With Henry Aaron sitting on 714 career home runs as the Atlanta leadoff hitter Ralph Garr badly wanted to be on base when Aaron broke Babe Ruth's record.

Garr made it for Aaron's 714th, but not for 715. He was in the Braves' dugout as Aaron connected off pitcher Al Downing to become baseball's home run king, 40 years ago Tuesday.

Garr went 0-for-3 that night, but he had 25 hits over the next 11 games en route to his own milestone. As baseball celebrates the anniversary of Aaron's record-breaking homer, Garr this year commemorates the 40th anniversary of his 1974 National League batting title.

He and his wife, Ruby, traveled from their Fort Bend County home in Richmond to Braves.

"You never think about it, but 40 years, that's a long time," Garr said. "I had a good year because everybody was worried about Henry Aaron hitting a home run. They weren't paying much attention to me."

Garr, 68, was known as "the Road Runner" for his speed (3.85 seconds from home plate to first base). He had 1,562 hits in 1,317 games over 13 major league seasons, including 803 hits in his first four full seasons. His lifetime batting average was .306, including his league-best .353 in 1974, and he twice led the National League in triples.

Columnist Jim Murray once said of him: "Ralph Garr is as hard to get out as an impacted tooth."

But Garr's thoughts this week are on Aaron's skill and the quiet grace with which he handled the threats and abuse that accompanied his pursuit of Babe Ruth's record.

"He had taken Dusty Baker and me under his wing, and while all that was going on, he would tell us in the dugout, 'Don't sit too close to me,'?" Garr said. "He didn't want anything to happen to us.

"Whenever he got to the ballpark, he was all business, regardless of what was going on around him. I've never seen a person who could shed things and do his job so well. He is one of the nicest human beings you would want to meet, and he's a better man than he was a baseball player."

Hate mail startling

Garr said there wasn't much drama within the team during the home run chase, but teammates were startled when Aaron talked afterward about the hate mail he received.

"A lot of nasty stuff came his way, but he didn't dwell on it," Garr said. "He wasn't a 'why me' guy."

Born in Monroe, La., Garr hit .418 in four seasons at Grambling University, including .582 as a senior, as the Tigers went 103-11 and finished third at the 1967 NAIA national tournament. He was inducted last year into the College Baseball Hall of Fame.

He met his wife at Grambling, and she continued her education after he was drafted and signed by the Braves clubhouse, Dusty Baker said.

"(Hall of Fame first baseman) Orlando Cepeda would ask, 'Where's your wife?' and just start laughing," Baker said. "Nobody's wife stayed in school back in those days. But she ended up getting her degree and teaching school.

"When Ralph and I played in Austin, she would cook for me and look out for me and make sure I stayed out of trouble. We go way back."

Former Braves games during the Aaron era, said Garr and Baker were devoted to Aaron.

"I will always remember going into the clubhouse, and there would be Garr and Baker at Aaron's locker, listening to the master teaching them how to be big leaguers," Hamilton said.

Baker said the two helped Aaron cope with the pressures of the record chase, dining with him and visiting his home.

"It was a hard time with the racism and hatred," Baker said. "I learned a lot about people, but I learned there were a lot of good people. Hank taught us a lot and helped us."

A record of his own

Garr also made the record books in 1974. He had 149 hits before the All-Star break, a record that still stands, but September injuries foiled a bid for the National League single-season hits record of 254. He finished with 214.

He took the Braves to salary arbitration after the 1974 season and became the first player to more than double his salary, from $55,000 to $114,500.

Traded to the White Sox wore for three games in 1976.

"I wasn't hired to design uniforms," Garr said, laughing. "Mr. Veeck had a gimmick, and it wasn't going to hurt me to do it. I played just as hard in shorts as I did in pants."

Another Veeck family promotion, the 1979 "Disco Demolition Night" that produced a near-riot at Chicago's Comiskey Park, had a more unfortunate outcome. Garr said he suffered an injured right knee while playing on the damaged outfield turf, and his career ended a year later after his contract was sold to the Angels.

He returned to Houston, where he had moved at the suggestion of Tom Williams, the former Oilers executive he describes as his "godfather." Garr began scouting for the Braves in 1985, and he and his wife celebrated their 46th anniversary this year.

Garr and Baker were pioneers in promoting the baseball chapel program through the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and Garr has been a member of Westbury Baptist Church in southwest St. Louis Cardinals.

Still serving as scout

Having resolved some health issues that plagued him from 2006 through 2011, Garr is always up for scouting assignments across Southeast Texas and Louisiana for the Braves.

"I've been blessed," he said. "When you play 10 years and have a lifetime .300 average and get to play with guys like Hank Aaron, Pete Rose, Roberto Clemente, Steve Carlton, I wouldn't take anything for it.

"I tell everyone that there may be somebody as good as (Aaron), but nobody was better. ... He was just fun to watch."

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