Hank Aaron's 3,000th Hit

By 1970 Hank Aaron's home run total was the number everyone watched, but on May 17 of that year he reached a different one. He had three hits in five at-bats at Cincinnati, the first of them his 3,000th, and homered and drove in three runs in a game Atlanta lost 7–6.

Aaron was thirty-six and sixteen seasons into a career that had begun with the Milwaukee Braves in 1954 and followed the franchise south to Atlanta. He had a Most Valuable Player award from 1957, three Gold Gloves, and by then more than 570 home runs.

Four years later he would pass Babe Ruth's career record. He finished in 1976 back in Milwaukee with the Brewers, holding 3,771 hits, 755 home runs and 2,297 runs batted in, the last of those still the most in the game's history.