ATLANTA — The Atlanta Braves will play host to the 2025 All-Star Week over the coming days, and the memory of Hank Aaron, the franchise’s greatest and most important player, will be everywhere.
As thousands of baseball fans pile into Truist Park and The Battery to celebrate the game’s current greats, it’s only fitting they be met with dozens of tributes to the man selected to more All-Star Games than anyone.
On Monday, National League participants in the Home Run Derby, including Atlanta’s Ronald Acuña Jr., will all wear Aaron’s iconic No. 44. American League competitors will wear No. 3 to honor Ruth's original feat.
During the All-Star Game on Tuesday night, MLB will commemorate Aaron’s 715th home run, which moved him past Babe Ruth as the game’s all-time home run leader in 1974.
Possibly the greatest current tribute to Aaron, who died in 2021, lands fewer than 10 miles away from Truist Park inside the halls of the Atlanta History Center.
Opened last year for the 50th anniversary of home run No. 715, “More Than Brave: The Life of Henry Aaron” celebrates his career on the field as well as his legacy in the community of Atlanta.
Built with support from the Atlanta Braves Foundation, the exhibit follows Aaron’s life from his birth in Mobile, Alabama, in 1934 through his Hall of Fame career on the field — the sport was still segregated when Aaron began playing professionally — to his significant impact off the field.
Though Aaron is honored throughout Truist Park and the larger Atlanta area, Danielle Bedasse, executive director of the foundation, says the exhibit has managed to tell a more complete story than other tributes.
“It’s something that really showcases his life history, his impact on the field, but also in the communities and as a business person,” Bedasse told cllct. “The scope of his impact — when he passed, we received letters from around the world. This really gave us a chance to bring that together.”
Work on the exhibit began in earnest in December 2023 and was completed before opening in April 2024 for the anniversary. Working with a shortened timeline — exhibits of this size typically take a year to complete — the Atlanta History Center sourced items from Aaron’s family, the Braves, National Baseball Hall of Fame, Emory University, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and individual collectors to curate a lineup of roughly 100 images and artifacts.
Inside the exhibit are walls packed with photographs, newspaper clippings and box scores from Aaron’s career. There’s a display of his trading cards through the years, including his iconic 1954 Topps rookie, and a number of trophies and other awards.
A pair of All-Star Game rings were loaned to the museum by Aaron’s widow, Billye.
Some of the items that stand out the most are the unexpected. A striking display of bobbleheads is positioned across from a flattened Wheaties cereal box with Aaron on the front panel.
Among the exhibit’s most unique items is original artwork gifted to Aaron of Charles Schulz’s famous “Peanuts” comic strip. The strip comes from a series in which Snoopy, like Aaron, attempts to break Ruth’s home run record.
Key items from the exhibit attempt to shed light on the man more than the ballplayer. There’s Aaron’s Stan Musial Award, which celebrates extraordinary sportsmanship, as well as the Horatio Alger Award, which is given to "exceptional leaders who have triumphed over adversity to achieve greatness.”
Also on display is Aaron’s Portrait of a Nation Prize, which is awarded to “extraordinary individuals who have made transformative contributions to the United States and its people.”
Then there’s the celebration of Aaron’s historic 715th home run, anchored by a recreation of the scoreboard counting down to the record-breaker. Though the home run signaled an important moment for Aaron’s professional career, the exhibit attempts to illustrate its wider cultural impact.
More than 50 years later, Vin Scully’s call of the historic moment, highlighted by the words “a Black man is getting a standing ovation in the Deep South for breaking a record of an all-time baseball idol,” remains an important part of the story.
“I think Hank Aaron is a person who brings the city together,” director of exhibits Tim Frilingos told cllct. “The other thing about the home run moment was the call, right? Vin Scully recognizing that there is significance to a Black man being cheered in the middle of the South. For many Atlantans that moment wasn't just for them, but it's how they've shared it with their family.”
For the Atlanta History Center, Aaron’s connection to Atlanta and its community is an element that couldn’t be skipped. It also makes the “More Than Brave” exhibit unique compared to what you might find for Aaron elsewhere.
“It humanizes him in a way that might be different,” Bedasse said. “Baseball hero is one thing, but sometimes you forget the impact he may have quietly had on your family or your community and where you draw your strength from.
“Hank drew a lot of that strength from his family, from his community and from supporting others in a meaningful way. I think that’s an important piece of this story and his legacy.”
The “More Than Brave” exhibit will remain on display through September and is included with admission to the Atlanta History Center.
Ben Burrows is a reporter and editor for cllct, the premier company for collectible culture. He was previously the Collectibles Editor at Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on X and Instagram @benmburrows.