One of the things that makes baseball special is family.
Families are always in the stands, but there have been several times when brothers, fathers and sons have been on the diamond together.
Tommie Aaron is one part of an answer to an old trivia question.
What brothers have combined for the most lifetime home runs? The answer is Tommie and Hank Aaron.
Most everyone knows that Hank hit 755 homers from 1954-1976 for the Braves in Milwaukee, then Atlanta and back to Milwaukee with the Brewers.
Tommie made his big league debut in 1962 as a teammate of his brother. That season, Tommie hit eight of his career 13 long balls to give the Aaron brothers 768.
There were three games in 1962 when Tommie and Hank hit home runs in the same game.
On July 12, both hit blasts in the bottom of the ninth as the Braves beat St. Louis 8-6. Milwaukee was behind 6-3 when the Braves rallied for five runs to win the game.
With one out, Tommie drilled a pinch-hit solo homer off Larry Jackson, who started on the mound for the Cardinals.
Later in the inning with the bases loaded, Hank ended the contest with a grand slam off reliever Lindy McDaniel, who had not allowed a run in his last 15 appearances.
Tommie’s Slam
A few weeks later, Tommie finished a game in Milwaukee just as big brother Hank did against the Cardinals.
On August 4, a grand slam by Tommie proved to be the only walk-off homer in the career of the younger Aaron as the Braves defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 7-3 in the second game of a doubleheader. Milwaukee won the opener 6-2.
After the Braves scored twice in the bottom eighth to tie the game at 3-3, Tommie got the job done one inning later.
Playing first base after entering the affair as a pinch-runner in the eighth, Tommie was on deck when Phillies pitcher Jack Baldschun intentionally passed Lee Maye to load the bases.
Eddie Mathews was at third and brother Hank was on second after both had walked, so the stage was set for Tommie who deposited a pitch from Baldschun over the left field fence to end it.
In both cases, Braves reliever Claude Raymond benefited from the grand slams as the winning pitcher.
Tommie spent his entire career with the Braves from 1958-1973. His time in the big leagues spanned seven seasons from 1962 to 1971.
The best season for Tommie was in 1967 with the Triple-A Richmond Braves when he hit 11 homers and drove in 56 runs, while batting .309 as he was named the International League’s Most Valuable Player.
Overall, Tommie did manage to hit 160 homers in his professional career. From 1974-1978, Tommie was a minor league manager in the Braves organization with Savannah and Richmond.