May 17, 1970: Hammerin Hank Joins The 3,000 Hit Club

      On May 17, 1970, "Hammerin" Hank Aaron collected the 3,000th hit of his storied career during the second game of a doubleheader at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. The historic hit was a run scoring single that came during the first inning against Reds rookie Wayne Simpson. The game was stopped and the President of the Braves, William C. Bartholomay and Stan Musial who had been the last man to record 3,000 hits joined Hank and presented him the ball. Aaron added the 570th home run of his career in the third, but it was not enough for the Braves to pull out a win, as they fell to Reds 7-6 in 15 innings. Aaron was overjoyed to be in a club that is reserved for immortals, however, he was disappointed that his team could not pull out a win. They had also dropped the first game of the doubleheader by the score of 5-1.

     Aaron was just the ninth player in the history of the game to record 3,000 hits. His final number in the hits column was 3,771, which is good for third on the all time list. You can view that list here:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/H_career.shtml