Aikens grew up in poverty in the Bruce Hill community of Seneca, South Carolina. He was a standout athlete in baseball, football and basketball at Seneca High School, and attended historically black South Carolina State University on a baseball and football scholarship. When S.C. State dropped baseball after Aikens\' freshman year, Willie McNeil, Aikens\' high school baseball coach, helped him catch on with a semi-pro summer baseball league in Baltimore, Maryland. While playing in Baltimore, he caught the eye of California Angels scout Walter Youse and was selected by the Angels with the number two overall pick in the January 1975 MLB draft.\n', '

Aikens soon emerged as one of the top sluggers in California\'s farm system, slugging a league leading thirty home runs and driving in 117 runs for the El Paso Diablos in 1976. He debuted with the Angels in 1977; however, after batting an unimpressive .230 with no home runs mostly as a pinch hitter and designated hitter, he was returned to the minors. He received a second call to the majors that September, but fared even worse, collecting just four hits in thirty at-bats.\n', '

Aikens returned to his slugging ways in 1978, batting .326 with 29 home runs and 110 runs batted in for the Pacific Coast League\'s Salt Lake City Gulls. He returned to the majors in 1979, assuming DH duties and replacing Rod Carew at first base in June and July while the future Hall Of Famer was out with a thumb injury. He batted .280 with 21 home runs and 81 RBIs his rookie season. That winter, he and Rance Mulliniks were traded to the Kansas City Royals for Al Cowens, Todd Cruz and a player to be named later.\n', '

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