35 in his career, and at least one in 17 straight seasons. He had two different long stretches as one of the top pitchers in the league, and is an obvious choice to appear on the list of the top players of all time.