1974 — In the opener in Atlanta, Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s career record by hitting his 715th home run off Los Angeles left-hander Al Downing in the fourth inning. The Braves beat the Dodgers 7-4 before a crowd of nearly 54,000.

Aaron Judge is arguably the best player in today’s game. Babe Ruth is arguably the greatest MLB player ever. Although the superstars played around 100 years apart from one another, their New York Yankees careers look quite similar through their first 1,

A look back at local, national and world events through Deseret News archives. On April 8, 1974, 51 years ago today, Henry Aaron sent the second pitch of his second at-bat over Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium’s left-centerfield wall and became MLB’s new home run king with the 715th of his career.