Baseball legend Hank Aaron honored with life-like statue at Louisville Slugger Museum

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The legendary Hank Aaron was added to the lineup at the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory.

Slugger unveiled a life-like statue of the Major League Baseball Hall of Famer and Civil Rights leader at a ceremony Thursday.

"I'm very pleased with this effort that the Slugger Museum has made to preserve and protect Henry's legacy," said Billye Aaron, the widow of the baseball great.

She was emotional in remembering her late husband and wore a World Series necklace at was given to her by the Atlanta Braves last year.

The new sculpture features Aaron in a mid-1970s Atlanta uniform with a classic Braves ballcap with a red lowercase "A." Aaron’s iconic number 44 is on the front and back of the uniform in blue with red stitching around the lettering.

Aaron began his MLB career in 1954 with the Milwaukee Braves, which later became the Atlanta Braves. Aaron played for the Braves through the 1974 season, and in 1975, he returned to Milwaukee as a member of the Brewers. He would play his final season with the Brewers in 1976.

With the nickname,"Hammerin’ Hank," Aaron still holds the MLB records for the most career RBIs (2,297), extra base hits (1,477) and total bases (6,856). During his career, Aaron also broke Babe Ruth’s record for career home runs.

Throughout Aaron’s years in Major League Baseball he encountered racist threats, which played a role in his activism in the Civil Rights Movement. As he chased Ruth’s home run record, Aaron and his family received death threats and hate mail. But he swung his way through hitting home run number 715 on April 8, 1974.

In 2005, Aaron received the Thurgood Marshall Lifetime Achievement Award from the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Aaron also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2002.

Aaron was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982. He appeared in 25 All-Star games, won the National League MVP and was a World Series champion in 1957, won two batting titles and led the National League in home runs four times.

Slugger Museum is also putting the bat that Aaron used to hit his 700th home run in July 1973 on permanent display.

Aaron is the seventh person honored with a sculpture at Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory. Created by LifeFormations out of Cincinnati, the only other player sculptures in the museum are baseball legends Roberto Clemente, Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Ted Williams, Ken Griffey Jr. and Derek Jeter.