More than 41,000 fans were awed during the sixth inning of the All-Star Game as MLB honored the baseball icon with a high-tech recreation of his 715th home run.
July 16 (UPI) -- More than 41,000 fans, including the late Hank Aaron's widow, were awed during the sixth inning of the 2025 All-Star Game as MLB honored the baseball icon with a high-tech recreation of his 715th home run in Atlanta.
The lights went dark during a break Tuesday at Truist Park. Projections detailing the April 8, 1974, achievement then glowed on the field, as the voice of legendary broadcaster Vin Scully blared through the stadium speakers.
"It doesn't take a mind reader to read the collective mind that's here in this ballpark tonight," Scully said in the recording from that night at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, when Aaron passed Babe Ruth to become baseball's career home runs leader, at that time. "They came to see him pass the Babe."
The field lit up with "now batting, #44," before showing Aaron wiggling his bat on another projection between the base paths. A virtual Aaron, who faced Los Angeles Dodgers pitchers Al Downing during the exchange, smacked a projection of a giant baseball to left center field in a reenactment of the famous scene.
MLB used a pyrotechnic spark, which blasted toward the outfield fence, at the point of contact as the scoreboard flashed the No. 715. Footage of Aaron rounding the bases showed on the field as the Truist Park crowd cheered on for the baseball legend.
"I think that people can look at me and say, 'he's a great baseball player, but he's even a greater human being,'" Aaron said in a video shown on the scoreboard at the end of the sequence.
Aaron, who died in 2021 at 86, totaled 755 home runs during his decorated baseball tenure. The 1982 Hall of Fame inductee ranks second all-time in career home runs, trailing only Barry Bonds (762).
Aaron remains MLB's record holder for RBIs, extra-base hits and total bases. He hit .305 over 23 seasons.
Category: Baseball
