May 1, 1975: Hank Aaron Becomes the All-Time RBI Leader

May 1, 1975, 50 years ago: Hank Aaron breaks another career record that had been held by Babe Ruth -- and hardly anybody notices.

On April 8, 1974, playing for the Atlanta Braves, Aaron hit the 715th home run of his career, surpassing Ruth as the all-time leader in that category. He finished the season with 733. On November 2, the Braves, who had moved from Milwaukee to Atlanta for the 1966 season, traded him to the team that replaced them in the beermaking city, the Milwaukee Brewers, for Dave May and Roger Alexander. Aaron returned to the city where he began his career, and was warmly welcomed by their fans.

At the age of 41, in the American League for the 1st time, Aaron, formerly a right fielder and 1st baseman, was now usually the Brewers' designated hitter. He came into the game of May 1 with 2,209 career runs batted in, tied with Ruth for the most all-time. But, with only a fraction of the attention that his pursuit of 715 home runs had gotten, it seemed like hardly anyone cared, or even noticed, his pursuit of 2,210 RBIs.

In the bottom of the 3rd inning at Milwaukee County Stadium, Aaron singled home Sixto Lezcano. This gave him 2,210 career RBIs, and also gave the Brewers a 2-2 tie with the Detroit Tigers. In the 5th, he hit a double, scoring Robin Yount, for his 2,211th RBI. That gave the Brewers a 5-3 lead.

Yount, who would one day join Aaron in the Baseball Hall of Fame, went 2-for-6 with 4 RBIs. He and Darrell Porter would both hit home runs. The Brewers won in a blowout, 17-3. The Brewers were slowly improving, but would not contend for the Playoffs until 1978. But, for the moment, they were better than the Tigers: In their 1st season without Al Kaline on their roster since 1952, they had one of their worst seasons ever.

On February 3, 1976, Major League Baseball's Records Committee revised Ruth's career RBI total to 2,204. In actuality, Aaron set the record with 2,205 on April 18, 1975. But nobody knew that at the time.

Aaron retired after the 1976 season, with 3,771 hits, 1,477 extra-base hits, 6,856 total bases, 755 home runs, and 2,297 RBIs. The hit total was then 2nd all-time behind Ty Cobb. The other figures were all-time records. While Barry Bonds used steroids to hit 762 career home runs, Aaron still holds the career records for extra-base hits, total bases and RBIs.

As of April 22, 1975, the active MLB leader in RBIs is Freddie Freeman, with 1,243. He turns 36 on September 12. He is not going to catch Aaron.