50th Anniversary of a Big Deal

[citycat]

Today is the 50th anniversary of Henry Aaron breaking Babe Ruth's record by hitting his 715th home run.

That was a big event at Davidson because we had many students from Georgia and other parts of the South where you could follow the Braves on radio, cable tv, and on channel 17 in Atlanta or channel 36 in Charlotte. Ted Turner owned both TV stations and the rights to broadcast Braves' games.

Aaron tied Ruth in the season opener in Cincinnati, sat out the second game of the series, and then was ejected in game three. The Braves' plan was to have him hit the record breaking home run in Atlanta, which he did on national tv on NBC.

For many years afterward, the Braves' radio network would replay Milo Hamilton's call of the home run in promotional spots.

The Braves had a good year in '74, finishing 88-74-1. It was downhill after that.

[wildforthecats]

It was a Monday night too, I believe. Was at a neighbors house when Tom House caught the dinger in the Braves bullpen.