When former Home Run King Hank Aaron knocked number 520 of his career on May 31, 1969 he ranked 6th all-time behind Babe Ruth (714), Willie Mays (584), Mickey Mantle (536), Jimmie Foxx (534) and Ted Williams (521), and at the time there were only nine members of the 500 home run club the rest of whom included Ernie Banks (512), Eddie Mathews (512) and Mel Ott (511).

     It is a testament to Aaron’s consistency the way he snuck up on the pack eventually surpassing them all. Aaron never challenged for the single-season record and never even hit the benchmark total of 50 home runs in a season, reaching his single-season, career-high total of 47 in 1971 and 45 in 1972. Aaron chased down Babe Ruth’s former all-time home run record of 714 home runs in deliberate and methodical fashion basically averaging 35 home runs per-season for 20 years and then hitting 55 more to finish with his record 755. He hit his iconic uniform number “44” four times, leading the league with that figure in his NL MVP and World Series championship season of 1957 and again in 1963 and 1966. He also hit 44 home runs without leading the league in 1969, the year he hit this Warren Giles Official National League Ball off Chicago Cubs pitcher Ferguson Jenkins out of Wrigley Field and onto Chicago’s Waveland Avenue for his 10th home run of the season and 520th of his career on May 31. The ball never touched the ground as it landed in the glove of veteran Chicago area “Ballhawk” Richard Buhrke, who might be described as the Hank Aaron of “Ballhawks.” One of a handful of hardcore home run and foul ball chasers featured in the 2010 documentary film “Ballhawks,” Buhrke has retrieved more than 3,500 baseballs at assorted ballparks across the country including nearly 200 in-game home runs. Buhrke was 12 when he began shagging flies on Waveland Avenue in 1959, his first prize being a batting practice home run hit by Willie Mays.

     This ball hit by Aaron for number 520 of his career was the 48th Major League home run ball caught by Buhrke and displays excellent evidence of game use, still dirty from the umpire’s pre-game rubdown, the Official National League and commissioner’s signature labeling are smudged apparently from contact with the bat. Buhrke added an inscription in green ball point pen on a side panel reading: “#10 Hank Aaron Career Homer #520 May 31, 1969” and added “#48” to the sweet spot in designation of the 48th home run ball he had caught.

     This fascinating piece of Hank Aaron home run history with the added anecdotal personalization of its owner comes with Mears LOA and a Statement of Authenticity signed by Buhrke .

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