Atlanta Braves outfielder Hank Aaron was thrust onto the national stage in 1973 and 1974 when he threatened and then broke Babe Ruth's record of 714 home runs, one of the most hallowed records in all of American sports. In the mid-1970s, Ruth's legend was as powerful as it had been during his playing days five decades earlier and his epic home runs and colorful antics lived on in the American imagination. As Roger Maris had discovered when he broke Ruth's single season home run record in 1961, any player attempting to unseat the beloved Ruth from the record books battled, not only opposing pitchers, but also a hostile American public. When a black man strove to eclipse the Babe's record, however, his pursuit revealed a lingering intolerance and an unseemly racial animosity in American society.

Hank Aaron

Henry Louis Aaron was born in Mobile, Alabama, in...