Hank Aaron: One for the Record The Inside Story of Baseball's Greatest Home Run

by George Plimpton

The inside story of Hank Aaron's chase for the home run record, repackaged and with a foreword by Bob Costas and new material from the Plimpton Archives.

In One For the Record, George Plimpton recounts Hank Aaron's thrilling race to become the new home run champion. Amidst media frenzy and death threats, Aaron sought to beat Babe Ruth's record. In 1974, he finally succeeded.

A fascinating examination of the psychology of baseball players, One For the Record gives an absorbing account of the men on the mound who had to face Aaron. But the book's true genius lies in the portrait of Aaron himself, and his discussions on his philosophy on hitting and the game of baseball.

Genres: Sports, Baseball, History, Nonfiction

153 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

George Ames Plimpton was an American journalist, writer, editor, actor, and gamesman. He is widely known for his sports writing and for helping to found The Paris Review.

He was the grandson of George A. Plimpton.

Reviews

[Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book has a great concept-a nonfiction account of a specific moment of human emotion, of joy, of wonder (Hank Aaron’s home run to break Babe Ruth’s record) - but I am much more of a fan of Plimpton’s participatory journalism books. In this book, Plimpton colors the moment’s fringes, talking to people all around the moment Hank hit it, from broadcast announcer to fan who unsuccessfully tried to catch the ball. But gahhhh it’s soooo clearly the 70’s. It’s not Plimpton’s fault per se, as he is just describing images that are deeply infused with racism and sexism, but his exclusion of any descriptions of the pressures that Aaron had to endure because of his race in the chase for 715 seems like a missed opportunity and a surrender on his part.

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

The novel is a quick read and has noteworthy aspects. The book focuses upon an extremely short timespan, only the first 5 games of the 162 game season. Mr. Plimpton, the author, gives a thorough account of the men on the mound that have to face Hank Aaron. The bulk of the text presents the psychology of the different baseball pitchers brought into the spotlight of history through the pursuit of Henry Aaron's homerun record. The author delves into their thoughts of possibly being a part of history for giving up the record breaking homerun. The responses of these professional athlete covers a wide spectrum.

But the gem of the work is the portrait of Hank Aaron. Hammerin' Hank discusses both his philosophy on hitting and the game of baseball. Imagine, a home run hitter who would rather single. Hank loved the psychological battle with the pitcher, whether he was in the batter's box or on the basepaths. The game-wtihin-the-game was the major draw for one of MLB's greatest players. After a homer, the battle was over; after a single, the mind games could continue.

The novel is full of stats, which have become largely meaningless given the passage of time. But Hank Aaron's pursuit of baseballs most revered record is an intruging story.

[Doug · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty quick read and worth the time. Plimpton does a good job of getting perspectives from individuals attached, however peripherally, to the event, rather than spending a whole lot of ink on the actual home run. So you don't get much on the struggle that Aaron went through, particularly the racism, but instead you hear from a cabbie driving Plimpton to the ballpark, some of the other players, Chief Noc-a-homa, plus a little from Aaron himself. I think that makes for a better read than something that was strictly just a straightforward history book. But there's no mention of the two fans who ran onto the field and congratulated Aaron as he rounded the bases. That's a pretty big oversight. Ultimately it's about George Plimpton and how he experienced the milestone and the people he talked to who were there as well.

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Plimpton is a little too Plimptonian (Plimptonic?) for my taste in this, but he has some great little nuggets of information and his typically beautiful turns of phrase.

Best under the radar fact from this book: There's a player scaling the left field wall in a futile effort to catch the record home run. 12 years later he let a ball dribble through his legs and it cost his team the World Series. Yup, the athletic left fielder on the wall was Bill Buckner.

[Adan Macias · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book One for the Record by George Plimpton is a thrilling true story. In the novel, author Plimpton writes about the time period in which Henry “Hank” Aaron was on his journey to becoming the home run king during the 1974 season. The 1974 season was full of commotion. Media, reporters, fans, anyone that had an opportunity to see Hank Aaron; well, that couldn’t be passed up on.Throughout the book, the author writes about his personal experiences during this period of grand commotion. He gives insights to what the people thought about the future home run king. Contrary to what one would assume, not everybody was ecstatic about what they were on the verge of witnessing.
Throughout the book, author George Plimpton dives deep into facts about the adversity, racial discrimination, and challenges Hank Aaron faced through this journey. Not only this, interviews with Hank Aaron himself. This writing makes some of the commotion make a bit more sense.
This book is extraordinary because of the attention to detail and inclusion of even the most minimal facts. George Plimpton is known for his extraordinary sports writings and attention to detail. One for the Record is a must-read for any sports enthusiast because it covers one of the most important events in sports history.

[Craig Strang · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun and interesting to re-experience Aaron chasing the Babe, but a little disappointing. Nothing much below the surface. Only casual mentions of the hate and death threats. The Atlanta Braves really had a “mascot” named Chief Nok-A-Homa who sat cross legged in front of a teepee down the left field line and did a war dance before each game.

[David Macpherson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book, but the more I looked into the story and the history, the more the shine has come off the book. I picked it up on a whim at a wonderful used book store with the thought that I always meant to read George Plimpton. The book follows the days before Hank Aaron beat Babe Ruth's homerun record. Plimpton spends a lot of the time talking about ancillary characters, like the people who caught the home run balls, the announcers, other pitchers who lost to historic homerun hitters. IT creates a sense of scope. Plimpton writes well and that's nice. I liked it a lot and then at the end, only at the end, did it mention that Aaron got a lot of hate mail and that an elderly man feels Aaron did it for the african american community. Something was glossed over, I thought. On looking at this homerun race online it was evident how racially charged the event was. It seems like Plimnpton made a choice to not focus on that, and I understand that, but it feels slightly disingenuous to not address it some what. I liked the book, but it was a short (110 pages) little rosy look of something that seemed to be a darker richer event.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

With his usual style, George Plimpton tells the story of Hank Aaron's pursuit of Babe Ruth's home run record. I was a teenager at the time and I vividly recall the night I watched him hit his 715th career home run on national television in 1974. At the time, I thought the record would stand forever.

[Patrick Overton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was about Hank Aaron's chase to catch Babe Ruth's all time home run record. I gave this book three stars because it was pretty good to read all the interesting information, but the book was not really much about hank aaron and the author kept referring to other players a lot.Overall it was a o.k book if you really like baseball from the past.

[Dave]

A short little book by an outstanding writer. I don't know why I didn't come across it sooner. Baseball fans need to read this book.

[Eric Matthews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book from a great writer about a great man.

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been a fan of George Plimpton for a long time. Some of his books about sports are classics, providing insight into professional sports that is unmatched. Yet, this one is not as much of a page turner as some of the others. The event is certainly worth a book, the magnificent night when Hank Aaron hit home run number 715, was an incredible moment.
Plimpton does his usual thorough work in going behind the scenes, to the point where he asks the people that will be broadcasting the game if they have a “One small step for a man…” phrase waiting for the moment. Perhaps it is unfair to compare this book to the classic books where Plimpton himself was the focus where he performed against the pros in a sport. In those books, the reader can clearly relate to the desire to get on the field of play at least once.
While I enjoyed this book about a baseball player that still remains underrated, the prose doesn’t rise to the level of Plimpton’s usual high standards.

[J.C. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not very long, but very well researched. The book takes place over the course of a week, there are some very interesting interviews, but it is not a biography of Hank Aaron. An enjoyable read, but nothing groundbreaking or Earth shattering. It feels like like a less detailed and much less pompous version of Norman Mailer's The Fight.

[Angtburg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fan favorite for Plimpton's coverage of monumental event

[Ken Heard · Rating 4 out of 5]

George Plimpton is on the B team of my writing heroes (Former Chicago Trib columnist Bob Greene leads all heroes, followed by Matthew Norman, Jonathan Tropper and Brian Freeman in fiction) and Henry Aaron was my favorite baseball player growing up. So this should have been an excellent read.

And it is good. But there are some things overlooked in One For the Record. Mostly, there is no mention of the two kids who dashed onto the field and accompanied Aaron around third base. With all the threats directed toward Aaron because of the race -- both the race for Ruth's record and Aaron's African-American race -- this should have been a huge moment. Also, there's not much on Aaron himself in the book. At least not enough, I felt.

Plimpton does write well about Commissioner Bowie Kuhn's refusal for Aaron to sit out of games in Cincinnati so he could have a chance to hit 715 in Atlanta. He also includes interviews with a cab driver, people in the stands, the guy who caught Bobby Thomson's home run in 1951, the meaning of the actual ball and more.

This book seems to have been dashed off quickly to capture the fervor of the home run race and is not a true reflection of Plimpton's excellence. That said, though a half-effort by Plimpton is far better than full attempts by many.