2025 All-Star Game festivities to pay tribute to Aaron, Ruth
The 2025 T-Mobile Home Run Derby and All-Star Game presented by Mastercard in Atlanta will feature a unique twist.
With the Derby taking place on July 14 (7-14) and All-Star Game happening on July 15 (7-15), those date numbers coincidentally align with a couple of key moments in baseball history and, more specifically, Braves history. In 1935, Babe Ruth hit his record-setting 714th home run with the then Boston Braves. Nearly 40 years later in 1974, Hank Aaron broke Ruth’s record with his 715th home run in Atlanta.
To pay tribute to Aaron, a Braves legend and one of the best players in baseball history, National Leaguers participating in the Home Run Derby will be wearing the No. 44 below their names on the backs of their jerseys, while American League players participating in the Derby will be wearing the No. 3 on the backs of their jerseys with their names to honor the feat first set by Ruth.
The idea to pay tribute to Aaron and Ruth came from former Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia.
"I just saw the date of the Home Run Derby, and knew that the game was in Atlanta again, and thought it would be special to honor not only Hank, but Babe, in that way," Sabathia told ESPN. "Everything [in baseball] is about numbers. Who you can pass. You need to get this number to get in the Hall of Fame. Seven-hundred-fifteen is such a huge number, and that actually being the date in the Derby was the inspiration behind the guys wearing the uniforms.
"We'd be doing ourselves a disservice to not do the storytelling. Especially behind Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Atlanta. The history of our game, you know, we have so many opportunities to tell stories and just with the date and the number I thought it would be so cool to tell this one."
Additionally, all players at Gatorade Workout Day on July 14 will be issued name and number performance T-shirts that replicate the jersey designs with No. 44 and No. 3 on the backs, with their own last names.
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The 2025 Home Run Derby and All-Star Game in Atlanta will come 51 years after Aaron’s memorable night on April 8, 1974, when he passed Ruth with his 715th home run. Facing the Dodgers at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, Aaron smacked his 715th home run against Al Downing, who also wore the No. 44.