The Day The Aaron Brothers Made History

By Dan Schlossberg

Today is a significant baseball anniversary few people remember.

On July 12, 1962, ninth-inning home runs by the Aaron brothers highlighted a five-run uprising that gave the Milwaukee Braves an 8-6 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals at Milwaukee County Stadium.

It was one of three times that season that they homered in the same game and the only time the senior Aaron ended a game with a grand slam.

Tommie Aaron teamed with brother Hank for a full season only in 1962, when they homered in the same game three times and same inning once.Photo byAtlanta Braves

Here’s what happened:

En route to a team-best 16 victories, St. Louis starter Larry Jackson coasted into the last inning with a 6-3 lead. He then retired second baseman Frank Bolling to start the inning.

But the veteran right-hander was out of gas.

Tommie Aaron, a 22-year-old rookie first baseman batting for relief pitcher Claude Raymond, pelted a pinch-homer.

Roy McMillan singled, ending Jackson’s tenure and forcing the Cards to insert normally-reliable closer Lindy McDaniel, who would lead the Cards with 14 saves that season.

A double-play grounder would have ended the game but Mack Jones singled and Eddie Mathews walked.

With one out and the bases loaded, McDaniel still hoped to coax a ground ball from the speedy Aaron. Even if the Cards could not turn two, they could opt for a forceout at home — or at worst an RBI grounder that would produce the second out.

But Hank Aaron had other ideas.

The future home run king, playing center field in place of resting regular Billy Bruton, hit the ball over the left-center field fence — almost to the same spot his younger brother had chosen earlier in the inning.

Milwaukee fans who stayed til the end were delirious over the stunning 8-6 victory.

During his 23-year career, Hank Aaron would end nine games with home runs, including the blast that won the 1957 pennant, but only on that occasion would one of his walk-offs come with the bases full.

The Aarons wound up with more home runs than any brother tandem (768). But only on that hot July night did they connect in the same inning, though the fraternal pair did connect in the same game two other times in the 1962 season.

That was Tommie’s rookie year and only full season. He finished it with a .231 batting average, eight home runs, 38 runs batted in, and 54 runs scored in 141 games. He never had more than two homers or a .250 average in any other season.

For one day in July, however, Tommie was a hero.

It was the first time since 1938, when Lloyd and Paul Waner hit consecutive home runs in the same inning for the Pittsburgh Pirates, that any brother tandem had teamed up to produce such timely long balls.

Tommie Aaron, branded a utilityman because he could play multiple positions, never got the fair shake his talent demanded. His surname worked against him, mainly because all of his coaches and managers thought he would be as good as his brother.

During a career that lasted seven seasons, Tommie played six positions –- all three bases and the three outfield spots –- but was most often used at first base, where he was a good if not gifted fielder.

He finished with a puny total of 13 home runs, two of them game-enders. But one year he had a terrific red Topps card that is treasured by collectors. He later became a successful minor-league manager that might have led to a big-league job had he not lost his life to leukemia at age 45.

Former AP sportswriter Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ is the author of Home Run King: the Remarkable Record of Hank Aaron and 40 other baseball books. His email is ballauthor@gmail.com.