Hank Aaron

Hank Aaron

Interment LocationVisitedSequence in Graves I Have Visited
Atlanta, GAMarch 27, 202250th Baseball Hall Enshrinee visited

Photographed March 27, 2022.

He was an all-star in 21 of his 23 seasons in Major League Baseball. He holds the records for most career runs batted in, most career total bases, and most career extra-base hits. And, in the words of talk show sidekick Andy Richter, he remains “the all-time leader in non-roided-up home runs.” Henry “Hammerin’ Hank” Aaron is interred at South-View Cemetery in Atlanta, Georgia, the city where he spent nine years cementing his Hall of Fame résumé and pushing through barriers on and off the baseball field.

After his death in January 2021, Aaron’s body was temporarily housed in a pre-existing vault at South-View. His permanent resting place, located five plots away, was completed over the succeeding months. A small ceremony was held on January 5, 2022 for the MLB great’s re-interment. Among the family members and friends in attendance were three of Hammerin’ Hank’s fellow Cooperstown luminaries: Ken Griffey, Jr., Bud Selig, and Dave Winfield. Selig touted Aaron as “a modest, sensible human being” and “the greatest of our generation.” Winfield professed, “He was one of the people I looked up to. I got to know him as a human being, as a person. I love that man, that’s why we came across the country to be here.” Their sentiments reflected the first quote chosen for the cover to Aaron’s enclosure. “’I am not concerned about how I am perceived as a baseball player’,” it reads. “I am concerned about how I am thought of as a human being.” The line beneath it does remind us, however, that the outfielder was “‘one of Major League Baseball’s greatest’.”

Photographed March 27, 2022.
Photographed March 27, 2022.

Facing the front of the Aaron tomb, the crypt two plots to the left is occupied by Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr. and Alberta King. That sepulcher was the original tomb of their son, civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., from his assassination in 1968 until his exhumation in 1970. Aside from Alberta and Daddy King, Hank Aaron’s South-View neighbors include Congressman John Lewis and Basketball Hall of Famer Walt Bellamy.


Fast Facts

Born: February 5, 1934 in Mobile, Alabama

Spouses: Barbara Lucas Aaron (m. 1953-1971); Billye Suber Aaron (m. 1973-2021)

Primary Team: Milwaukee Braves (1954-1965); Atlanta Braves (1966-1974)

Most Valuable Player Award: 1957 (National League)

Baseball Hall of Fame: Class of 1982

Presidential Medal of Freedom: Awarded by George W. Bush (2002)

Died: January 22, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia

Cause of Death: Natural Causes

Age: 86

Interment: South-View Cemetery, Atlanta, Georgia

"I also feel especially proud to be standing here, where some years ago Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella proved the way and made it possible for Frank [Robinson] and me and for other Blacks, hopeful in baseball. They proved to the world that a man's ability is limited only by his lack of opportunity."
- Hank Aaron
August 1, 1982 in his induction speech at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York
Photographed August 19, 2023.

Although most artifacts at the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory are bats, the Hank Aaron display includes a hat from his seasons in Atlanta.

Aaron was a first-ballot hall of fame selection, garnering the support of 97.8% of participating voters from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Aaron’s three fellow members of the Cooperstown class of 1982 were Happy Chandler, Travis Jackson, and Frank Robinson.

Photographed July 14, 2009.

Sources Consulted and Further Reading

Baseball Almanac. “Hank Aaron Stats.” Accessed February 11, 2023. https://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=aaronha01.

Conan. 2013. Season 3, episode 69, “The Show Where We Partied Too Much in Atlanta to Think of a Good Episode Title.” Aired April 4, 2013, on TBS.

Griffith, Janelle. “‘A boomerang effect’: Hank Aaron’s death is falsely linked to Covid vaccine.” NBC News. January 26, 2021. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/boomerang-effect-hank-aaron-s-death-falsely-linked-covid-vaccine-n1255735.

Hughes, Iyana. “Braves legend Hank Aaron moved to final resting place.” WMBF News. January 5, 2022. https://www.wmbfnews.com/2022/01/06/braves-legend-hank-aaron-moved-final-resting-place/.

National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. “Hank Aaron 1982 Hall of Fame Induction Speech.” YouTube video, 7:00. September 11, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jy5t4BdSM0U.

National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. “Hank Aaron.” Accessed February 10, 2023. https://baseballhall.org/hall-of-famers/aaron-hank.

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