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Hank Aaron sits with his wife, Billye, during a ceremony celebrating the 40th anniversary of his 715th home run before the start of a baseball game between the Atlanta Braves and the New York Mets in Atlanta on April 8, 2014.

(AP Photo)

Hank Aaron is synonymous with Atlanta because of his long service as a star outfielder and front-office executive for the city's National League baseball team. The Mobile native hit the most famous home run in baseball history - his 715th to break Babe Ruth's career record - for the Braves at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium on April 8, 1974. Now it appears Aaron is seeking to become involved with another Atlanta sports team.

Marc Stein of espn.com reported on Sunday night that the Baseball Hall of Famer was part of a group seeking to buy the NBA's Atlanta Hawks. Stein reported league sources said Aaron had joined Steve Kaplan, a Memphis Grizzlies minority owner and vice chairman; Jason Levien, a former Grizzlies CEO and now the managing general partner of the MLS team DC United; and Indonesian billionaires Erick Thohir and Handy Poernomo Soetedjo.

Atlanta Business Chronicle reported in September that Aaron was open to joining an ownership group for the Hawks.

The Hawks are for sale after an email sent by Bruce Levenson, the controlling owner of the team, came to light earlier this year in which Levenson wrote, "My theory is that the black crowd scared away the whites and there are simply not enough affluent black fans to build a significant season-ticket base." He also wrote he'd spoken to a team executive about adding white cheerleaders. Levenson then decided to sell his portion of the team. Levenson and his partners own 50.1 percent of the Hawks.

Atlanta general manager Danny Ferry is on an indefinite leave of absence after saying during a conference call in June with team owners that free-agent Luol Deng "has a little African in him, not in a bad way, but he's a guy who would have a nice store out front, but sell you counterfeit stuff out of the back."

The Hawks have been the surprise team of the NBA this season. At 29-8, Atlanta leads the Southeast Division, has the best record in the Eastern Conference and is tied for the second-best mark in the NBA this season.