Henry Aaron Fellowship Created by Braves to Promote Diversity at Executive Level

The Atlanta Braves announced the creation of the Henry Aaron Fellowship on Friday in honor of late Braves legend Henry "Hank" Aaron who died in January at the age of 86. 

According to ESPN, the Henry Aaron Fellowship is a yearlong executive leadership program meant to aid in diversity when it comes to executive hirings in Major League Baseball.

The fellowship will allow participants to gain experience working in an MLB front office across all areas of business operations in order to prepare them for a potential future career. Participants will get to work alongside Braves president and CEO Derek Schiller as part of the program.

Schiller released the following statement regarding the fellowship: "Hank's life-long passion was to increase diversity across every aspect of baseball. This fellowship is special because it allows us to build upon his legacy by creating a stronger organization today while continuing to develop the talent pipeline to secure the game's next generation of diverse leadership."

Aaron's legacy is that of one of the greatest baseball players of all time and a Braves icon.

He spent 21 of his 23 MLB seasons in the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves organization and slugged 755 home runs and drove in 2,297 runs, which rank second and first in MLB history, respectively.

Aaron also recorded 3,771 hits and scored 2,174 runs, and he was a 25-time All-Star, three-time Gold Glove award winner, two-time batting champion, one-time MLB MVP and one-time World Series champion.

He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982 with one of the highest vote percentages in the history of the Hall of Fame.

After Aaron retired at the conclusion of the 1976 MLB season, he became part of the Braves' front office, serving as vice president and director of player development initially and then becoming senior vice president in 1989.

Aaron was one of the first Black men to hold a high-ranking position of power in the front office of an MLB team.