Atlanta Braves Franchise all-time top outfielder: Hank Aaron
By Fred Owens
Atlanta Braves fans know, without any help from me, the name of the franchise’s all-time number one outfielder, but a look back at how he reached that spot is worthwhile.
At the age of 14, future Atlanta Braves legend Hank Aaron began playing semi-pro baseball for the Pritchett Athletics. A year later, Branch Rickey made the mistake of passing up the chance to sign Aaron. No one could blame him for passing at that time. Aaron was a skinny 15-year old shortstop who batted cross-handed.
Later that year, Aaron signed a contract to play for the Mobile Black Bears. His mother agreed to let him sign, but only for home games. Indianapolis Clowns scout Bunny Downs saw him play for Mobile, and in November 1951, signed him to play for Indianapolis at the princely sum of $200 a month.
The Clowns’ were an odd organization. Originally called the Miami Giants, they became the Miami Ethiopian Clowns in 1936, a barnstorming team that arrived at their games in clown makeup, as told by former Clown John Holoway.
"We’d come to the park with [grease] paint on our faces like a clown. Even the bat boy had his face painted too. We wore clowning wigs and the big old clown uniforms with ruffled collars. My clowning name was Impo. We’d play ‘shadow ball’…Then when we were supposed to get down to business, we pulled the clown suits off, and we had our regular baseball uniforms underneath. But we didn’t change our faces. We played with the clown paint still on our faces."
In I had a Hammer Aaron said:
"(The Clowns) didn’t have the luxury of concerning themselves with something like tradition.”"
Their schtick rubbed many of the traditional Negro League teams the wrong way, but they made money. It’s likely Aaron saw the team’s classic antics in much the same way as those newspapers; he refused to take part in the clown acts.
Down in the weeds with Hank Aaron
Statistical records get a bit confusing here. Baseball-Reference tracks both the Clowns and Indianapolis Indians until 1950. After that season, the Clowns don’t appear in their records, although they continued to play for at least three more seasons.
Aaron’s SABR bio – linked above – says he played 26 games at shortstop for the Clowns, batted .366, hit five homers, and stole nine bases to help them to the Negro League World Series. His contribution no doubt helped the Clowns win the first half of the season, but after a road trip, Aaron received offers from the New York Giants and the Boston – now Atlanta – Braves.
On June 14, 1952, Braves paid Indianapolis $10,000 ($99,000 in today’s dollars) and scout Dewey Griggs signed Aaron. The Braves assigned him to C-ball Eau Claire, where he played second base, batted .336, hit nine homers, and was named Northern League Rookie of the Year.
"[I]t wasn’t too much of a transition from playing . . .in the Negro League to playing professional baseball,” Aaron told Tavis Smiley of National Public Radio (NPR). “. . . instead of making $400 a month, I was making $600 a month. Instead of getting $2 a day meal money, I was getting $3 a day meal money. So it wasn’t that much of a difference.”"
The following season the Braves moved to Milwaukee and Aaron moved to A-ball Jacksonville, where his .362 average, 125 RBI, 115 runs, and 208 hits led the league and earned him another MVP title.
After the 1953 season, Aaron headed to Puerto Rico to play winter ball. It was pretty common for players to play out of position in the winter leagues, and Aaron played his first games as an outfielder there. Coincidentally, his new skill became a shrewd career move.