Nicknamed The Don, he is considered by many to be the best cricket batsman in the sport's history. His career Test batting average of 99.94 is by far the highest of all-time and he was posthumously inducted into the Cricket Hall of Fame in 2009.
He grew up playing cricket by himself, using a cricket stump to repeatedly hit a golf ball off a water tank. He scored his first century as a batsman at age 12.
He captained the famous 1948 Australian team known as "The Invincibles." In 2008, 100 years after he was born, a commemorative $5 coin was issued in Australia.
He was married to Jessie Martha Menzies for 65 years. The couple had two children, John and Shirley, who survived into adulthood. They had their first son in 1936, but he died in infancy.
Bradman finished his career with 29 centuries in 80 Test innings, a level of efficiency unmatched in cricket. By comparison, Sachin Tendulkar, the second fastest player to reach 29 Test centuries, did so in 148 innings.
