Hank Aaron, baseball Hall of Famer and former Georgia auto dealer, dies at 86

Hank Aaron, the famed home run king who later became a major Georgia auto dealer, died Friday at age 86.

Aaron's baseball career spanned 23 seasons, capped by "the most famous home run in baseball history," according to MLB.com.

That 715th home run, in 1974, put the longtime Atlanta Braves outfielder in front of Babe Ruth on the all-time home run list.

"What a marvelous moment for baseball, what a marvelous moment for Atlanta and the state of Georgia, what a marvelous moment for the country and the world," announcers said at the time.

Breaking the record came along with hate and scrutiny, but Aaron held onto it, with 755 home runs, for 33 years.

David Ortiz, the longtime Boston Red Sox slugger, described Aaron in a tweet: "A legend on and off the ball field."

Off the field, Aaron took on the role of entrepreneur when he opened 17 fast-food franchises and started Hank Aaron Automotive Group.

The Atlanta-based auto group consisted of BMW, Mini, Honda, Toyota, Jaguar and Land Rover franchises.

In 2004, he was named Auto Dealer of the Year by Black Enterprise, and his group ranked No. 15 on the magazine's Auto Dealers list in 2006, with $136.7 million in revenue.

Aaron offered some advice to former New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez as he embarked on his own automotive career. "You've got to put in some time with it," Aaron told Automotive News in 2004. "If you don't, it's not going to work."

Aaron spent seven years as a car dealer before he retired in 2008. He sold off each of his stores to "enjoy the good graces that God has given him," Allan Tanenbaum, Aaron's business adviser, said in an interview with Black Enterprise.

"Henry Louis Aaron wasn't just our icon, but one across Major League Baseball and around the World," the Atlanta Braves said in statement paying tribute. "His success on the diamond was matched only by his business accomplishments off the field and capped by his extraordinary philanthropic efforts."

He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2002 as an advocate for civil rights.

Whitney McDonald of Automotive News and Bloomberg contributed to this report.