Henry Aaron by Bill Gutman (1974) – Beating the Babe — and How He Did It! With 80 Pages of Photographs!

It’s baseball season, and I’m finally back in the U.S. to enjoy it! I joined my brother and some friends for a live but pointless MLB game last week. Neither team is great, so we “bet” on players instead. I lost $3 and won $3, so it was a wash—and a whole lot of fun.

This coming week, I’m hoping to catch a Milwaukee Brewers game, which is one reason I was drawn to this 1974 book on Hank Aaron. I’m a Wisconsin boy, born and bred, and while we all remember Hank Aaron as an Atlanta Brave, we can’t forget that he also spent half his career as a Milwaukee Brave! The dude’s a hometown hero.

Note: this post includes Amazon affiliate links.

Brief Summary of Henry Aaron

Like RFK: His Life and Death, this book is like a mini documentary in book form, a style of paperback that’s been forgotten by time. It tracks Henry Aaron’s career of quietly climbing the ranks of record-breaking baseball until the beginning of the 1974 season, when he finally broke Babe Ruth’s all-time homerun record by batting #715.

The book is a revised version of an extended article from first published in At Bat! in 1973—at the tail end of a season that closed with Hank’s 713th homer, just 2 shy of the record. It takes us back into his childhood and early baseball career in small Black leagues and the minors, and occasionally goes more in depth for high-stakes games. In fact, I absolutely loved the retelling of Milwaukee’s 1956 World Series and Hank’s role on the roster. Go Braves!

The Timing

It’s easy to tell this book’s a revision. In fact, it promptly ends with homer #715, which makes me think the publishers may have had it all ready for printing, just waiting for those final paragraphs from Bill Gutman, in order to rush-print it and make it available at the next series!

There’s even a missed edit early on, where Gutman describes Aaron’s achievement in the future tense:

The difference between 673 and 714 is 41. Barring injury or a sudden decline in his skills, most people feel that Hank Aaron will be baseball’s new all-time Homer Run champion sometime during the 1974 season. (9)

It’s been 52 years since Hank Aaron broke Ruth’s unbeatable record (and FYI, 19 years since Barry Bonds broke Aaron’s with #756), so this book reads like a piece of history. The reporting style adds to the mystique, because it’s just so different than how sports writers write today. It truly did feel like a step back in time.

Henry’s Personality

Although a quiet guy normally, Hank Aaron was interviewed nonstop in the lead-up to his record-breaking seasons. I love this line he gave on reporter about the bittersweet nature of his achievement:

Setting records means you’re getting old. (47)

As the world saw more of and heard more from Aaron, many were shocked at his low-key personality. Gutman writes:

Media people swirling around Henry are dismayed to find him basically colorless, free of apparent neurosis – a man who in a different circumstance would be dismissed as downright normal. (2)

Aaron added his own two cents:

I know I’m not flashy…but I don’t try to be. I just play my natural way. It’s almost the same as the way I dress. I have good clothes and dress well, but not flashy. That’s just my way and I can’t change it. (6)

Many also noted that Aaron took his quiet nature into the game itself. He says this about his nonchalant posture at the plate—the posture that hid such awesome, home-run hitting power:

I’m as tense as the next guy, but you can’t hit if you’re tight. I make myself relax up there, concentrate on it. I’m not always as casual as most people think. It takes practice to relax. (42)

As I read this book, I was also curious to know how America in general accepted a Black man’s challenge to Babe Ruth’s legendary record. After all, Georgia wasn’t the hotbed of racial equality in 1974! Gutman hints at racial tensions, but doesn’t go too deeply into it. The best insight we get comes from Hank himself, who says of the fans who didn’t want him to succeed:

I don’t care if they boo me. They paid their money to get in and they’re entitled to it. But I won’t take the racial stuff. I don’t have to. But I’ll tell you one thing. All this is just making me more determined than ever to break the record. (57)

A Book of Statistics

This book was just a straight-up fun book to read, and another reason beyond the story itself was the statistics. I don’t think I’m a numbers guy per se, but I do love organization and statistics—which is probably why I enjoy my 3-Dice Baseball game so much!

Perhaps my favorite portion of the book was Gutman’s dissection of the raging debate over the different styles of baseball played in the Babe Ruth and Henry Aaron eras (54-55). Both had their advantages and disadvantages, and ignoring one in favor of the other would make some suggest that Aaron’s success shouldn’t count for anything.

Gutman concludes, however, that it’s all a wash—both men benefited from the baseball of their era, and both also struggled against their era’s unique limitations. The same could be said of Barry Bonds—though the steroid debate certainly adds a new kink to that discussion!

Conclusion

This was a fitting and fascinating book for me to read this summer, and I’m glad I picked up from the free box at a rummage sale! That may not be how you come by it yourself, but if you’re into baseball and love some Americana, this book offers a nice walk down memory lane.

©2026 E.T.

Want more? Get Elliot’s Weekly Digest.