Hank Aaron paid one last visit to where he hit 715 home runs.
On Wednesday, after a three-hour funeral ceremony involving two former presidents, a former baseball commissioner and a civil rights icon, the float carrying Aaron’s coffin swerved off the avenue that bears his name and headed for where Atlanta. -Fulton County Stadium was once found.
There, Aaron broke the homerun record on April 8, 1974, passing Babe Ruth.
The stadium was demolished with explosives in 1997 when the Braves crossed the street to play at Turner Field. The old stadium was left as a parking lot for the new one.
But the outer fence of the old park remains, along with a modest marker in the parking lot, which marks the exact spot where Aaron’s record-breaking ball went over the left field wall.
Several fans used to stop on the property, where there is a small section of the fence and a baseball-shaped sign that reads “Hank Aaron, Home Run No. 715.” The number of visitors has increased since Friday, when Aaron passed away at the age of 86.
The wall is now covered with flowers, letters and souvenirs.
And the expulsion’s funeral procession passed by, on the way to a funeral at South-View Cemetery.
“His whole life was a home run,” former President Bill Clinton emphasized at the opening ceremony. “Now he’s done roaming the bases.”
Bud Selig, who was Major League Baseball commissioner for more than twenty years, said one of his fondest memories was going to Milwaukee County Stadium as a fan to witness the home run that sent the Braves to the 1957 World Series.
“The image of the great Aaron, delirious with happiness as he was lifted onto the shoulders of his teammates to leave the field, is indelibly etched in my memory,” said Selig.
Only about 50 people attended the ceremony at Friendship Baptist Church, due to pandemic restrictions. Others sent video messages, as in the case of another former president, Jimmy Carter, 96.
Andrew Young, one of Martin Luther King Jr.’s best associates. during the civil rights movement, said Aaron helped transform his adopted city into one of the most influential cities in America.
Young was mayor of Atlanta.