As the 1959 season dawned, Hank Aaron was in the prime of his career. His Milwaukee Braves had just played in their second consecutive World Season, and though they lost to the Yankees, most sports writers were picking the Braves to repeat in 1959. For his part, Aaron had recorded one of his finest seasons in 1958, hitting .326 with 30 home runs and won the first of his Gold Glove Awards for his work in the outfield. When contract time came around, the Braves offered Hank the same $35,000 salary he made the previous season. This lack of a raise may have spurred Aaron on to even greater heights in 1959 because he led the league in batting average, hits, slugging and total bases while taking home the National League Batting Crown.

This is Hank Aaron’s contract from that milestone season. The standard “Uniform Player’s Contract” is typed out to “Henry L. Aaron” and guarantees the star a salary of $35,000 for the season. The interior of the contract has been dated the 16th of February 1959 and has been signed by “Henry L. Aaron” in strong blue ballpoint, Braves Vice President “George Tebbetts” in thin blue ballpoint and stamped by National League President “Warren Giles.” As the signatures have been preserved inside the 4-page document, they are in perfect condition with no fading or smudges. The back page has a blue date stamp reading, “National League Mar 13 9:15 AM 1959.” Since this contract was a working document it shows some edgewear and very slight toning on the front and back pages. There are two horizontal folds from mailing bit these do not affect the signatures in any way. A tremendous artifact from one of Hank Aaron’s finest seasons. This contract comes with and a LOA from JSA for the signature.

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